From CNN:  A church in Ireland decided to do something a little different to meet the needs of their on-the-go members — a drive-thru Ash Wednesday service. “If you are unable to attend mass you can come here, receive your ashes without having to leave your car,” the church said in its weekly newsletter. The church said they made the accommodation “for people who cannot attend mass who may be sick, find it difficult to walk, people on their way... Read more

From Crux:  Irish laywoman Marie Collins, the lone clerical sex abuse survivor currently serving as an active member of Pope Francis’ Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, is stepping down because she says the group’s work is being “hindered and blocked by members of the Curia.” “The reason for me leaving the Commission is completely down to the fact that the work we’re trying to do is being hindered and blocked by members of the curia,” Collins told Crux... Read more

Sunday night at the Oscars, one of the winners gave a powerful testimony about life—and, whether she realized it or not, she also offered Christians everywhere a great perspective on Lent. Viola Davis, winning the award for Best Supporting Actress, began her acceptance speech with these words: “You know,” she said, “there’s one place that all the people with the greatest potential are gathered. One place, and that’s the graveyard.” We are here this morning, in part, to admit that,... Read more

Owens was the Navy SEAL killed in action in Yemen in January. The president paid tribute to him during his speech Tuesday night. If you missed it, just watch. The emotional reaction of his widow Carryn was both powerful and prayerful—and will surely be one of the watched, re-watched and talked-about moments of the president’s address to Congress. Read more

This is something else. His story circulated around the web last year, but this is getting new attention just now, and why shouldn’t it? This is remarkable and inspiring: Teenager Alexey Romanov has become a promising piano player despite a debilitating illness that has deprived him of his fingers since birth. Sixteen-year-old prodigy Romanov from Zelenodolsk, a village in the Republic of Tatarstan, first took up music two years ago after being inspired by the works of Mozart and Vivaldi.... Read more

From CNS:  “The Virgin Mary has not appeared in Medjugorje,” said Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno, the diocese in Bosnia-Herzegovina,which includes Medjugorje. Two weeks after the Vatican announced Pope Francis was sending a Polish archbishop to study the pastoral needs of the townspeople and the thousands of pilgrims who flock to Medjugorje each year, Bishop Peric posted his statement Feb. 26 on his diocesan website. Three of the six young people who originally claimed to have seen Mary in Medjugorje... Read more

From Philly.com:  As part of a $285 million expansion project, Villanova University is erecting a pedestrian bridge that will run over Lancaster Avenue — something the township required for safety reasons to allow safe passage from the campus on one side of the road to the other. But controversy has ensued over the design of the bridge, specifically the Catholic university’s plan to erect 4-foot, 7-inch metal crosses atop stone pillars on either side of the structure. Some Radnor Township residents... Read more

Details: The police in Philadelphia found about 100 toppled headstones at a Jewish cemetery on Sunday, less than one week after a similar discovery was made in Missouri. Responding to a report of vandalism at the Mount Carmel Jewish Cemetery in northeastern Philadelphia, the police said a man told them that three headstones belonging to his relatives had been knocked over and damaged. Officers said they counted about 100 damaged headstones, which were most likely toppled sometime Saturday night. They... Read more

https://www.facebook.com/deacongreg.kandra/videos/10211139188528049/?l=7886717619999122797 Okay. Let’s get the most important thing out of the way: after attending my first LA Religious Education Congress, I can report there was no dancing deacon. The closing liturgy did not include the bopping clergyman I remember so vividly from the YouTube videos of the 2010 congress.  That’s not to say there wasn’t dancing. As the video above shows: yes, there was. And there was applause. (Probably the first time I can remember witnessing the entrance procession concluding with a... Read more

Via CNS:  The push for sanctuary was on a lot of minds at the U.S. Regional World Meeting of Popular Movements. Concerns about President Donald Trump’s intention to deport millions of unauthorized immigrants rose throughout the Feb. 16-19 gathering of more than 600 grass-roots and church leaders in California’s Central Valley. Declaring sanctuary for people fearing forced removal and the breakup of family life was one way to resist government actions, activists and Catholic clergy said. Auxiliary Bishop Edward M.... Read more