Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world
Priests in one archdiocese are reporting more people celebrating the sacrament: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted in November to make confession a priority nationwide for this pastLent. At the time, Roman Catholic leaders in the Archdiocese of Hartford were already preparing a Lenten campaign of their own. The archdiocese this year publicized its call [...]
He’s evidently having an impact, according to CNS: The head of the Vatican office promoting new evangelization said that while he does not like the terms “Francis effect” or “Francis bump,” it is true that “Pope Francis has touched the hearts and minds of many people.” Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for [...]
Before he became pope, he had some thoughts on the subject. Fr. Thomas Reese explains in the National Catholic Reporter: In On Heaven and Earth, the book he co-authored with Rabbi Abraham Skorka, Cardinal Bergoglio wrote, “One could deny communion to a public sinner who has not repented, but it is very difficult to check such things.” [...]
My blog neighbor Fr. Mike Duffy notes that it’s that time of year again: the season for weddings and First Communions. Unfortunately, as Fr. Duffy notes, these events are often the very definition of a “mixed blessing”: I would never want to be cold or discourage anyone from coming to Church. But I do hope [...]
A website calls attention to this item in a USCCB newsletter on the new Roman Missal, from January: What does the Missal say about the posture of the faithful when receiving Holy Communion? What about Communion in the hand? Both of these questions are covered in no. 160 of the GIRM. It states clearly there that the [...]
Details: Prof Christopher McCrudden said that there are serious questions over whether the 120-year-old legal basis on which 8,500 Catholic weddings a year are performed can even “survive” the passage of the bill currently before Parliament. He told MPs and peers that, unless urgent changes are made, Catholic bishops may have to reconsider whether priests [...]
From Sunday: Catholic Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit said on Sunday that Catholics who support gay marriage yet take the sacrament of Communion are contradicting themselves, echoing recent calls from a religious scholar for supporters of gay marriage to withdraw from taking the Eucharist. According to the Detroit Free Press, Archbishop Vigneron said that Catholics who support [...]
And before anyone asks: yes, he evidently did receive communion. Details: Vice President Joe Biden attended mass and received communion on Sunday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York where the mass was celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan. At a time when the administration is being sued by Dolan and the Catholic Bishop’s Conference over the Obama [...]
This is Reconciliation Monday for the greater New York area — every church in New York City, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island will be open to hear confessions today from 3 pm to 9 pm. You can read more here. I wrote about the sacrament and its effects from a personal perspective a few [...]
From the Georgia Bulletin: Warren Hill received the sacraments of the Catholic Church on Feb. 14, in a confined area near his cell where he was awaiting his execution in five days. Deacon Richard Tolcher, who had been meeting regularly with the 52-year-old and teaching him about prayer, the sacraments and the Catholic faith, baptized [...]
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