Benjamin Ekman OP 🗿ꙮ

Anders Piltz har skrivit en mycket bra artikel om dominikanernas 800-åriga historia i Skandinavien, som vi firar i år. Eftersom jag grävde fram lite arkivmaterial han använde i artikel anser jag mig ha rätt att bjuda er på den. Men in och prenumerera! signum.se

@Casey5122dark That's the argument of the author (and the dominican friar he studies). That the desire for renewal and formation of a elite missionary church incidentally left certain groups behind, often poor and working class.

@broderbenjOP ‘Elitist’ priests?

I turned up for my usual 11.00 mass in my parish this morning. At least, that’s what I thought I would be attending. Instead, it turned out to be a circus. The car park was unusually busy and there were a lot of women dressed as if for a night out on the town or a wedding reception. Inside the church, the cacophony was deafening. Groups of people, the members of which I didn’t recognise, were standing around talking loudly, as if they were in a public house. Yes, it’s First Communion time again! In his pre-Mass announcement, the celebrant not only had to tell the audience—yes, audience, not congregation— that phones should not be used during the ceremony nor should people avail of food or drink. Would it be unreasonable of me to think that any practicing Catholic would not need to receive this information? I don’t wish to be uncharitable but it’s evident from this quasi-blasphemous bedlam that many of the parents/guardians of the children about to receive the Eucharist haven’t been inside a church for many years, probably not since their own confirmation, and my guess would be that they won’t grace a church with their presence again until their children's confirmation rolls around, when the circus will reconvene. As for the children, there’s no reason to think their practice won’t conform to that of their parents/guardians. I don’t know what the spiritual or religious value of this de-sacralised day out is supposed to be. Perhaps someone could let me know.

@FrCharles But you're not Norwegian! Rejoice!

Bishop Varden is a temptation for me. We're almost the same age as well as the same vintage as converts. But he's a superstar and I'm a nobody. Oh well, an occasion to mortify my vainglory.

@PillarCatholic "medieval writers, such as St. Bonaventure and St. Alphonsus Liguori [sic!]"

Want to know what the Vatican's new document on monogamy says, but don't have time to read 22,000 words? We've got you covered. pillarcatholic.com/p/una-caro-in-…

(Just the sight of these paperbacks warms the heart of this frenchified swede)

Went to @Diwan_Books and bought myself some Proust, possible due to a welcome project with Gallimard, publishing French classics for the Egyptian market.

Greetings from the 6th World Conference on Faith and Order - "Where Now For Visible Unity?" - in Wadi El-Natrun, Egypt, where I ran in to my deaconal collègue saint Atahansius of Alexandria, in the Nicea Museum.

Seminar at @IdeoCairo today, discussing the Heirs of Avicenna. "It's a rock, it's a bird, it's Superman!" @HistPhilosophy

@frere_ambrosius Yeah dude. Tonight I had like 50 cm of lace on my alb. Truly anything is possible.

@broderbenjOP If you stick around in Rome much longer who knows who you'll be deaconing for

On s'amuse à Rome. Deaconed with cardinal Re for the thanksgiving mass for saint Pier Giorgio. (Where's Ekman?) Now it's time to leave for Egypt!

@SMCatharineOP I was one of the deacons sitting just below the steps up to the altar. Not one of the golden deacons sitting by the pope!

What a profound joy to serve as a deacon for this canonisation of a beloved dominican lay saint - Pier Giorgio Frassati, and the millennial saint Carlo Acutis. Two lovers of the eucharistic Jesus and the poor. Verso l'alto!

@broderbenjOP I'm still smiling at "assignation". 🙂🙏

Doing my jubilee pilgrimage en route to my next assignation in Cairo. Turns out that the Nordic bishops were in Rome & needed a deacon for their mass by the tomb of St Peter, a few hours before their audience with the Pope. Gospel: Jesus tells Peter "Duc in altum." 😭🥰😇

Deacon Ekman reporting in for canonisation of Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis.

@FrCharles The bishop of Reykjavik? He was hilarious!

@broderbenjOP I see my Capuchin confrere David Tencer there!

@EamonnClark Vauban is dead.

Gents, what is keeping you from turning your neighborhood into this?

La semaine prochaine, huit jeunes hommes qui ont passé un an dans notre noviciat à Lille feront leur première profession dans l'Ordre des Prêcheurs. Priez pour eux ! Et regardez cette toute nouvelle vidéo qui décrit la vie d'un novice OP. Et re-tweet! youtube.com/watch?v=8pHDs5…

I think I decided what books to pack for my year in Cairo.