Hail, Holy Queen Enthroned Above

In 1954, just shy of four years since he had declared the Dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At my talk tonight at the Spiritual Life Center discussing Tradition in the Apologia series, I'm going to highlight his proclamation of Mary's Queenship, Ad Caeli Reginam to demonstrate how Pope Pius XII appealed to the Tradition of the Church through the interpretation of certain Scriptural passages, the teaching of the Fathers, the liturgy and devotion, and even art. I'll include some of those artistic representations, including Raphael's painting, which depicts both the Dormition/Assumption and the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

Like Raphael's painting of the Transfiguration of Jesus, the painting depicts two scenes, one at the top, one at the bottom--Jesus crowns Mary in the top half while the Apostles look up from her tomb, which is filled with flowers. Notice that they're not looking around them, but up!

My presentation is tonight from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.; $10.00 at the door!

Apologetics: Tradition at the Spiritual Life Center

At the Spiritual Life Center of the Diocese of Wichita on Tuesday, August 22 at 7:00 p.m.: 

Apologia: The Merit of Tradition
Defending the Faith in the 21st Century
Stephanie A. Mann

Apologizing isn’t saying “I’m Sorry.”

apologia or ἀπολογία (Greek): a speech in defense

An apology, in the classical sense, is a reasoned defense of the faith.

Join Dusty Gates, M.A., and guest presenters for these sessions of apologetic dialogue. Each session will address a different topic, pertinent to 21st century Catholics, which we have the need and obligation to be able to defend and explain: firstly for ourselves, secondly to our families and religious brethren, and thirdly to the greater public who may inquire of us; either as seekers of the faith, or as its attackers.

Protestants and Catholics alike often ask, "Where is that Catholic Church teaching in the Bible?" Thus, even Catholics are influenced by one of the basic tenets of the Protestant Reformation: sola scriptura, citing the Holy Bible as the only source of authority in Christianity. The Catholic Church has consistently taught that there are two sources of authority in the Church: the Tradition of the Church and the Holy Bible, formed and canonized by that Tradition. This month's Apologia at the Spiritual Life Center, presented by Stephanie A. Mann, will explore this teaching and look at how even Protestants have Tradition in their communities' authority for being a Christian.

$10 admission: online, by phone, or at the door. 7pm-8:30pm.

Each session features a one hour presentation on one topic, followed by 15-30 minutes for Q/A and discussion of this topic, and/or any topic pertaining to apologetics.

Seems natural that someone interested in Church History would be interested in Tradition! In preparation for this presentation next month, I've been reading Yves Congar's The Meaning of Tradition. Congar, a Dominican and periti at the Second Vatican Council, wrote two longer works on Tradition: La Tradition et les traditions: essai historique and La Tradition et les traditions: essai théologique, combined in the English translation as Tradition and Traditions: An historical and a theological essay. Ignatius Press provides an excerpt from The Meaning of Tradition, the introduction, here.