From the Associated Press: A suicide car bomber attacked a Catholic church conducting Mass in northern Nigeria on Sunday, killing two people and wounding another 45 in a region under assault by a radical Islamist sect, officials said. An Associated Press journalist heard the explosion after 9 a.m. Sunday in the city of Bauchi, which has seen a number of bombings and shootings blamed on the sect known as Boko Haram. The blast appeared to hit a parking lot alongside... Read more
From the Orange County Register: An Islamic mosque with plans to expand is now operating in a small former church that was previously occupied by a Maronite Catholic church. The sale prompted questions – even from church parishioners – about the future of the site. The Jafaria Islamic Society purchased the building at 1546 E. La Palma Ave. (near St. College Bouleverd) and has been using it as a mosque since June. The Islamic Society has plans to expand the... Read more
After a reader checked out this post from earlier in the week, the following e-mail landed arrived this morning: Wanted to point out that two of the schools on this list are not even Catholic – that is, recognized as such by their local ordinaries. Having lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and having never heard of these institutions (the area has a number of respected schools run by the Ursulines, Jesuits, Hungarian Cistercians (Cistercian Prep is recognized by Catholics and non-Catholics alike as... Read more
It happened in Winnipeg, Canada, but the story is quickly spreading around the globe. A Canadian TV report below tells what happened: Read more
They’re back: And not only that, there’s this: It’s like having pumpkin pie for breakfast. I love autumn. Read more
[Click here for readings] Long before he became the cardinal archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan was the rector of the North American College in Rome. He used to give regular talks to the seminarians, which were collected in a very good book called “Priests for the Third Millennium.” In one of the talks, Cardinal Dolan quotes a retreat conference given by the Passionist Scripture scholar Barnabas Ahern. Father Ahern asked: what do you suppose was Jesus Christ’s favorite virtue?... Read more
[Click here for readings] Long before he became the cardinal archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan was the rector of the North American College in Rome. He used to give regular talks to the seminarians, which were collected in a very good book called “Priests for the Third Millennium.” In one of the talks, Cardinal Dolan quotes a retreat conference given by the Passionist Scripture scholar Barnabas Ahern. Father Ahern asked: what do you suppose was Jesus Christ’s favorite virtue?... Read more
At a time when more Germans are leaving the Church and fewer are being baptized, the bishops have embarked on a bold crackdown. Details, from Huffington Post and Reuters: Germany’s Roman Catholic bishops have decreed that people who opt out of a “church tax” should not be given sacraments and religious burials, getting tougher on worshippers who choose not to pay. Alarmed by a wave of dissenting Catholics quitting the faith, the bishops issued a decree on Thursday declaring such... Read more
His Beatitude, Archbishop Foaud Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, stopped by CNEWA today and sat down for a brief interview. Here he is with Your Humble Blogger and Michael LaCivita, CNEWA’s vice president for communications. I actually had the good fortune of meeting the patriarch last spring (great snapshot here, showing my best side.) You can read the interview here. Read more
From the next issue of AMERICA, retired auxiliary bishop Emil Wcela of Rockville Centre weighs in: Women already minister extensively in the church. Consecrated religious serve in various fields. Thousands of other women serve in diocesan offices; in parishes as administrators, pastoral associates, directors of religious education, in the whole spectrum of parish life; in hospitals; in prisons. In contrast to the women of ancient times, women today play a very important part in public life, holding high offices in... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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