Lifenews.com has picked up this item from USA Today: The latest pro-abortion story to be highlighted in the mainstream media is that of the Rev. Anne Fowler, an Episcopal priest from New England, who said her abortion allowed her to finish divinity school and become a priest. Here is her story, according to an amicus brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court: If the Reverend Anne Fowler had not had access to an abortion when she accidentally became pregnant after... Read more

Now for something different. Below is the Penitential Rite from one of the Masses at the recently-concluded Los Angeles Religious Education Conference. The celebrant is Fr. Dan Horan, OFM.  The theme: care of creation.  (H/T to Acts of Apostasy). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K5h2jjclBo Read more

Deacon Bill Ditewig revisits an important subject that often arises during an election year: clergy and political involvement. He has a lot of good points to make, and highlights three areas too many of us conveniently overlook or ignore: Clergy and Social Media: Clergy of all faiths are prominent in their use of social media and are blogging, tweeting, writing, speaking and teaching at every conceivable level, and even venues formerly considered more informal, such as Facebook.  It is important to... Read more

A friend in Ohio posted this on Facebook the other day, talking about last Sunday’s homily: Today our deacon decided to preach not on the Samaritan Woman (we had the First Scrutiny at Mass) but on the Rosary, going so far as to having everyone do the Sorrowful Mysteries then and there. By the time the Scrutiny happened it looked like people wanted to head for the exits. Needless to say, this shouldn’t happen. A 1974 exhortation by Pope Paul... Read more

A superlative piece from writer Peter Wehner in yesterday’s New York Times: Set aside the fact that Mr. Trump is a compulsive and unrepentant liar. Set aside, too, that he has demonstrated no ability for statecraft or the actual administration of government and has demonstrated much incompetence at business to boot. Bracket for now the fact that Mr. Trump has been more erratic, unprincipled and proudly ignorant when it comes to public policy than perhaps any major presidential candidate in... Read more

Sounds like a good idea to me: It’s probably harder than you think. Some Chick-Fil-A locations across the U.S. are offering customers free ice cream in exchange for going screen-free. The company said on Tuesday that customers at more than 150 locally-owned Chick-Fil-A locations across the country can win a free Chick-Fil-A Icedream provided they can make it through their meals without looking at their phones. “Although our phones were meant to bring us closer together, they can sometimes have... Read more

From RNS: A series of essays in the semi-official Vatican newspaper is urging the Catholic Church to allow women to preach from the pulpit at Mass, a role has been reserved almost exclusively to the all-male priesthood for nearly 800 years. “This topic is a delicate one, but I believe it is urgent that we address it,” Enzo Bianchi, leader of an ecumenical religious community in northern Italy and a popular Catholic commentator, wrote in his article in L’Osservatore Romano.... Read more

  From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:  After the tolling of the noon hour Tuesday at the magnificent domed Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, whose towering perch above this historic railroad town reflects the Catholic Church’s long powerful presence in central Pennsylvania, the Rev. Dennis Kurdziel left little doubt for whom the bell tolled. “Pray for the victims,” said Father Kurdziel in a somber noontime Mass, held less than two hours after the release of a state grand jury report finding that... Read more

Details, from Aleteia’s John Burger:  A Louisiana law that requires clergy to report allegations of wrongdoing, even if learned during sacramental confession, is unconstitutional, a state judge ruled Friday. The case involves Rebecca Mayeaux, a 22-year-old woman who says she was 14 in 2008 when she told a priest in a confession that a 64-year-old parishioner was sexually abusing her. She alleges that the priest, Father Jeff Bayhi, told her to “sweep it under the floor and get rid of it.”... Read more

I’m home! I spent Monday night and Tuesday morning in scenic Oneonta, New York, not far from Cooperstown, in the Diocese of Albany. I was privileged to speak at St. Mary’s Catholic Church as part of their “Lent for Real Life” series. My topic: CNEWA and the work we are doing on behalf of persecuted Christians in the Middle East. [img attachment=”93399″ align=”aligncenter” size=”full” alt=”IMG_4882″ /] The audience was small but enthusiastic. [img attachment=”93400″ align=”aligncenter” size=”full” alt=”IMG_4934″ /] I spoke Monday night,... Read more