[Click here for readings.] By remarkable coincidence —or maybe divine planning —this gospel reading is as relevant and as urgent as this morning’s headlines. In this passage from Mark’s gospel, a scribe asks Jesus to name the most important commandment. Jesus not only tells him that, but also tells him the second most important one, too. And with good reason. It’s because the two commandments are inseparable. Love of God, love of neighbor. What Jesus is telling us here is... Read more
Details: One of Brazil’s most famous priests has inaugurated a massive new Roman Catholic church that will hold about 20,000 worshippers when complete. A mass was celebrated Friday in Sao Paulo to inaugurate the Mother of God sanctuary. It’s been in construction for more than six years, and it will take several more to finish. Father Marcelo Rossi is the driving force behind the project. He’s a Latin Grammy-nominated Christian music singer and author of best-selling books in Brazil. He... Read more
A man who has been especially outspoken about politics and religion in the public square has a few timely things to say about those subjects in this video from Catholic News Service. Read more
Canon lawyer Ed Peters has weighed in on the topic again. He makes clear that — despite indications to the contrary — canon law on the subject is unchaged: My position is, of course, that Western law and tradition expect, beyond any question, the observance of perfect and perpetual continence among all clerics, and that arguments from, say, silence and/or inadvertence (hallmarks, I suggest, of a hermeneutic of rupture) are insufficient to defeat that expectation. But that is not to... Read more
The young man above is from the Trinity Baptist Church in New York City. I met him on my walk to work today. He set up a folding table and coffee urn beside a busy bus stop on Second Ave. this morning and was passing out free cups of coffee to people who were facing a long long looooong wait for the bus. For many (including me), this was their first day back at work after the storm. The... Read more
Details: A Catholic-owned family business in Michigan does not have to comply with the provision of the new U.S. healthcare law that requires private employers to provide employees with health insurance that covers birth control, a federal judge in Detroit has ruled. U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland, in a ruling late Wednesday, temporarily blocked the government from forcing the owner of Weingartz Supply Company, which sells outdoor power equipment, to include contraception in its health coverage of employees. The ruling only affects the company’s... Read more
Canon lawyer Ed Peters has weighed in on the topic again. He makes clear that —despite indications to the contrary – canon law on the subject is unchaged: My position is, of course, that Western law and tradition expect, beyond any question, the observance of perfect and perpetual continence among all clerics, and that arguments from, say, silence and/or inadvertence (hallmarks, I suggest, of a hermeneutic of rupture) are insufficient to defeat that expectation. But that is not to say... Read more
And many aren’t being shy about which candidate they think you should support. From Religion News Service: A number of Roman Catholic bishops are making forceful last-minute appeals to their flock to vote on Election Day, and their exhortations are increasingly sounding like calls to support Republican challenger Mitt Romney over President Obama. The most recent example: a letter from Illinois Bishop Daniel Jenky accusing the administration of an unprecedented “assault upon our religious freedom” and implying that Catholics who... Read more
My blog neighbor Father Michael Duffy was finally able to break his long silence and give an update yesterday on his situation on Long Island. Just ordained in June, he writes that, like so many things in his young priesthood, “this is something they didn’t prepare you for in the seminary”: We’re still here. my parish is still in the dark, but thank God not much damage. I’m writing this post via iPhone so please excuse any typos. I have been... Read more
I have one word for my experience today: jaw-dropping. My parish in Queens seats about a thousand people. At the 12:05 daily Mass today, we had all that and more. They were standing in the back, and some in the aisles. We went through four full ciboriums of hosts, which is almost unprecedented. The Mass itself was a little out of the ordinary: four priests (including our pastor, the bishop), one deacon, six altar servers, incense. It began with a... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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