New York Times spotlights Call to Action

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:40 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

The peg, ostensibly, is the rich Catholic history of America’s Second City. But, of course, this being the Times, there’s more to it than that. Snip: It’s a long way from the Vatican to Roscoe Village, but a group based in that North Side neighborhood is leading a high-profile protest among American priests that challenges the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on ordination of women. The group, Call to Action, an organization for reform-minded Catholics, has collected signatures of more than... Read more

World Youth Day? There's an app for that

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:40 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

And the Vatican announced it yesterday. Details: Pilgrims at next month’s Catholic World Youth Day in Madrid will have some high-tech help in their devotions, thanks to a new iPhone app unveiled at the Vatican on Friday (July 29). World Youth Day (WYD), an international gathering held every three years in a different city, will take place August 16-21, culminating on the final day with an outdoor Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI. In 2005, the last time the event... Read more

Wanted: cowmonks

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:40 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

A monastery that once ran one of the largest ranching operations in North Dakota is planning to stop raising cattle. Details: A Roman Catholic monastery in western North Dakota is ending a century-old practice of raising cattle because of a lack of monks with cowboy skills. The Assumption Abbey in Richardton intends to sell its herd of about 260 cows and rent pastures to other ranchers, monastery officials told the Dickinson Press. Brother Placid Gross, 76, has tended cattle at... Read more

Homily for July 31, 2011: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 5:21 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

For the last few weeks, we’ve been hearing a series of parables from St. Matthew’s gospel: the story of the sower and the seed; the parable of the wheat and the weeds, the stories that have compared the Kingdom of God to a pearl of great price or a treasure in a field. While each parable has conveyed a different message about salvation, the subtext has been the same: what I called three weeks ago God’s “extravagant generosity.” Each parable... Read more

The paper people: when iCal just won't do

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:40 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

It sounds soooo 1985, but there is a loyal band of people who steadfastly refuse to give up their Filofaxes and DayRunners. Writer Pamela Paul has done a little anthropological study on this rare breed: Last month, I did something that not once in my 20 years as an overscheduled, neurotically punctual, paper-bound calendar keeper had I done before: I left my personal organizer (as Filofaxes, Day Runners and such are known to the trade) at the office. Not only... Read more

Philadelphia monsignor, priests to be tried together

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:40 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: A monsignor who is the only US church official ever charged with transferring pedophile priests to unsuspecting parishes will be tried alongside three priests and a lay teacher accused of rape, a judge ruled yesterday. Common Pleas Judge Lillian Ransom denied most pretrial requests made by Monsignor William Lynn, two current priests, a former priest, and a former Catholic school teacher. The men wanted their cases tried separately and asked for many of the charges against them to be... Read more

Ha!

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:40 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Get a load of this: H/T to the jolly Frank Weathers, who has more here. Thanks, Frank. I needed that. Read more

Homily for July 31, 2011: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last updated on: July 30, 2011 at 5:43 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

Worth a thousand words: Norway remembers

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:40 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

The scene in Oslo today: It was a memorial service for the victims of last week’s attacks. The first funerals were held today. Read more here. Read more

"We call them 'Chritches'"

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:40 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Well, here’s a new word for my vocabulary. If you can’t guess what it means, see below. An upcoming TV series is raising eyebrows, and blood pressures — and writer Cathleen Falsani has some thoughts on it: When ABC recently announced it had ordered a season’s worth of a new show based on the novel “Good Christian Bitches,” I’m not sure which surprised me more—that the network planned to run a show with the word “Christian” in the title, or... Read more