It happened 70 years ago today: the Bishop of Munster, Germany climbed into the pulpit to condemn the Nazi’s euthanasia program. Bishop Clemens August von Galen later became a cardinal, and was beatified in 2005. L’Osservatore Romano takes note: The bishop did not hide from his faithful the names of certain places nor his attempts to opposed such crimes, through legal means. For example, von Galen filed a complaint on July 28th with the Prosecutor of Munster, to protest the... Read more
If this catches on here in the States, it could make life very interesting … From TIME magazine: If there’s one thing people are opinionated about besides politics, it’s religion. But most priests don’t keep comment card boxes outside their offices, and now some enterprising Germans have come up with a solution. It’s called the “Hirtenbarometer”—try saying that three times fast—a.k.a. the “Shepherd’s Barometer.” It is an intriguing idea— www.hirtenbarometer.de allows users to rate priests for their performance in church,... Read more
That’s just part of what Mary Anne Marks told “Currents” when she visited the show a year ago and talked about her inspiring decision to join The Dominicans after graduating summa cum laude from Harvard. (An event that garnered a lot of media attention with this jaw-dropping speech, delivered in Latin.) A year on, she’s now taken the habit and taken a new name, signaling her devotion to Truth: Sister Maria Veritas — “Mary Truth.” The Anchoress has the scoop... Read more
Thanks to OSV’s Mary de Turris Poust for this: a great glimpse at a man of unbending faith — from, of all places, the sports pages of the New York Times: Jack McKeon’s baseball days begin in a pew. At 8 on Tuesday morning, the Florida Marlins’ manager attended Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, less than 12 hours after his team beat the Mets on a 10th-inning grand slam. Such games are testament to his faith in the saint he... Read more
The troubled museum in Washington, previously owned by the Archdiocese of Detroit, will soon have new owners. From the Washington Post: After losing millions of dollars over a decade, a museum and think tank in Northeast Washington that was built to honor Pope John Paul II has found a buyer that hopes the center will find new life as a shrine. The Knights of Columbus, the world’s largest Catholic men’s organization, announced Tuesday that it will purchase the Pope John... Read more
How about “crying rooms”? From All Things New: But is a crying baby really such a problem that it demands its own special room? Clearly, some priests think so. I once heard of a priest who would interrupt mass—smack in the middle of the Eucharistic Prayer—if a baby started to howl. He’d wait until the baby stopped, or the parents took it away, before continuing. Another priest I know was pacing the center aisle during his homily when a baby... Read more
This is something to make you put down your morning coffee and say “Huh?” Details, from the Religion News Service and Huffington Post: Women, long considered the dominant pew dwellers in the nation’s churches, have shown a dramatic drop in attendance in the last two decades, a new survey shows. Since 1991, the percentage of women attending church during a typical week has decreased by 11 percentage points to 44 percent, the Barna Group reported Monday (Aug. 1). Sunday school... Read more
The story broke over the weekend. Yesterday, it escalated. Today, the Archdiocese of New York took action: The principal of a Catholic elementary school in the Bronx has been fired because of his writings on race and white supremacy, the Archdiocese of New York said Tuesday. Frank Borzellieri was relieved as principal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel elementary school in the wake of recent coverage in the New York Daily News and other local media concerning his writings and... Read more
Could you imagine such a thing? Check out this report from KRON 30 years ago. Read more
“Bishops, priests, and deacons are too often weak and sinful. They need to be held to high standards. Some deserve to be chastised. The clergy’s leadership in the Church should always be marked by humility and service, and never by a sense of entitlement. But men and women didn’t found the Church, they don’t own her; and they have no license to reinvent her. The Church belongs to Jesus Christ, and the different roles with the Christian community – clergy,... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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