Details: Ask Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant for the iPhone, for ideas on where to eat dinner or whether you need an umbrella, and it will deliver helpful localized suggestions. But try asking it to find a local abortion clinic, and the software turns up a puzzling blank — even in areas that clearly have such clinics. The response in Manhattan is: “Sorry, I couldn’t find any abortion clinics.” This is, of course, not a question that most people are likely... Read more
Here’s a nice palate-cleanser for you. The latest bit of inspired weirdness from the folks at Improv Everywhere: a production number about Santa’s lap staged at a New Jersey mall. With the stress of the holidays, who couldn’t use a little song and dance? Read more
And Catholic News Service has the numbers, and details: In his first months as rector of Theological College in Washington, Father Phillip J. Brown has been confronting a problem that the national diocesan seminary for the U.S. Catholic Church “has not had for a long time” — it is bursting at the seams. Enrollment is maxed out for the 2011-12 academic year at 90 seminarians. Five of those seminarians are back in their dioceses this year gaining pastoral experience, but... Read more
That’s the provocative question that Mike Hayes poses over at his blog, Googling God: Where are our Mother Teresa’s today? Why are those stories not being told? Every time the church is in the media it’s almost always about something insular. Mass changes, child abuse, embezzlement, school and parish closings. Where is the good news? Perhaps we’re not providing enough of that. Couldn’t we all do just a bit more as parish communities? Perhaps we have found the Pharisees again.... Read more
The venerable little magazine that has been a fixture in a lot of Catholic living rooms (and, I suspect, a few bathrooms) is getting a new editor, new focus, and a new look. The press release: Bayard, Inc. announces a new direction for its landmark publication, Catholic Digest. With the March 2012 issue, Catholic Digest will relaunch with an updated format and a fresh focus, under the direction of new editor-in-chief, Danielle Bean. Bean, an award-winning author, blogger, and editor... Read more
For the first time, the tally of everything in that famous Christmas carol has now crossed the $100,000 mark: If you’ve ever thought about actually purchasing all the items (though we assume you’d need to rent the lords a-leaping, maids a-milking, and all the ladies dancing to the drumming drummers and piping pipers) listed in the holiday classic “The 12 Days of Christmas,” you had better have a pile of cash at the ready. According to the folks at PNC... Read more
The reaction to this relic’s display in Moscow was phenomenal. Now it’s headed home. Details: The Belt of Our Blessed Virgin Mary has left Russia after 3 million people went to see it on its 15-city tour. In Moscow, more than 800,000 people came to see the holy relic that was taken back to Mount Athos on Monday. A final prayer in Vnukovo airport was given by the Patriarch Kirill. There was a farewell ceremony that started at 6:50 am... Read more
What can you do with an old sacramentary? Here’s one suggestion: Details: After the switch to a new Mass translation, old liturgical books should be respectfully buried, either intact or after being burned, according to the U.S. bishops. “Whether or not the Sacramentary has been blessed by an official rite, it is appropriate to treat it with care,” the bishops’ Secretariat for Divine Worship said in a recent response to several queries from U.S. Catholics. “Its disposal should be handled... Read more
From the Archdiocese of Washington, a nifty ad campaign debuts on TV tonight. See below. For more, check out the website: FindThePerfectGift.org., which lists ideas for finding a parish or finding ways to get more involved with the faith. Read more
But it’s unclear how much he was able to say. Details: A retired Roman Catholic cardinal testified behind closed doors for about three hours Monday as lawyers prepare for a groundbreaking priest-abuse trial in Philadelphia. Prosecutors deposed Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua in case he cannot appear for the March trial of three accused priests, an ex-teacher and a church administrator. The deposition was set to resume Tuesday at the cardinal’s residence at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, just outside the city. Bevilacqua,... Read more
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