The Archdiocese of Hartford in Connecticut, like many places in the northeast, is facing parish closures and mergers:  Cheers erupted through Holy Trinity Church in Hartford Saturday night at the moment worshippers learned that their beloved and historic building would not be closing, something parishioners feared for months would happen under a church reorganization plan. But in Cheshire, the mood at the 4 p.m. Saturday Mass was much different: Parishioners at the Church of the Epiphany heard that theirs would... Read more

This weekend, I had the great privilege of leading a retreat (along with my wife) for the deacon candidates of the Diocese of Brooklyn, who will be ordained on May 27. As you can see above, a photographer from the diocesan paper, The Tablet, stopped by to take pictures for the upcoming ordination issue. I opened one of my four conferences with this prayer: “Lord God, grant me the grace to accept whatever challenges, disappointments and successes come my way... Read more

After it was revealed that Catholic psychiatric hospitals in Belgium would permit euthanasia, it sparked an international uproar. Now, the Vatican is getting involved:   The Vatican is investigating the decision of a group of psychiatric care centers run by a Catholic religious order in Belgium to permit doctors to perform euthanasia of “nonterminal” mentally ill patients on its premises. Brother Rene Stockman, superior general of the Brothers of Charity, told Catholic News Service that Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary... Read more

This is powerful: the homily by Coptic Orthodox priest Father Boules George, of St. Mark Church in Cairo, Egypt.  You can read the story behind it here. The message, translated: A message to those who kill us: What will we say to them? The first thing we will say is, “Thank you very, very much,” and you won’t believe us when we say it. You know why we thank you? I’ll tell you. You won’t get it, but please believe us.... Read more

From Down Under:  After a six-year IVF journey to receive miracles Lachlan, 4, and 21-month-old twins Charlotte and William, Belinda and Shaun Stafford didn’t know what to do with their remaining embryos. Their babies. Donation wasn’t an option, the annual storage fee was an added financial strain, and disposing of them unimaginable. So when the NSW couple heard about Baby Bee Hummingbirds, an Australian company turning embryos into keepsake jewelley, they jumped at the chance. Now Ms Stafford has all... Read more

This essay from today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required) offers a glimpse into American Catholicism that will be familiar to many: Early last month I attended my Uncle Joe’s funeral Mass at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary—the same Morristown, N.J., Catholic church in which he had been baptized 89 years earlier. In an ancient tradition meant to recall baptism, his casket was covered with a white linen pall, blessed with holy water by a priest, and positioned in... Read more

Wonderful news: Born Bernard Francis Casey, on 25 November 1870, in Oak Grove, Wisconsin, “Barney” (as he was known) was the sixth of sixteen children to Irish immigrant parents. When he was a boy he contracted diphtheria, which left him with a permanently raspy voice; two of his siblings died of the illness. After working as a lumberjack, a hospital orderly and a prison guard (where me befriended two of Jesse James’ cohorts), he felt a call to the priesthood... Read more

Behold an answer to the question: “Who is my neighbor?” This is something else, a sermon in a snapshot:  These are the photographs which reveal the incredible compassion shown by ‘Good Samaritans’ – passing members of the public – who came to the rescue of a man who was threatening to jump from a bridge. The pictures reveal how a small crowd gathered around the man who teetered on the edge of the foot bridge in Golders Green, North London... Read more

From Washingtonian magazine, an interview with the Rev. Paul Scalia pegged to a new book he’s just published called “That Nothing May be Lost”: In the book, you say your father’s passing gave you a new realization of the gift of his faith. How so? Well, first of all, in the outpouring of prayers, Mass cards, and condolences that came from Catholics and Christians and people of other faiths from throughout the world, because they knew him to be a... Read more

Check this out: One day before the May 13 celebration marking the 100th anniversary of the Fatima apparitions, a statue of Our Lady of Fatima will be visiting the United Nations. May 12 will mark the second time this particular statue has been to the United Nations, the first being in 1952. Among the presenters at the May 12 United Nations event is Johnnette Benkovic, founder and president of EWTN’s Women of Grace. “As she [Our Lady] came to the... Read more