And it’s no joke. That’s your humble blogger in the picture with Father Frank Passenant, my parish’s administrator, and Angela Scannapieco, a consecrated virgin. My parish tonight completed a nine-week Novena for Vocations, featuring guest speakers every week on different vocations, and our speaker tonight was Angela— one of two consecrated virgins in the Diocese of Brooklyn. She made news and made history 16 years ago: After several years of prayer and preparation, two Brooklyn women were consecrated as virgins... Read more

What a great pro-life story. The video here shows how the system works—and for the first time in the United States, it has helped to save a life. Details:  It was a big fight for the Coolspring Township Fire Department to get a Safe Haven Baby Box.  Many officials were against it, but on Tuesday night, they proved why it was needed when a baby was dropped off there for the first time. The boxes are equipped with alarms that... Read more

His 33-day-long papacy is among the shortest on record—but his legacy as “the smiling pope” lives on. The video here captures some of his charisma and charm. Details:  The Vatican on Thursday announced that Albino Luciani – better know as Pope John Paul I – has moved forward on the path to sainthood, and can now officially be called “Venerable” by faithful around the world. Announced in a Nov. 9 communique from the Vatican, the Pope’s decision to green light... Read more

A short video with a timeless message for us all. Click and watch. Read more

Can I hear an ‘Amen’? Check this out:  On Wednesday a fiery Pope Francis chastised those who spend Mass talking to others, looking at their phone or even taking pictures during papal liturgies, saying these are distractions that take focus away from the “heart of the Church,” which is the Eucharist. “The Mass is not a show: it is to go to meet the passion and resurrection of the Lord,” the Pope said Nov. 8. “The Lord is here with... Read more

From The New York Times: The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is stepping into the religious fray. The title of the department’s blockbuster 2018 fashion exhibition will be “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” Stretching across three galleries — the Anna Wintour Costume Center, the medieval rooms in the Met on Fifth Avenue and the Cloisters — and approximately 58,600 square feet, it will feature 50 or so ecclesiastical garments and accessories on loan from the... Read more

Following the horrific news this weekend, there is finally an update. The Diocese of Rockville Centre today posted the following on its website: November 7, 2017 Death of Deacon Patrick Logsdon, 68 Wake: Wednesday, November 8, 2017        2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.  Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Church 196 W. Centennial Avenue Roosevelt, NY 11575     Mass of Transferral:  Wednesday, November 8, 2017        7:00 p.m. Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Church 196 W. Centennial Avenue Roosevelt, NY... Read more

From CNS: Pope Francis named a bioethics expert and a seasoned canon lawyer, both women, as undersecretaries of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life. The appointments of Gabriella Gambino, a bioethics professor at Rome’s Tor Vergata University, and Linda Ghisoni, a judge on the regional tribunal of the Diocese of Rome, were announced Nov. 7 at the Vatican. Gambino was appointed undersecretary of the dicastery’s section for life, while Ghisoni was named to the section for the laity,... Read more

From Vatican Radio:  The following is a telegram of condolences for the victims of the massacre which took place on 5 November in a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, United States of America, sent on behalf of the Holy Father Francis by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to the archbishop of San Antonio, H.E. Msgr. Gustavo Garcia-Siller, M.Sp.S.: The Most Reverend Gustavo Garcia-Siller Archbishop of San Antonio Deeply grieved by news of the loss of life and grave... Read more

It’s my friend and brother Deacon Scott Dodge from Salt Lake City:  Some Roman Catholics may blanch at the idea that the Protestant Reformation did Christendom any lasting good. Scott Dodge is not one of them. Sure, Martin Luther’s nailing of his “95 Theses” to the Wittenberg Castle chapel’s doors five centuries ago eventually led to a prolonged, bloody schism in the Western Church, and the more than 30,000 Protestant denominations existing today — all asserting, to some degree, to... Read more