BREAKING: Vatican investigating Legion of Christ priests for sexual abuse

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:08 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the troubled Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors and another two for other alleged crimes, The Associated Press has learned. The investigations mark the first known Vatican action against Legion priests for alleged sexual assault following the scandal of the Legion’s founder, who was long held up as a model by the Vatican despite credible accusations – later proven – that he raped and molested his seminarians.... Read more

Married deacons: it’s okay. You can have sex with your wives.

Last updated on: May 11, 2012 at 6:25 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

Somehow, this slipped under the radar a few months back. There’s been much debate, here and elsewhere, about the canon law requiring all clergy, including married deacons in the Latin rite, to observe continence and abstain from sex. In January, the USCCB issued the following letter to bishops, from Bishop Robert Carlson (Chairman of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations) and Archbishop Timothy Broglio (Chairman of the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance). Someone just emailed it... Read more

Pelosi: my faith “compels me” to support same-sex marriage

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:08 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that her Catholic faith “compels” her to “be against discrimination of any kind” and thus for same-sex marriage. A reporter asked Pelosi: “Many of the people that are opposed to gay marriage cite their religion as the reason why they’re opposed. You’re a Catholic that supports gay marriage. Do you believe that religion and the idea that you can support gay marriage can be separated? And how do you grapple with the... Read more

Fr. Robert Barron named Chicago seminary rector

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:08 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Exciting news for the church in Chicago — and for the young men at Mundelein Seminary: Francis Cardinal George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago, has named Rev. Robert L. Barron as the rector/president of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake / Mundelein Seminary, effective July 1, 2012. He had been serving as the Francis Cardinal George Professor of Faith and Culture at Mundelein and as founding director of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. Fr. Barron joined the full-time faculty of... Read more

Religious order produces show on Broadway — and it bombs

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:08 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

In fact, it was one of the biggest duds of the Broadway season: a musical version of the 1992 Steve Martin movie “Leap of Faith,” about a con artist turned preacher. The expensive, long-aborning show is closing this weekend, after a very brief run — and this piece in the New York Times dissects what went wrong (almost everything, it turns out). To my surprise, buried near the bottom was this nugget: Dozens of producers and investors in “Leap” lost... Read more

Encouraging intelligent conversation in the comments

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:08 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

A comment about comments, from the Washington Post: I think the problem with commenters isn’t so much a technology issue as a social one. Somehow we’ve rewarded, or at least learned to tolerate, a world where the drive-by insult is the norm. As we crank up the ease and pace of our “social” interaction while cranking down our standards for what actual discussion should look like, we seem to be increasingly comfortable with people simply behaving badly. Among TV talking... Read more

Keeping it classy: the new cover of TIME

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:08 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Just what we all want on our coffee table at home. Read more here. Also, a mother explains why she breast-fed for so long in this essay. Read more

Welcome home, dad: boy with cerebral palsy walks for first time

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:08 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Wow. A soldier’s homecoming like no other. Read the story here. But watch the video. And weep with wonder and joy. Read more

Some pro-life activists might disagree

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:08 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

“Mr. Obama finally stopped temporizing and ‘evolving’ his position on same-sex marriage and took the moral high ground on what may be the great civil rights struggle of our time.” — New York Times editorial this morning. The “great civil rights struggle” of our time? Really? Read more

Meet the priest serving “the most reviled congregation in the country”

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:08 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

That would be the U.S. House of Representatives — and the priest who serves as that august body’s chaplain was recently interviewed about his job: After almost a year as chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives, which The New York Times called “one of the most reviled congregations in the country,” the Rev. Patrick Conroy was back in Portland, Ore., for a few days to meet with his Jesuit counterparts. Conroy, 61, was a theology teacher at Jesuit High School... Read more