“They’re actively giving themselves over to what the Lord’s asking them to do.” Details: Changes are coming to one local seminary, and according to church leaders, it is because of a big leap in enrollment. The Athenaeum of Ohio in Mount Washington has been around for nearly 200 years. For the first time in decades, it is growing in size. Father Anthony Brausch says it is one of the only seminaries in the country that is currently expanding. “The Athenaeum... Read more
The subject came up yesterday, according to Vatican News: Bishop Wilmar Santin spoke of his personal experience ministering in an area that covers 175 thousand square km. His prelature was established in 1988, he said, but the Church’s work with the indigenous peoples dates back to 1910 or 1911. It was the Franciscans who began working there. They were followed by the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, the same Congregation as Sister Dulce Lopes Pontes who will be canonized this... Read more
Seriously? Is it sacrilege, inspired marketing…or both? Details: What would Jesus wear? The sickest sneakers ever dropped, most likely. Nike shoes with actual holy water in the soles are going for as much as $3,000 a pop, and sold out in mere minutes when they dropped Tuesday morning. “Jesus Shoes” are made with 100% frankincense wool (get it?), while the laces are strewn with a crucifix. The godly shoes were made by Brooklyn-based product design company MSCHF, which created about two dozen... Read more
Some interesting observations here, from Brazilian Bishop Wilmar Santin: The Brazilian bishop spoke about the fact that many Catholics in the Amazon region are defecting to other churches because “we don’t manage to arrive on time to where people are, because everything is centralized in the figure of the priest.” “We’re looking for new paths, new strategies, because the reality is new, the challenges different from the ones we had 10 years ago,” he said. “We have to change things so that... Read more
His White House counsel Pat Cipollone is getting a lot of ink these days — and The New York Times details his Catholic background: The son of an Italian-born factory worker and homemaker, Mr. Cipollone spent much of his childhood in the Bronx. After his father was transferred to Kentucky, Mr. Cipollone attended Covington Catholic High School before returning to New York to attend Fordham University. A debate champion and intramural athlete, he worked days in Fordham’s computer center and... Read more
From CNN: Concerns are growing over the humanitarian impact caused by Turkey’s military offensive into northeastern Syria, an operation that has sparked a political firestorm in the United States over the fate of US-allied Kurds in the area. At least eight people were killed — including three Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters and five civilians — and dozens of others were injured during the first day of the Turkish military operation, the SDF tweeted late Wednesday. International aid agencies... Read more
From CNS: Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, said the people who portray him as an opponent of Pope Francis are being used by the devil to help divide the church. “The truth is that the church is represented on earth by the vicar of Christ, that is by the pope. And whoever is against the pope is, ipso facto, outside the church,” the cardinal said in an interview published Oct. 7... Read more
Stunning witness, via CNA: One of the newest cardinals of the Church says he drew strength from the Mass and the Blessed Virgin during the decade he spent in a Soviet prison camp in Siberia. Sigitas Tamkevicius, archbishop emeritus of Kaunas, Lithuania, was elevated to the rank of cardinal in the Oct. 5 consistory. As a priest in Lithuania, Tamkevicius played an active part in resisting communist persecution of the Church. With four other priests, he founded in 1978 the... Read more
Well, no. But a sister who spoke yesterday made it sound that way. This presentation raised some eyebrows yesterday during the Amazon Synod — and sparked a lot of debate on social media about just what this “confession” entails. According to this explanation in Vatican Media, the circumstances are exceptional — involving people who are sick or near death — but they help show the challenges faced by Catholics in remote areas who can only see a priest two or... Read more
A few weeks back, you’ll remember, I posted an essay from America in which a Catholic mother asked, “How can I trust my son will be safe in the seminary?” Now, the parents of a seminarian from Maryland have written a response, published last week in Baltimore’s Catholic Review: Stephen Kirby, our middle son, has been discerning the priesthood since seventh grade, and recently he endured a barrage of tests and interviews and was admitted into the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s college seminary... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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