From The Rhode Island Catholic: Finally, “Baby Francis” is resting in peace. In a simple, but dignified ceremony this morning in a section of Gate of Heaven Cemetery set aside for the repose of babies, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin presided over a Christian burial service for the unborn child he named “Francis,” fulfilling a commitment he made to officials five months ago after a fetus was found floating amid the sewage at a nearby wastewater treatment facility. A tiny white... Read more
You may remember that Pope Francis last month named a devotee of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form, Rev. James Massa, as an auxiliary bishop to Brooklyn. Fr. Massa has a special interest in issues affecting the people of the Middle East. He worked for the USCCB for several years as Executive Director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue. In 2008, he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI a Consultor to the Pontifical Council... Read more
From The Rhode Island Catholic: Finally, “Baby Francis” is resting in peace. In a simple, but dignified ceremony this morning in a section of Gate of Heaven Cemetery set aside for the repose of babies, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin presided over a Christian burial service for the unborn child he named “Francis,” fulfilling a commitment he made to officials five months ago after a fetus was found floating amid the sewage at a nearby wastewater treatment facility. A tiny white... Read more
From CNS: An Irish bishop urged his colleagues to establish a commission to discuss the possibility of ordaining married men. Bishop Leo O’Reilly of Kilmore also wants the Irish bishops’ conference to empower the commission to further study female deacons. The proposal stemmed from a 10-month listening process that O’Reilly led in the Kilmore Diocese, which led to a diocesan assembly and a new diocesan pastoral plan to tackle challenges facing the Catholic Church, including the declining number of priests.... Read more
You may remember that Pope Francis last month named a devotee of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form, Rev. James Massa, as an auxiliary bishop to Brooklyn. Fr. Massa has a special interest in issues affecting the people of the Middle East. He worked for the USCCB for several years as Executive Director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue. In 2008, he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI a Consultor to the Pontifical Council... Read more
View image | gettyimages.com A couple of high profile people have been talking about the pope’s upcoming encyclical on the environment and climate change. Of course, nobody talking about it has even read the document, so it’s impossible to know what it contains. But what we do know right now is that the ideas expressed in an encyclical—any encyclical—are not insignificant. (Exhibit A: Humanae Vitae) Some background from the Catholic Encyclopedia: According to its etymology, an encyclical (from the Greek egkyklios, kyklos meaning a... Read more
Great news: The Custody of the Holy Land announced that the Father Dhiya Azziz has been liberated. The Custody had had no news of the Father Dhiya since Saturday, 4 July, in the late afternoon. Conflicting news had nevertheless led people to believe that he had been taken by jihadists affiliated to Al-Nusra Jabhat, which administers the emirate in the sector. Father Dhiya was allegedly abducted by another group jihadists eager to profit on his release. In the region, there... Read more
From The Beacon: Bishop Serratelli ordained 13 men to the Order of Deacon June 5 in St. Peter the Apostle Church here, which was filled to capacity with many diocesan priests and deacons, the families and friends of the new pernament deacons, and the faithful of the Paterson Diocese. The 13 permanent deacons — William Aquino of Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Highland Lakes; Nicholas Ardito of Our Lady of the Mountain Parish, Long Valley; John Brandi of Assumption Parish,... Read more
View image | gettyimages.com The Buffalo News picks up on a trend a lot of us have been noticing for a while: In a striped bow tie and patterned dress shirt, Ryan Zuccala looks every bit the part of a Catholic prep-school student. His dark hair is neatly trimmed and combed to the side. He’s polite and respectful. He rows for the crew team and aspires to study economics at Princeton University. Like all Canisius High School students, Ryan attends... Read more
[getty src=”109710918?et=N3Dxkl6rTrlsrhItz_6Uow&viewMoreLink=on&sig=3xdsUy4N8lp1tjeXrqYcgji_vcZj07mhTthHUmlPBik=” width=”332″ height=”516″] View image | gettyimages.com The Buffalo News picks up on a trend a lot of us have been noticing for a while: In a striped bow tie and patterned dress shirt, Ryan Zuccala looks every bit the part of a Catholic prep-school student. His dark hair is neatly trimmed and combed to the side. He’s polite and respectful. He rows for the crew team and aspires to study economics at Princeton University. Like all Canisius High... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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