Cardinal to celebrate Mass for LGBT Catholics

Last updated on: May 7, 2015 at 1:28 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

From U.K.’s The Catholic Herald Cardinal Vincent Nichols will celebrate Mass with a “pastoral outreach” to gay Catholics in central London on Sunday. Same-sex attracted Catholics, along with their families, will attend the Mass at Farm Street Jesuit Church in Mayfair at 6.15pm. It is the first time a cardinal has celebrated a Mass “welcoming” gay Catholics, according to the LGBT Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council, the group that organises Sunday evening gatherings at the church. A spokesman for the cardinal... Read more

Prosecutors want to prevent “Dead Man Walking” nun from testifying in Boston Marathon bomber trial

Last updated on: May 7, 2015 at 1:23 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: Federal prosecutors want the nun who inspired the movie “Dead Man Walking” to be prevented from testifying in the case of the Boston Marathon bomber, according to court records. At a sidebar conference with U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s defense team said that they may rest their case as early as today after jurors hear testimony from Sister Helen Prejean, a staunch death penalty opponent. Susan Sarandon played Sister Helen in a 1995 movie starring Sean Penn about her relationship with... Read more

Virginia’s bishops: “The death penalty does not provide true healing, nor embody the Gospel of Life”

Last updated on: May 7, 2015 at 1:20 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

This may have escaped your attention yesterday, but it deserves an airing: The following statement on the death penalty was issued by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde and Richmond Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo: This year, through the advocacy of the Virginia Catholic Conference, our church spent considerable time opposing legislation related to the death penalty. The proposed measure would have permitted the commonwealth to arrange with compounding pharmacies to mix drugs for use in executions, hiding from the public the... Read more

Game changer? Study finds premature babies may survive at 22 weeks

Last updated on: May 7, 2015 at 1:17 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

From The New York Times: A small number of very premature babies are surviving earlier outside the womb than doctors once thought possible, a new study has documented, raising questions about how aggressively they should be treated and posing implications for the debate about abortion. The study, of thousands of premature births, found that a tiny minority of babies born at 22 weeks who were medically treated survived with few health problems, although the vast majority died or suffered serious... Read more

Words the world needs to hear

Last updated on: May 7, 2015 at 1:13 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

They are the words of a 12-year-old Iraqi refugee named Tamara in Ankawa, Iraq, as reported by CNS, and they are beautiful: “ISIS took everything,” she said, “but we still have our faith in Jesus Christ, and they will never take it.” CNEWA President Msgr. John E. Kozar, meeting these extraordinary people while on a pastoral visit with Cardinal Leonardo Sandri this week, said: “Even in the midst of extreme poverty and the complete lack of privacy and personal or... Read more

Santorum to announce campaign plans on May 27

Last updated on: May 6, 2015 at 10:19 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Can there be any doubt he’s in? You don’t announce an announcement on FoxNews—to take place in your hometown, no less—to say you aren’t running. From Fox: Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said on Fox News Wednesday that he will announce whether he will run for president in 2016 on May 27. Santorum told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren that he will announce his plans in Butler, Pennsylvania where he grew up. “It was a great campaign last time. We... Read more

Who is Marco Rupnik? And what was he thinking with that Jubilee of Mercy logo?

Last updated on: May 6, 2015 at 6:01 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Well, quite a few people have expressed their displeasure at the Jubilee of Mercy logo—you can find a lot of justified grumbling here and here and here. I was curious to find out more about the artist and didn’t have to look far. His biography: Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik was born 28 November 1954 in Zadlog, Slovenia near Idrija. In 1973 he entered the Society of Jesus. He studied philosophy in Ljubljana and then, in 1977, enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts... Read more

A Catholic funeral for…a dog?

Last updated on: May 6, 2015 at 2:20 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Check this out: It happened on April 22, 2015 in the city of Sambreville, Belgium, in St. Victor Church of Auvelais. The parish priest, Fr. Francis Lallemand, took the initiative of celebrating the first religious service for a dog that we know of. He opened his church for the burial religious and preached a homily during the ceremony, above. A white crib placed in front of the altar had the cremated remains of a Chihuahua called “Miss Chiwa,” which had been a... Read more

The Year of Mercy logo stinks. Here’s why it’s okay to say so.

Last updated on: May 6, 2015 at 9:41 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

The Year of Mercy has a logo, and it stinks! See? I have a few more things to say, (the first being, why the heck do we need a logo? The answer being: So people will talk about it on Facebook), and I hope to post about this tomorrow or Friday. In the mean time, I wanted to talk about being a Christian critic. I said on Facebook that when I saw the logo, I wondered if there were some... Read more

German Catholic Church sets new employee policy for divorced and remarried, same sex couples

Last updated on: May 6, 2015 at 10:55 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: Germany’s Roman Catholic Church, an influential voice for reforms prompted by Pope Francis, has decided lay employees who divorce and remarry or form gay civil unions should no longer automatically lose their jobs. Catholic bishops have voted to adjust Church labour law “to the multiple changes in legal practise, legislation and society” so employee lifestyles should not affect their status in the country’s many Catholic schools, hospitals and social services… “The new rule opens the way for decisions that... Read more