This caught my eye because one of his classmates is none other than Bishop James Massa of Brooklyn. (I wonder if they shared a locker or a lunch table?) [img attachment=”119999″ align=”aligncenter” size=”full” alt=”img_3142-575×575″ /] Anyway, here’s a great account of what it’s like to be learning the ropes in Rome, from Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire website:  + For the past week, I have been sequestered at the Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum in Rome, an institution about five... Read more

This is what we have come to: While the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada does not alter the truth that these acts are “gravely immoral,” it is “foreseeable” that priests will receive requests for the sacraments from Catholics contemplating these actions, the Alberta and NWT bishops stated in a document released Wednesday. As well as requests for confession and anointing of the sick from Catholics who might have arranged for or are considering assisted suicide or euthanasia,... Read more

Not so very long ago, something like this would have been unthinkable in the deep South. From CNA:  A portion of Old Leeds Road in Irondale, Alabama, which is home to the EWTN Global Catholic Network, is being officially renamed to honor Mother Angelica, the foundress of the Catholic media network. In a ceremony on Friday morning, EWTN Chairman and CEO Michael Warsaw, as well as Irondale Mayor Tommy Joe Alexander, officially dedicated a portion of the road, renaming it... Read more

From The Forward:  Lewis Burik may not play in a single Stanford football game this season. At practice, the sophomore inside linebacker trains with everyone else. At games, Burik is on the sidelines, a walk-on to a football team ranked seventh in the country. But Burik, who was raised as a Reform Jew, with a Jewish mother and Catholic father,told DNA Info he doesn’t mind sitting out and just enjoys being part of the team. And he even chose St.... Read more

From Vatican Radio:  Don’t envy the rich and powerful or conspire against your neighbour, but instead nurture the light of faith in your lives. That was Pope Francis’s message in his homily at the Santa Marta Mass on Monday morning. Reflecting on the reading from St Luke’s Gospel the Pope talked about the many ways in which we hide the light of faith, through jealousy and arguments, by plotting evil against our neighbours or simply by putting off until tomorrow... Read more

Details: Charmian Carr, known for her role as Liesl Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, died Saturday. She was 73. Carr’s family announced she died in Woodland Hills of complications from a rare form of dementia. Carr was born on Dec. 27, 1942, in Chicago. She was 21 when she sung the popular “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” as the oldest Von Trapp sister in the Academy Award-winning Sound of Music (1965), starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. Carr only starred in... Read more

Details:  A 17-year-old has become the first child to die by euthanasia in Belgium after the country adopted new rules in 2014. Officials confirmed the death following the announcement to remove age restrictions on euthanasia requests two years ago. The move has made Belgium the only country where children of any age are able to choose to have the fatal injection. In the neighbouring Netherlands the practice is possible for children aged at least 12.  Those aged under 18 in... Read more

You probably remember the heartbreaking story of the seminarian who drowned over the summer while rafting. Tom Hoopes at the National Catholic Register has more on Brian Bergkamp’s life and his impact on those who knew him: “One thing we want to say up front is the fact that Brian was an ordinary child and young adult,” his mother, Teresa, told me. “He wasn’t perfect — he had struggles and faults, like the rest of us. He had a desire to... Read more