From The Washington Post: It was billed as a holy journey, a pilgrimage with West Virginia Bishop Michael J. Bransfield to “pray, sing and worship” at the National Shrine in Washington, D.C. Catholics from remote areas of one of the nation’s poorest states paid up to $190 for seats on overnight buses and hotel rooms. Unknown to the worshipers, Bransfield traveled another way. He hired a private jet and, after a 33-minute flight, took a limousine from the airport. The... Read more
From Crux: Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, has urged those considering allowing priests in the Latin rite to marry in order to help solve a crippling shortage, to proceed with caution, saying marriage has not curbed shortages in his own rite. With five blooming seminaries in Ukraine alone, “thanks be to God we do not lack vocations,” Shevchuk said, but noted that despite the fact that priests in his church – the largest of... Read more
From Edward Pentin in the National Catholic Register: Cardinal Raymond Burke and Bishop Athanasius Schneider have issued an eight-page declaration warning against six “serious theological errors and heresies” they say are contained in the Amazonian Synod working document, and calling for prayer and fasting to prevent them being approved. Cardinal Burke, patron of the Sovereign Order of Malta, and Bishop Schneider, auxiliary of Astana, Kazakhstan, have also published the appeal so Pope Francis may “confirm his brethren in the faith by an unambiguous rejection of the... Read more
On this especially meaningful and sober day of remembrance, the Houston Chronicle published this hope-filled perspective from Sumer Zakaria, a Muslim at a Catholic school in Houston: Religion has always been a complicated subject, but it seemed that most Americans recognized that we live in a multi-denominational society. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized recognizing different religions is very different from accepting them. But attending St. Agnes Academy, a Catholic high school here in Houston, helped me... Read more
I received this happy news and the picture above from Deacon Martin Serraes, the Deacon Director for the Diocese of Palm Beach: Five new Deacons for Palm Beach!! Andre Boucher,Michael Burke, Charles Immordino, Vincent Muller and Edwin Velasquez were ordained on Saturday, September 7, at St. Ignatius Loyola Cathedral. Bishop Gerald Barbarito presiding. The picture here includes Deacon Marty Serraes and Deacon Pete Delvalle, Assistant Formation Director — along with Brooklyn’s own Gerald Barbarito. Congratulations, brothers, and welcome! Ad multos annos! Read more
“Jesus Christ would be THRILLED to see us doing something like this,” says the priest. Okay. You decide. Check this out, via WLFI-TV in West Lafayette, Indiana: Read more
This didn’t get much attention, but it should. It comes from his remarks to the bishops of Madagascar over the weekend: Please, make sure you do not clericalize the laity. Lay faithful are lay faithful. I heard, in my previous Diocese, proposals like this: “My Lord Bishop, I have a wonderful lay person in the parish: he works hard, he organizes everything … should we ordain him a deacon?” Leave him there, don’t ruin his life, let him remain a... Read more
The pope was on a plane, and you know what that means: Pope Francis told reporters he hoped and prayed the Catholic Church would not experience a new schism, but human freedom means people always have had and will have the “schism option.” “I pray that there not be schism, but I am not afraid,” Pope Francis told reporters flying from Africa back to Rome with him Sept. 10. Schisms have occurred throughout church history, he said, and one thing... Read more
This stunningly beautiful image hangs near the entrance to the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in lower Manhattan. When you begin your tour, this is what you see: a reminder of the world that was, and that will never be again. The picture was taken 16 minutes before the first plane hit on September 11, 2001. Tomorrow, it is 18 years. It still feels like yesterday. Never forget. Read more
From historian Elizabeth Foster in The Washington Post, a story that helps put Francis’s visit to the continent in context: Pope Francis began a three-nation Africa tour last week, and for good reason. Africa has the fastest-growing Catholic population on the planet, which is projected to reach nearly 350 million by 2050. As Francis reaches out to this growing population of the faithful, he would do well to look to the history of Catholicism in the region. He should do so... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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