Homily for June 14, 2015: 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last updated on: June 13, 2015 at 12:28 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

This Sunday, after the weeks of celebrating Easter, then the big feasts of Pentecost and Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi, we find ourselves slipping back in Ordinary Time. “Ordinary” is exactly how you might describe the subject of today’s gospel. Jesus speaks of the power contained in a seed—an object so small, but so significant. It contains tremendous possibility. It can grow into something huge, giving shelter and shade. It might even transform the world. God’s kingdom, Jesus tells us, is... Read more

New York Times profiles Fr. C. John McCloskey III, “Opus Dei priest with a magnetic touch”

Last updated on: June 13, 2015 at 12:22 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: Last fall, I traveled to Palo Alto, Calif., to meet the man with the unusual gift. Some priests are known for their work among the poor, others for their learning, still others for decades of service to a parish. The Rev. C. John McCloskey III, a priest of the traditionalist Opus Dei order, has a different calling. He makes converts, often of the rich and Republican. He has personally prepared for conversion to Catholicism, among others,Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas;... Read more

New York Times profiles Fr. C. John McCloskey III, “Opus Dei priest with a magnetic touch”

Last updated on: June 13, 2015 at 9:52 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

Homily for June 14, 2015: 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last updated on: June 13, 2015 at 11:30 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Ordination update: 19 new deacons for Los Angeles

Last updated on: June 13, 2015 at 12:09 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

From Angelus: Archbishop José H. Gomez ordained 19 men to the permanent diaconate during a June 6 multi-lingual Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. “Brothers, you are called to be servants of love,” said the archbishop during his homily, directly addressing this year’s diaconate formation class, including Deacons Carlos Castro (St. Elisabeth, Van Nuys); José de Jesús Benavides (St. Marcellinus, City of Commerce); Juan Navarro (St. Joseph, Hawthorne); Dennis Shinn (St. Denis, Diamond Bar); Donald Burt... Read more

Cardinal Sarah endorses facing East, suggests appendix to Roman Missal

Last updated on: June 12, 2015 at 5:54 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: Paying tribute to the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy as a liturgical “Magna Carta,” Cardinal Robert Sarah called for a more faithful implementation of its text, lamented misinterpretations of its teaching on “active participation,” and suggested an appendix to the Roman Missal that might better manifest the continuity of the extraordinary and ordinary forms of the celebration of the Mass. “The liturgy is essentially the action of Christ,” the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship... Read more

Pope to priests: “A Church where no discussions take place is a dead Church” — UPDATED

Last updated on: June 13, 2015 at 9:03 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

He gave a remarkable talk today to priests gathered in Rome — most of it unscripted. It sounds like it was extraordinary, in every sense. Catholic News Service has a good Twitter overview right here. (It includes at the bottom the full video.) And Rome Reports offers this brief report that gives a sense of the event. UPDATE: Vatican Radio has a full write-up—and translates the pope’s quote as “A Church without quarrels is a dead church.” Read on here. Read more

Pope to meet publicly with married gay activist at roundtable next month

Last updated on: June 12, 2015 at 4:22 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: Pope Francis is slated to hold his first public meeting with a married gay activist during a visit to Paraguay in July. The activist is Simón Cazal, executive director of the Paraguayan LGBT rights group SOMOSGAY, who married another SOMOSGAY activist, Sergio López, in neighboring Argentina in 2012. Though the pope has reportedly held pastoral meetings with some LGBT people, this meeting marks the first time he will publicly meet with an LGBT political activist. Cazal received an invitation on... Read more

Deacon Sal Alvarez, RIP — UPDATED

Last updated on: June 13, 2015 at 7:46 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

A giant is gone: A career that started in academia and then embraced the teachings of Jesus, Mohandas Gandhi and Cesar Chavez — a life’s work honored by the Vatican in 2011 — ended on Sunday when Salvador E. Alvarez died at home in San Jose after a long, debilitating illness. He was 74. Soon after he was born with a club foot in Santa Maria in 1940, Alvarez’s Mexican immigrant parents moved the family to Mountain View so he... Read more

Abu Dhabi opens second Catholic church

Last updated on: June 12, 2015 at 1:47 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

You may remember this item from a few days back. Now, it’s official: A second catholic church in Abu Dhabi was inaugurated on Thursday evening in the presence of Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE Minister for Culture, Youth and Community Development, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state and Bishop Paul Hinder, the apostolic vicar of Southern Arabia. The new St. Paul church of Roman Catholic faith is a 4,560 square metres complex built on a land... Read more