Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world
Details: Christian conservatives have grown increasingly alarmed in recent weeks over reports and rumors that the Pentagon is considering new policies aimed at discriminating against Christians and disciplining or even court-martialing those who share their faith. But the Department of Defense on Thursday (May 2) sought to debunk that speculation, saying that while aggressive proselytizing [...]
Retired Pope Benedict XVI greets Pope Francis at the Vatican May 2. The 86-year-old retired pontiff, who had been staying at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo since retiring Feb. 28, returned to the Vatican to live in a monastery in the Vatican Gardens. (CNS photo/L’Ossevatore Romano via Reuters)
You may remember this story from earlier. Details: A Carnegie Mellon University coed’s semi-nude papal parody in a spring carnival parade was “highly offensive,” university President Jared Cohon said on Wednesday. “We have procedures for a reason: to protect both the university’s interests and those accused of violating our community standards or policies. We will [...]
From Vatican Radio: Pope Francis wrote the comment “O Francis of Assisi, intercede for peace in our hearts” on a website after watching the live webcam the Conventual Franciscans have set up at the tomb of St. Francis. The pope sent the prayer, via a tablet, on the site sanfrancesco.org. The Pope posted the [...]
Change is coming, and the bishop of Providence is talking about it: Dealing with declining numbers of priests and dwindling numbers of parishioners, The Catholic Diocese of Providence is considering some big changes in an attempt to strengthen Diocesan parishes. In an exclusive interview with Eyewitness News, the Most Reverend Thomas J. Tobin said the [...]
From the Vatican news site: When we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to work, divisions in the Church grow. This was the message at the heart of Pope Francis’ homily Thursday morning concelebrated with Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige, the Archbishop of Colombo Sri Lanka, and staff from the Vatican Museums. Pope Francis focused on [...]
You may remember this story from a few weeks back. Now, an update: A March decision to decline official club status to a Knights of Columbus college council at Gonzaga University because the group was all male and exclusively Catholic has been reversed by Gonzaga president Thayne McCulloh. A statement issued from the president’s office Tuesday also [...]
Details: JCPenney lost nearly a third of its customers in 2012. Now, in an unprecedented move, the company is admitting it totally screwed up. JCPenney’s latest ad acknowledges the missteps the company has made in the past year. “It’s no secret. Recently JCPenney changed,” the company says in the new ad uploaded to its YouTube channel. “Some changes you liked, and some you didn’t. [...]
Break out the bubble wrap. Details from CNS: Retired Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to move into a remodeled convent at the Vatican May 2, the Vatican spokesman said. The spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said Pope Benedict would arrive at the Vatican in the early evening by helicopter, “weather permitting.” Pope Benedict has been [...]
That’s how one parishioner in this post by Frank Weathers describes the story behind this picture. It shows a priest who confessed to groping a teenager in 2001 evidently having a very good time in 2010. With teenagers. Details: Amid calls for a Vatican investigation, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers came under fierce criticism Monday [...]
A friend posted this on Facebook. It comes from Spanish painter Aristides Artal, and depicts a very youthful Holy Family.
Eight years ago, a small group of Trappist nuns founded a monastery in Syria, in the countryside along the border with Lebanon. The atmosphere, while heavily guarded, remains tense. Why do they stay when every day puts their lives at risk? An Italian news service recently interviewed the sisters. Read the conversation here. Last fall, [...]
From the Vatican news site: Marking the feast of St Joseph the Worker and World Labor Day this Wednesday May 1st, Pope Francis launched an urgent appeal to Christians and men and women of goodwill worldwide to take decisive steps to end slave labor. Speaking during the general audience in Italian he said : “I [...]
Details from the AP: The government is moving the morning-after pill over the counter but only those 15 and older can buy it – an attempt to find middle ground just days before a court-imposed deadline to lift all age restrictions on the emergency contraceptive. Today, Plan B One-Step is sold behind pharmacy counters, and [...]
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.” [...]
You probably remember the controversy surrounding this chaplain at George Washington University. Here’s something else you should know about him, from the National Catholic Register: Father Greg Shaffer, the Catholic chaplain at George Washington University, learned early that a good pastor can defy the odds and lead the young to embrace a priestly vocation. Growing [...]
Details: Israeli President Shimon Peres officially invited Pope Francis to Israel and left their meeting at the Vatican telling the pope, “I am expecting you in Jerusalem and not just me, but all the people of Israel.” Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told reporters, “The pope would be happy to go to the Holy [...]
From HuffPo, which picks up the story from Essence Magazine: If you haven’t noticed by now, waiting is in again. More and more couples are choosing to put sex on hold in favor of finding love and a worthy life partner first. (And, we couldn’t be more proud.) Many of our readers have spoken out [...]
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