Sad news:  The monks at the Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity in Huntsville may be preparing to leave, but evidence of their presence will remain. In honor of a $400,000 donation the monks made to the Lantern House homeless shelter, they now are honored with a 7 1/2-by-28 1/2-foot sign above the serving area in the Ogden shelter’s cafeteria. The monastery is closing because fewer people are interested in becoming monks these days, said former abbot, The Rev.... Read more

This seems to be a big deal: The Holy See has established new provisions for the celebration of the Sacrament of Matrimony for members of the faithful who are attached to the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), the Vatican announced today. According to a letter signed on March 27 by Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Archbishop Guido Pozzo, secretary of the Ecclesia Dei Commission: “The Holy Father … has decided... Read more

Good grief:  Theresa May has condemned the National Trust for omitting the word “Easter” from its annual children’s egg hunt, saying she was furious both as the daughter of a vicar and as a National Trust member. Church leaders criticised the National Trust for “airbrushing” Christianity out of its chocolate egg hunt, after a rebrand led to the renaming of the “Easter Egg Trail” as the “Great British Egg Hunt”. In a surprisingly robust response, the prime minister said it... Read more

This news broke yesterday: The Vatican has welcomed three new Syrian refugee families, two of them Christian and one Muslim, the Holy See’s office of papal charities announced today. The two Christian families arrived in Italy in March. Both families suffered “kidnapping and other forms of discrimination because of their faith,” the Vatican statement said. The first family includes a mother with two teenage children, a grandmother, an aunt and another Syrian woman living with them. The second family is a... Read more

Check this out: When 22 Christian refugees gathered in the basement of an apartment in Istanbul early on a recent Sunday afternoon, it was quickly clear that this was no ordinary prayer meeting. Several of them had Islamic names. There was an Abdelrahman and even a couple of Mohammads. Strangest of all, they jokingly referred to their host — one of the two Mohammads — as an irhabi. A terrorist. If Bashir Mohammad took the joke well, it was because... Read more

Last week, Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin caused a stir with this Facebook post:  Three Reasons Not to Give to Panhandlers 1) Throwing some loose change at a panhandler while passing by is demeaning of his or her human dignity. While it might make us feel better, in fact it sustains a very unhealthy and degrading lifestyle. Our community has legitimate and structured means of helping the poor and needy. We should support those. 2) It can be a very... Read more

From The Catholic Herald:  A pro-life philosopher has been disciplined by a Catholic university because he expressed his opposition to abortion. Stéphane Mercier, a lecturer in philosophy, has been suspended from teaching at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), in Belgium, after distributing a pro-life paper to students for them to think about. Mercier told the Catholic Herald that he had asked students to “reflect on the arguments by themselves. I said repeatedly that no one should feel forced to agree... Read more

I alluded to his most famous rule a couple days back, but NPR has unearthed a few others that are notable: At a 1948 meeting, Graham and his ministry team came up with what was called the Modesto Manifesto, a set of four guidelines (including the no-alone-time-with-women rule many evangelical men follow). Here’s an abridged rundown of the rules, as Graham described them in his autobiography (emphasis ours): “The first point on our combined list was money. … [T]here was... Read more

In John’s gospel, we find ourselves standing outside the tomb of Lazarus, and watching the dramatic scene unfold – Christ calling out to a man who has been dead for four days. And we watch in wonder, and fear, as that dead man staggers out. Lazarus is, literally, “The Walking Dead.” But he is more than a reanimated corpse. He is a man who is given new life, and a second chance at life. And it happens for one simple... Read more

Those of us who are Of A Certain Age remember this classic Xerox ad from the 1970s featuring monks. It aired during the Super Bowl in 1977 and caused a sensation. Now, it’s been updated for the the 21st century. And it’s just sublime. Read more