Sunday, December 28, 2014

Huh?

I'd neglected to check the St Mary of the Angels site for the past couple of weeks -- I can often expect to catch a blooper when I do. I went there this afternoon, and sure enough, I found these feasts:
  • December 17 Ember Wednesday
  • December 28 Ember Friday
Wait a moment. In 2014, December 28 is a Sunday (today, actually). But also, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia,
Ember days (corruption from Lat. Quatuor Tempora, four times) are the days at the beginning of the seasons ordered by the Church as days of fast and abstinence. They were definitely arranged and prescribed for the entire Church by Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) for the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after 13 December (S. Lucia). . .
So you would never have ember days during Christmas. The Advent ember days for December 2014 would be December 17 (Wednesday), December 19 (Friday), and December 20 (Saturday). Who put December 28 on the St Mary's calendar as "Ember Friday", when it isn't even a Friday this year?

Either some ignorant yahoo is updating the parish calendar as a volunteer, or "Bishop" Williams is doing it himself. This is the third blooper in the months since his arrival: the "Exultation" of the Holy Cross, the "Conception of the Blessed", and now December 28, "Ember" Friday of some other year. If you were to ask me, Williams either updates the calendar when he may not be in a fit condition to do so, or he is not supervising its update because he's distracted.

This confirms my earlier hunch that he wouldn't be able (or in a condition) to name the seven sacraments without a crib sheet. But my prediction is he'll be out of there pretty soon no matter what.