I’m heading to snowy Willimantic, CT this afternoon, to the Immaculata Retreat House, where I’ll lead the convocation of deacons for the Diocese of Norwich this weekend. I won’t be preaching for Epiphany (or, chanting the date of Easter, alas), but here’s something from the vault: + On a summer’s day in 1879, an amateur archeologist named Marcelino de Satuola went into a cave in Altamira, Spain, looking for prehistoric artifacts. He’d been there several times before, and hadn’t found... Read more

One more unexpected twist to a story that made headlines last month: The wife of former U.S. Senate Republican nominee Roy Moore has revealed the identity of the Moores’ “Jewish attorney” she mentioned in a Dec. 11 speech. It’s not the person everyone speculated that it was, Kayla Moore said. Several publications, including the Jewish publication Forward and the Washington Examiner, have claimed that the attorney she was referring to was Richard Jaffe, a Jewish attorney who represented Roy and Kayla’s son, Caleb... Read more

This announcement was posted on Twitter by her daughter: [img attachment=”267744″ align=”aligncenter” size=”full” /] Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her… Read more

How’s this for a great pro-life witness? This is garnering a lot of attention on social media, and for good reason: one of television’s most endearing and popular couples has just announced they are expecting their fifth child, and provided this sonogram below as proof. https://www.facebook.com/JoannaStevensGaines/videos/1548546948585833/ More details: When the couple behind HGTV’s home renovation show “Fixer Upper” aren’t busy fixing up houses, they’re pretty busy making babies. Reality stars Chip and Joanna Gaines are expecting their fifth child, according... Read more

Yes, this is a thing: How concerned are churches about security? Recently a Texas church ordered a bulletproof pulpit from a Missouri company that makes lecterns for the federal government. “Their fear was that an active shooter would come in and shoot the place,” said Paul Alexander, founder of Executive Wood Products in Sullivan, Mo., which makes anti-ballistic lecterns. What they feared did happen at another church in Texas. A shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs on Nov.... Read more

This is great, from The Tablet in London, describing a tremendous honor bestowed “in recognition of truly exceptional and outstanding service to Britain internationally and overseas”: A Catholic deacon whose work serving seafarers has included rescuing victims of human trafficking from boats across the south coast of England has been recognised in the New Year’s Honours. Port Chaplain, Reverend Roger Stone, who ministers to itinerant crew members as part of his work for the Catholic charity, Apostleship of the Sea, was... Read more

From CNN: Pope Francis is having cards printed and distributed showing a 1945 photo of victims of the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki along with the words “the fruit of war.” The photo captures a boy carrying his dead brother on his shoulders while he waits for his turn at the crematory. It was taken by US Marine photographer Joe O’Donnell shortly after the bombs were dropped at the end of World War II. [img attachment=”266772″ align=”aligncenter” size=”full” /] The leader... Read more

From the vault… + About a century ago, the Jesuit poet and priest Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a poem that begins: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.” It’s a beautiful statement of the miraculous – and it’s more surprising because Hopkins himself suffered from depression. His life was a struggle, full of difficulties and disappointments. It was not always easy for him to see God’s goodness in the world around him. It can be that way, at... Read more

Several people have sent me this: a brief clip of two young boys “playing Mass”—and one has to make it clear he’s the priest, not the deacon. These kids have clearly been spending too much time around the sacristy… https://www.facebook.com/fullarmorband/videos/1279291692094138/ Read more

This Sunday, as we honor the Holy Family, it is tempting for us to think of them as we see them here in the crèche: perfectly sculpted figures, frozen in time and place. There’s the prayerful mother, the strong and attentive father, both adoring the innocent, beaming baby in the manger. As beautiful as that is, it doesn’t begin to tell the whole story. To appreciate the Holy Family in all its beauty and fullness, we should see them not... Read more