A writer over at Christianity Today has been listening to a lot of Bruce Springsteen — and his new album — and finds unmistakable religious themes: As far as I know, Springsteen does not claim to be a Christian. He grew up in the Catholic Church, left it in his teens, and never looked back. But Springsteen understands mess; the kind of mess that I was in, the relational conundrums that can trace their roots to unresolved dreams, the power... Read more
John Allen is offering this week “three myths about the Church to give up for Lent,” and this one hit home for me: The popular take on Catholicism these days tends to be that it’s a church in crisis. Rocked by sex scandals, bruising political fights and financial shortfalls, it seems to be hemorrhaging members — a recent Pew Forum study found there are now 22 million ex-Catholics in America, which would be the country’s second-largest religious body after what’s... Read more
You may not know his name, but you know his music. It’s inescapable. “It’s A Small World” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” are just two of his enduring songs, penned with his brother, Richard. (In the photo above, that’s Robert on the left and Richard on the right. You know who those other two are.) If memory serves, they also wrote “You’re 16, You’re Beautiful and You’re Mine,” along with the score to “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and “The Jungle Book.” Details: While... Read more
It’s not every day that an American priest gets to celebrate Mass with several hundred seminarians in India. But Msgr. John Kozar of CNEWA (um, he would be my boss) did just that the other day while on a pastoral visit, and he blogged about it: We arrived a little after 6 a.m. at St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Apostolic Seminary in Kottayam. Waiting in front of the seminary was the rector, Father Alex Taramangalam. It was still dark and he walked us... Read more
A poignant story of faith, hope and medicine from the Wall Street Journal: Cast out from her family, Tigist arrived at Ethiopia’s Entoto Mountain believing that a spring here welled with holy water that would rid her body of HIV. Joining 4,000 other squatters seeking the same cure, the young woman reluctantly also started taking antiretroviral pills. Gaining strength, she married an HIV-positive man, Melaku, and started a new life in a mud-and-tarp hut amid eucalyptus forests. The journey of... Read more
Details: Over 4,000 people flocked to the Archdiocese of Denver for its annual “Living the Catholic Faith Conference” held this year from March 2-3. The two-day conference – which began as a forum for Catholic educators and has only recently opened to the public – featured Justice Antonin Scalia and noted scientist Br. Guy Consolmango as keynote speakers. James Cavanaugh, director of Evangelization and Catechisis for the archdiocese, told CNA that organizers added a Spanish Track and “invited speakers that would... Read more
An astute observation from Elizabeth Scalia: Out of curiosity, I recently visited a yoga class with a friend. It was held in a simple, unadorned room. Outside of it, there was a great deal of socializing and chatting, but once people entered the room, all talking ceased. People moved carefully, so as not to disturb others who, having placed their mats on the floor, were sitting or kneeling in postures that suggested recollection. This oasis of calm remained until the... Read more
A reader posted this as a comment but I thought I’d put it here for wider discussion: Hi, I stumbled onto this sight [sic] because I have a question. This isn’t terribly related to the topic at hand, but it looks like people here may have some insight. I was raised Catholic, but, as someone put above, have “fallen out of faith”. That is not the issue here, so please leave it be. I am engaged to a man who... Read more
A great story of charity and hope, from storm-ravaged Indiana: From the moment a tornado tore through its community, the damaged but still-standing St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church became a crisis hub where emergency workers could dispense food, water and information. But for a brief hour Sunday morning, the church resumed its mission as a spiritual sanctuary, as about 150 worshipers and visitors gathered for Mass, many embracing tearfully as they arrived. With no electricity for lights or musical instruments,... Read more
There are some interesting religious and cultural challenges that can arise. Details: New York Medical College was planning to change its affiliation to Jewish from Catholic when an employee approached Rabbi Moshe D. Krupka in the cafeteria, voice raised and finger wagging, and demanded, “When you take over, will I be able to eat my ham sandwich here?” A nervous hush fell over the room on that day two years ago. Some students and workers had protested the impending takeover... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In