Check out the video report below on Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Maryland: Details: Tighter screening at seminaries is…part of the solution, according to diocesan officials. Catching problems before they become priests is crucial, and seminaries are now thrust onto the front lines of that fight. While seminaries have always been for young men to discern whether or not they’ve been called to the priesthood by God, it is also a time for the church to be discerning. “Who is... Read more
From The Washington Post: In the world of national columnists, David Brooks is a star. But in the last few years, the New York Times writer and author has whipped up fascination among a certain subset of readers for a specific, gossipy reason: They wonder if the Jewish writer has become a Christian. In his bestselling new book, “The Second Mountain: The Quest for the Moral Life,” Brooks, 57, one of the most prominent columnists in the country, traces his spiritual journey... Read more
This helps put things in context, from Thomas McDermott, OP: Catherine lived during a time of pessimism and cynicism. Barbara Tuchman, in her historical narrative A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, described the period as “a time of turmoil, diminished expectations, loss of confidence in institutions, and feelings of helplessness at forces beyond human control.” The popes lived in exile in Avignon between 1309 and 1377, only returning to Rome after Catherine went personally to the papal court and pleaded... Read more
From the AP: The checkpoints started just outside of an east Sri Lanka village, the strictest seen in the days after Islamic State-aligned militants launched suicide attacks that killed over 250 people. The trucks stopped first, soldiers digging through crates and produce. Buses disgorged their passengers. Cars lined up single file so soldiers could open their hoods to inspect engine blocks and pull everything out of trunks. The reason became clear soon after, as the sound of hymns filled the... Read more
A great story, from the Catholic Review in Baltimore: Whether he is in a church or an airplane, permanent Deacon Daniel Michaud loves to serve God’s people. In addition to his ministry at Our Lady of Victory in Arbutus, he has the opportunity to encounter 300 to 500 people a day as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, and he aims to make them all positive experiences. “It’s seamless between working as a deacon and working as a flight attendant,”... Read more
Some wonderful wisdom, via Tony Rossi and The Christophers, from a young cancer survivor with a message for the world: At age 35, Kate Bowler’s life certainly seemed blessed. She had a loving husband and newborn son, she’d written a successful book exploring the prosperity gospel, and she worked as a professor at Duke Divinity School. Then, she was diagnosed with incurable stage four colon cancer. It became a challenge to process this information in light of her views on God,... Read more
The big picture, from The Washington Post: Inspired by the devastating impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and enabled by the largely unchecked freedoms of social media, individual extremists have launched a steady series of assaults on religious institutions around the world, the latest at a California synagogue. Chabad of Poway, where a shooter left one woman dead and three people injured Saturday, joins a list of places of worship that have become symbols of the growing ability of lone... Read more
Details: It was the first Sunday anyone could remember without a mass at St Sebastian’s. A week since the bombings that killed at least 250 people, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Sri Lanka’s most senior Catholic, had ordered the country’s churches not to hold services until police could be sure they would not be attacked. In a televised mass, Ranjith delivered a homily before members of the clergy and the country’s leaders in a small chapel at his Colombo residence but in Negombo,... Read more
Details (translated): Continuing his journey of naming lay people in important structures of the Vatican, Pope Francis will designate, for the first time in history, a woman to lead a Vatican dicastery. And not any charge: neither more nor less, than responsible for the Secretariat for the Economy of the Holy See , replacing Cardinal George Pell, condemned for abuses in Australia. According to sources consulted by RD, it is very advanced the possibility that the Italian Claudia Ciocca , the current director of the... Read more
This is something else. It’s working its way around social media and it’s irresistible. Enjoy. https://www.facebook.com/StPeterEastwood/videos/2123539721096929/UzpfSTIxNDkxNjAyNTM2OToxMDE2MTc5Mjg3Mzk1MDM3MA/ Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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