{"id":1827,"date":"2015-09-23T01:13:08","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T01:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1827"},"modified":"2015-09-22T21:31:24","modified_gmt":"2015-09-22T21:31:24","slug":"mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html","title":{"rendered":"Mass of Canonization: Religious Freedom and Tolerance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/09\/20150922121702.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1828\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/350\/2015\/09\/20150922121702-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"20150922121702\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>Today, September 23, 2015, Pope Francis will celebrate the first Mass of Canonization to take place in North Ameria. The soon-to-be Saint is Junipero Serra, an 18th century Franciscan missionary who founded the first 9 of the California missions. I will blog more about this newest Saint and the canonization itself, but in this blog I want to call your attention to something that might only be noticed by most people in passing: the simple iron cross that will be part of the altar used during the Mass.<\/p>\n<p>The 4-foot cross is made of iron from two ships: the Ark and the Dove. These vessels carried Catholic and Protestant pilgrims over the Atlantic Ocean in the early 17th Century. The cross is usually housed at Georgetown University in Dahlgren Chapel, thus it&#8217;s commonly referred to as the &#8220;Dahlgren Cross.&#8221; The cross was used at the first legally held Mass in the English Colonies in 1634. It is inscribed: Ad Perpetuam Rei Memoriam (&#8220;Let this be always remembered&#8221;) 1862.<\/p>\n<p>The picture above is \u00a0a bit of a sneak preview of the altar and the cross; both were on display in the Basilica of the National Shrine prior to the Pope&#8217;s arrival. \u00a0As you witness the Mass of Canonization, take a moment to consider that this very simple cross has not only powerful faith significance, but it also carries a tradition of religious freedom and tolerance &#8211; truths just as timely today as they were when the cross arrived on our shores in the hands of people eager for new lives in a new land!<\/p>\n<p>Blessings,<\/p>\n<p>Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, September 23, 2015, Pope Francis will celebrate the first Mass of Canonization to take place in North Ameria. The soon-to-be Saint is Junipero Serra, an 18th century Franciscan missionary who founded the first 9 of the California missions. I will blog more about this newest Saint and the canonization itself, but in this blog&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1242,4],"tags":[1919,1920,1921,1922,1918,1923,645],"class_list":["post-1827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-for-thought","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","tag-cross","tag-dahlgren-cross","tag-georgetown-university","tag-junipero-serra","tag-mass-of-canonization","tag-papal-mass","tag-pope-francis"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mass of Canonization: Religious Freedom and Tolerance - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mass of Canonization: Religious Freedom and Tolerance - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today, September 23, 2015, Pope Francis will celebrate the first Mass of Canonization to take place in North Ameria. The soon-to-be Saint is Junipero Serra, an 18th century Franciscan missionary who founded the first 9 of the California missions. I will blog more about this newest Saint and the canonization itself, but in this blog&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-23T01:13:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-09-22T21:31:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/09\/20150922121702-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mass of Canonization: Religious Freedom and Tolerance - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mass of Canonization: Religious Freedom and Tolerance - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"Today, September 23, 2015, Pope Francis will celebrate the first Mass of Canonization to take place in North Ameria. The soon-to-be Saint is Junipero Serra, an 18th century Franciscan missionary who founded the first 9 of the California missions. I will blog more about this newest Saint and the canonization itself, but in this blog&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2015-09-23T01:13:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-09-22T21:31:24+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/09\/20150922121702-300x225.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html","name":"Mass of Canonization: Religious Freedom and Tolerance - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/09\/20150922121702-300x225.jpg","datePublished":"2015-09-23T01:13:08+00:00","dateModified":"2015-09-22T21:31:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/09\/20150922121702-300x225.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/09\/20150922121702-300x225.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/09\/mass-of-canonization-religious-freedom-and-tolerance.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mass of Canonization: Religious Freedom and Tolerance"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/","name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32","name":"mpratt","description":"Several years ago, Maureen Pratt earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theater Arts\/Playwriting from UCLA's School of Theater, FIlm and Television. She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain &amp; Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1829,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827\/revisions\/1829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}