My homily from 2008. This is also included in the collection of essays, “All Shall Be Well,” published by Orbis Books.   + Sixty years ago, the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl wrote a best-selling book about his experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz. “Man’s Search for Meaning,” is considered to be a classic about the worst nightmare of the last century. Frankl describes how men, women and children coped with the horrors of the camp – how they were able simply... Read more

The extraordinary—and extraordinarily moving—foot-washing from Holy Thursday, via Rome Reports. Read more

From Atlanta:  A group of parents at a Cobb County elementary are upset over the school’s use of yoga and other mindfulness practices for students because they believe it endorses a non-Christian belief system. School leaders at Bullard Elementary held a meeting recently with parents to address the “many misconceptions” over the issue that “created a distraction in our school and community,” according to an email to parents from Bullard principal Patrice Moore. “While we have been practicing de-stressing techniques... Read more

On August 6, 2014, ISIS militants invaded northern Iraq, confiscating homes and businesses and beginning what would become a massive Christian genocide. Christians had to choose: pay heavy tax, convert to Islam, or die. Countless people were slaughtered, many beheaded. Tens of thousands of people fled their homes, many with just the clothes on their backs, escaping into the desert. Some of those who escaped were young men from a seminary in Quaraquosh. They managed to make their way to... Read more

Details:  The Rev. Bernard Hebda has been named archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, church officials announced Thursday morning. Hebda has been the acting leader of the archdiocese since June 15, after Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned in the wake of a clergy sex abuse scandal, a series of related lawsuits and investigations, and a bankruptcy filing. Hebda, 56, was appointed Thursday morning by Pope Francis. Hebda said he was “humbled by this expression of Pope Francis’s confidence... Read more

Details:  The two Eastern Catholic churches in India have decided not to include women in the washing of the feet ceremony on Maundy Thursday this year, which some Catholics say stands in conflict with papal guidance. Pope Francis allowed the inclusion of women in the ceremony by changing the previous prescription that said the “feet of 12 men be washed.” The changed regulation now asks pastors to “select a small group of the faithful” for the ritual washing. Cardinal Oswald... Read more

From the BBC: Pope Francis is more popular than any political world leader, an opinion poll has suggested. The poll by WIN/Gallup International indicates that Roman Catholics and Jews have the most favourable opinion of the Pope. More than half of the world’s protestants and even the majority of atheists and agnostics view him favourably. About 1,000 people were questioned in 64 countries. BBC religious affairs correspondent Caroline Wyatt says that, three years into his papacy, Francis has enjoyed enormous... Read more

From Vatican Radio, a beautiful reminder: March 24th marks the Church’s day of prayer for missionary martyrs, in memory of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero who was murdered while celebrating Mass on that day in 1980. During Romero’s beatification in San Salvador last May,  March 24th was also recognized as his feast day, yet this year the date marks Holy Thursday and will therefore not be celebrated as an official saints day. The popular archbishop was gunned down by hired assassins... Read more

Interesting stuff, from Pew:  Many religious groups, including Roman Catholics and Orthodox Jews, allow only men to be clergy, while others, including some denominations in the evangelical Protestant tradition, have lifted that restriction only in recent decades. Yet it often appears that the ranks of the faithful are dominated by women. In the United States, for example, women are more likely than men to say religion is “very important” in their lives (60% vs. 47%), according to a 2014 Pew... Read more