Neither John Corapi nor the people at his religious order, Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (S.O.L.T) have made any public statements about the curious LinkedIn account bearing his name that appeared earlier this month. It caught the attention of a few internet scribes, including Matt Abbott—which led me to put up a post on it a few days back. A few people at the time, as I noted, found the LinkedIn CV a little odd, and one priest... Read more

Details:  First of all, it appears that Fr. Federico Lombardi, who has headed the Holy See Press Office since 2006, is going to retire by the end of December. The 73-year-old Jesuit has also been running Vatican Radio since 1991 as its program director and since 2005 as its general director. It’s still not clear if Francis has decided to replace him at the press office with another member of their order, 49-year-old Jesuit Fr. Antonio Spadaro, or if he’s... Read more

From The Catholic Sun in Phoenix:  Carla Sperry never expected to be looked at as an expert in the Catholic faith. “Sometimes, even when my son was in the seminary, people would come up to me and say, ‘Oh, you’re the mother of a seminarian!’ and they would think that I would know so much about our religion.” A growing group of moms is finding solidarity with other mothers who not only understand that, but ride the same roller coaster of... Read more

From the vault, here’s my Thanksgiving homily from 2009: A lot of us know the story. It was the autumn of 1621. In Plymouth, Massachusetts, after a rich harvest, the men, women and children who had survived the first year in the New World gathered for a feast to offer thanks. One of the pilgrims wrote at the time: “By the goodness of God, we are so far from want.” What was it like?  I did a little Googling and... Read more

From The Wall Street Journal, a glimpse at what awaits the pope on his visit this week: The pews are so packed at Christ the King Church in Uganda’s capital that people squeeze hip-to-hip during weekday services. On Sundays, hundreds spill out onto the sidewalk, where tents handle the overflow. Such scenes are emblematic of Catholic congregations in Africa—where Pope Francis is traveling to for the first time this week. Demand is such that some communities in Uganda are building... Read more

A great idea that shows diakonia in action, via KPCC in California: The push by evangelists Rick and Kay Warren to persuade religious leaders to start attending to their congregations’ mental health needs is gaining some traction, following their second large conference on the topic last month. At St. Irenaeus Catholic Church in Cypress, change came even before the Warrens’ initiative, thanks to a church deacon and his wife. Jerry and Jo Ann Pyne were on an emotional roller coaster for 30... Read more

What??? Details:  Following a tradition of the past five decades, a Nativity scene featuring life-size figurines of baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the three wise men will be on display outside the Franklin County courthouse this coming holiday. But new this year? People walking by the courthouse on Main Street in downtown Brookville also will see the Statue of Liberty, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson huddled around a manger on the courthouse lawn. Baby Jesus is absent in that display; instead, the manger is holding... Read more

Rebecca Frech took it upon herself to visit a neighbor in Dallas: a mother who happens to be Muslim. What happened: I asked how she was holding up. Her smile flickered for a moment, and then she raised her chin and said that they were nervous but good. One of her friends had had epithets yelled at her in the parking lot of a local store, but she hadn’t encountered that personally. The people she did see were less friendly... Read more

Details: Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, 63, as Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, the ecclesial structure in the United States and Canada that ministers to former Anglicans who have entered the Catholic Church. The Pontiff has named Msgr. Steven Lopes, a priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as the Ordinariate’s first bishop. Msgr. Steenson, a former bishop... Read more

Auxiliary Bishop Octavio Cisneros of Brooklyn serves as pastor of Holy Child Jesus Parish in Richmond Hill, Queens. He posted this message on Facebook late Monday: A MIRACLE OF LIFE at Holy Child Jesus! At noon time today our sacristan heard a baby crying in the empty manger that is being readied for Christmas. When he went to investigate he found a newborn baby, umbilical cord still attached. The baby is well and healthy 5.2 pounds and 17 inches long. Pray... Read more