Father Perrone update: lawyers say he passed a polygraph ‘with flying colors’

Last updated on: August 5, 2019 at 9:07 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

The following news release arrived in my email a short time ago, updating the story of Father Eduard Perrone, a prominent priest from Detroit who was removed from ministry last month: Father Eduard Perrone, a priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit and pastor of Assumption Grotto Parish in Detroit, took and passed a polygraph test, and maintains his innocence from the recent, highly publicized, allegations against him. On July 5, 2019, Father Perrone was restricted from exercising all public ministry... Read more

After archbishop severs ties, Jesuit high school appeals to Rome

Last updated on: August 5, 2019 at 1:35 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

From the Indianapolis Star: The Indianapolis high school stripped of its Catholic identity over the employment of a gay teacher in a same-sex marriage has taken its case to Rome. Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School is appealing the decision of the Indianapolis Archdiocese to no longer recognize the school as Catholic. Archbishop Charles C. Thompson issued a decree cutting ties with Brebeuf in June after the school refused to fire Layton Payne-Elliott. A math teacher and Brebeuf graduate, Payne-Elliott is married to Joshua Payne-Elliott, the teacher... Read more

Chaput: ‘Only a fool can believe that gun control will solve the problem…’

Last updated on: August 5, 2019 at 11:58 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

From Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput, who ministered to the people of Colorado after Columbine: In separate incidents over the past two weeks, gunmen have killed three persons and wounded 13 others in Gilroy, CA; killed at least 20 and wounded 26 others in El Paso TX; and killed at least nine and wounded 27 others in Dayton, OH. These are just the latest in a long pattern of mass shootings; shootings that have blood-stained the past two decades with no end... Read more

The bishop of El Paso: ‘The Christ who suffered is in our midst’

Last updated on: August 5, 2019 at 8:54 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

From the diocesan website, a statement released Saturday by Bishop Mark Seitz: After this tragic day in El Paso my heart is filled with sadness for the many victims and their families. Saturday began like any other. People were going about their daily activities. Some chose to stop by the local Walmart to pick up some things. And then hatred and evil insanity interjected their senseless aggression. As a minister I am called to be present to those who suffered... Read more

This is superb: the story of the basketball star who became a nun

Last updated on: August 4, 2019 at 7:39 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

You won’t find a better vocation story than this. Check this out, from ESPN: She left with the clothes on her back, a long blue dress and a pair of shoes she’d never wear again. It was June 8, 1991, a Saturday morning, and Shelly Pennefather was starting a new life. She posed for a group photo in front of her parents’ tidy brick home in northern Virginia, and her family scrunched in around her and smiled. All six of... Read more

Martyr: Young El Paso mother died trying to shield her baby from bullets

Last updated on: August 4, 2019 at 4:06 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: A young mom shot dead during the El Paso massacre was hit while shielding her baby boy, according to family. Mom-of-three Jordan Anchondo, 25, was at the Texas Walmart Saturday shopping for school supplies when she was one of 20 killed — with her family still trying to find out whether her husband, Andre Anchondo, had survived, according to the dead woman’s sister. Anchonda’s 2-month-old baby was not hit — but was still lucky to survive after getting crushed as his mother fell... Read more

Remembering the Curé of Ars, Pope Francis writes to priests offering gratitude, encouragement

Last updated on: August 4, 2019 at 2:47 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: Pope Francis has written a letter to the more than 400,000 Catholic priests worldwide encouraging them during the tribulations from the sexual abuse crisis. The letter is meant to give priests, many of whom feel disheartened because of the horrendous crimes of abuse committed by a small percentage of their fellow priests, hope in these times of tribulation when they are so often blamed or treated with suspicion, distrust, contempt or ridicule. The letter comes as a surprise. Last year, on... Read more

The U.S. bishops on El Paso: ‘Things must change…to end these abhorrent acts’ — UPDATED

Last updated on: August 4, 2019 at 3:58 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

From the USCCB: Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, issued the following statement in response to the tragic shooting at the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, Texas. The full statement follows: This Saturday, less than week after the horrific instances of gun violence in California, yet another terrible, senseless and inhumane shooting took place, this... Read more

‘Teach us to number our days aright’: Homily for 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last updated on: August 3, 2019 at 8:27 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

We spend so much of our lives trying to get what we really don’t need – and so often we lose sight of what we do. From the vault, here’s my homily for this weekend from 2007: Back in the 1947, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst bought an estate in Beverly Hills for the then-astounding sum of 120-thousand dollars. Hearst only lived there four years before he died. A variety of other people have owned it since then, and it... Read more

MUST-READ: ‘Top 10 Myths About Clergy Sex Abuse in the Catholic Church’

Last updated on: August 2, 2019 at 5:14 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

This is an important compendium that every Catholic needs to read and share. From Psychology Today: As we approach the year anniversary of the recent uptick in media attention due to the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report (as well as the now-former Cardinal McCarrick abuse allegations), let’s review the top ten myths about clerical abuse in the Catholic Church. Myth 1: Sexual abuse is more common among Catholic priests than other groups of men. About 4 percent of Catholic... Read more