Out: Viganò resigns as Prefect for Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications

Last updated on: March 21, 2018 at 8:57 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

From Vatican News: Pope Francis on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Mons. Dario E. Viganò, the man he had chosen to spearhead the Vatican media reform. In a letter published by the Holy See Press Office, the Pope said that after having reflected carefully on Monsignor’s Viganò’s request to step down from his position as Prefect of the Secretariat for Communication, he accepts his resignation “not without some effort”. In the letter the Pope nominates Viganò “Assessor” for the Dicastery... Read more

NBC News: more millennials are entering religious life

Last updated on: March 20, 2018 at 12:55 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Well, what do you know. Check out this surprising digital exclusive from NBC News: https://www.facebook.com/nbcnightlynews/videos/338586519963943/ Read more

Pope Francis to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass at Rome prison

Last updated on: March 20, 2018 at 11:59 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

From CNS: Pope Francis once again will celebrate the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper in a prison and will wash the feet of 12 inmates. The pope will celebrate the evening Mass on March 29 at Rome’s Regina Coeli prison, the Vatican announced March 20. Before Mass, the pope will visit sick inmates in the prison infirmary, the Vatican said. He will celebrate the Mass and wash the feet of 12 inmates in the prison’s central rotunda and,... Read more

Stunning: renovation of seminary chapel in St. Louis

Last updated on: March 20, 2018 at 9:42 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

Shown here is the “before” shot. The “after” is spectacular. Details: During 2014 and 2015 a renovation was undertaken — though restoration might be a better word — of St. Joseph’s Chapel at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri; another project coming from McCrery Architects. The project included a new altar, ambo, ciborium and pipe organ, as well as the painting of the apse and chapel ceiling. The new painted details include not only a heavenly canopy of stars and... Read more

Diocese in Spain gets its first permanent deacon

Last updated on: March 20, 2018 at 8:36 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

From Catholic News Agency: Alberto José Gonzalez is a 50-year-old retired police officer, married with two daughters, who recently began his ministry as the first permanent deacon in the Diocese of Gijón, Spain. Whether it is in the National Police Force or as a member of the clergy, “a service is provided to the people and that is precisely my vocation,” he told the newspaper El Comercial. Gonzalez said he was always a believer and since his youth, “the great... Read more

Founder of religious order removed from Chicago parish over allegations of ‘improper conduct with adult men’

Last updated on: March 19, 2018 at 1:23 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

From The Chicago Tribune: The Rev. C. Frank Phillips, founder of a religious order of men and pastor at the storied St. John Cantius Catholic Parish, was removed last week by the Archdiocese of Chicago amid an investigation into allegations of improper conduct with adult men, according to church officials. In a statement to parishioners, Cardinal Blase Cupich explained that he had made the decision to “withdraw” Phillips after learning “of credible allegations of improper conduct involving adult men.” Anne... Read more

Boom: how one priest transformed a parish with sacred music and traditional worship

Last updated on: March 19, 2018 at 9:06 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

Some may remember the controversy that swirled around San Francisco’s Father Joseph Illo, whose traditionalist ideas—male-only altar servers and ad orientem Mass, among others—provoked protests. Nonetheless: the parish where he serves, Star of the Sea, has since undergone an impressive revitalization. And Fr. Illo wrote about it recently on his blog: Here are some of the simple changes we have made at my parish, Star of the Sea in San Francisco, that have made the parish more prayerful: a. Confessions.... Read more

Can Mepkin Abbey survive in a changing world?

Last updated on: March 19, 2018 at 10:10 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

The New York Times’ Stephen Hiltner paid a visit to the venerable Trappist monastery in South Carolina and describes some of the challenges it is facing: Mepkin Abbey — part of a global network of Trappist monasteries that for nearly 1,000 years have provided their communities with reliable sources of prayer, learning and hospitality — is edging toward a potential crisis. In keeping with broader declines in the ranks of priests, nuns and brothers, Mepkin’s monastic community is dwindling. Only... Read more

In deeply personal letter, Pope Francis asks Argentina faithful for prayers and forgiveness

Last updated on: March 19, 2018 at 3:10 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

From Vatican News: The letter, which is written in Spanish, is essentially a thank you note for the greetings and prayers he received from the people of Argentina on the 5th anniversary of his election to the papacy. These expressions of goodwill came not only from the country’s authorities but, in Pope Francis’ own words, “from people of different religious, political and ideological backgrounds.” In the second paragraph of the letter, which was made public by the Argentine Bishops’ Conference at... Read more

The Catholic church where the homeless are welcome to sleep in the pews

Last updated on: March 18, 2018 at 8:55 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: Lack of sleep is one of the most critical health issues for the homeless. An average of 225 homeless people seek safety and rest on the pews in the sanctuary of St. Boniface church in San Francisco every day, thanks to The Gubbio Project. The Gubbio Project was co-founded in 2004 by community activists Shelly Roder and Father Louis Vitale as a non-denominational project of St. Boniface Neighborhood Center located in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood in response to the... Read more