Happy Juneteenth!
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,164
    Happy Juneteenth, everyone!
    Thanked by 5CHGiffen NihilNominis Richard Mix DCM Liam
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Thank you, I guess.

    The banks are all shut. The post won't be delivered. All this to remember that federal troops arrived late in Texas!

    [Sorry. I'm being a bit curmudgeonly, but I don't think it belonged on the federal calendar and I don't like the consequences of it being there.]
    Thanked by 2CharlesW tomjaw
  • francis
    Posts: 10,816
    OK I’m ignorant. What the hell is the Juneteenth?
    Thanked by 2Chris Garton-Zavesky tomjaw
  • DCM
    Posts: 70
    Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the US (specifically the arrival of the Union Army to the last Confederate-controlled areas in Texas). It began as a holiday observed by Black folks in Texas and across the South, and over time it became an unoffical but widely observed celebration of Black history and culture. The civil rights protests in 2020 led to Congress declaring it an official federal holiday in 2021.
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    There was free parking around the Colloquium today, so there's that.
    Thanked by 2StimsonInRehab tomjaw
  • TCJ
    Posts: 986
    I did get free parking at the meter today so it worked out for me. If I were at home, I'd probably be annoyed at not getting mail.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,978
    Chris, I would think celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863) would be a more important date. Go figure.

    The good thing is that as a retired but still part-time federal employee, it was a much appreciated day off.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw M. Jackson Osborn
  • DCM
    Posts: 70
    The Emancipation Proclamation wasn't self-enforcing. It took the US Army to make it happen. This particular celebration began in 1865 by newly-freed people, and it grew into something much bigger from there.

    Here is a longer explainer for those of you who'd like one.
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen Liam Carol
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,978
    I don't know how it was celebrated in my southern area today. It has rained all day with thunder, wind and lightning. I can hear the thunder as I write this. Whatever events were planned to celebrate the day were rained and stormed out this year.
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    I'm not opposed to celebrating the end of slavery. I dislike the cynical proclamation of a federal holiday.

  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,978
    When I worked as a Catholic musician, I did think a time or two that I had a better understanding of slavery.
    Thanked by 4a_f_hawkins tomjaw ServiamScores Caleferink
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,798
    Not sure if this link will get you around the paywall, but here's a 2020 article from The New Yorker.
  • fcbfcb
    Posts: 338
    I first discovered this holiday when I moved to Houston Texas in 1984 (there was a great blues festival where I saw the amazing Robert Cray). It occurs to me that the entire nation celebrating a local event that is emblematic of a larger shift in the life of the nation is not unlike Catholics in Baltimore commemorating saints from Palestine, North Africa, and Rome in the Roman Canon (NB: I'm in favor of both).
    Thanked by 2Gamba CHGiffen
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Deacon Fritz,

    I live (presently) in California, which entered the Union in 1850. This event was an entirely secular one, and doesn't require celebration on the liturgical calendar which takes as its point of departure the life of Christ and those faithful to Him. Those Palestinians, North Africans and Romans you're raising as examples. .... they're on the calendar because they fit under the category of "those faithful to Him", not because they're Palestinians (et al). Apples and Oranges.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • fcbfcb
    Posts: 338
    Chris,

    My point was simply that in both the Church and in the secular world we often celebrate particular people and events that might at first seem extremely local but which come to take on larger significance. I wasn't claiming that the saints listed in the Roman Canon were some sort of representative multicultural group.
    Thanked by 1NihilNominis
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Deacon Fritz,

    Examples of "particular events that might at first seem extremely local" which the Church celebrates would include what?
  • fcbfcb
    Posts: 338
    The birth of Jesus Christ?

    I think there is some disconnect in the communication here.
    Thanked by 2ServiamScores NihilNominis
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,883
    Battle of Lepanto
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Deacon Fritz,

    The celebration of the birth of Christ isn't an "extremely local" event to believing Christians. That's the disconnect in our communication.
  • fcbfcb
    Posts: 338
    Aside from noting the implication that one of us is numbered among "believing Christians" and the other is not, I would simply point out that John of Damascus says (and Thomas Aquinas affirms) that Christ assumes human nature in atomo, in a particular time and place. I am genuinely puzzled as to why you are taking issue with this.
    Thanked by 1Heath
  • Mattspmusic0320
    Posts: 69
    A little story about my life, my marriage, and Juneteenth.

    Our birthdays are March 19 (her's) and March 20 (mine). So we have the St. Joseph connection there.

    We both recieved our sacraments of initiation at "Mary" parishes. Immaculate Heart of Mary (her), Mary Queen of Heaven (Me).

    My first directorship was at Holy Family parish.

    My second was Church of the Nativity of our Lord. (Still trying to figure this one out).

    My wife and I got married on June 19, 2020. We choose that day because it was the Feast of the Sacred Heart. We got married in the Church of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar (Fort Mitchell, KY). As we know when eucharistic miracles, the sacred host presents itself as cardiac material. We actually celebrate the liturgical day of our wedding. She is a federal employee though, so it is nice for her always having our anniversary off! Maybe just another way God blesses us to cerish our time together. Since at times the spring gets crazy with Holy Week, First Communions, Confirmation, ordinations and weddings at church.

    I accepted a new position on May 1, 2023 at Our Lady of the Visitation. A story of Elizabeth and the Blessed Mother focusing on their pregnancies and joys. I accepted the job because it would put us in a better place to begin having children.

    Thanked by 3CHGiffen Carol ServiamScores
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