SF teachers sign petition protesting archbishop’s morality clauses

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:11 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

From the AP: Teachers and staff from four Catholic High Schools in the San Francisco Bay Area are urging their archbishop to remove morality clauses from the faculty handbook. Teacher Jim Jordan said Tuesday a petition with 355 signatures of teachers and staff will be delivered to Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone by union representatives. Jordan is an English teacher at Sacred Heart Cathedral High School and says the language used by Cordileone “undermines the mission of Catholic education and the inclusive,... Read more

Historic: first married couple to be canonized together

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:11 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

From Zenit: Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, informed recently that the parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux – Louis and Zelie Martin –, will be canonized this October, coinciding with the Synod on the Family, which will take place at that time in the Vatican. Thanks be to God in October two spouses, parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux, will be canonized,” said the Salesian Cardinal, at a recent meeting organized by the Libreria... Read more

“Priest” offers to hear confessions via Snapchat?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:11 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

From San Antonio: Instead of turning to church to confess your sins, could you instead turn to your phone? A local ordained priest says he’s offering confessions digitally for the first time through the Snapchat app. However, some faithful believers are skeptics. “It’s not confession. It’s not what the sacrament is all about,” said Rev. Tony Vilano. He hears confessions in person daily at San Fernando Cathedral downtown. He questions who could be behind the online confessions. “He’s not a... Read more

Want to become a better confessor?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:11 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

I got an email yesterday about this, and it looks very enticing: The Thomistic Institute will be holding its fourth annual Conference for Priests, Becoming a Better Confessor: Using the Virtues and Vices in the Confessional, this summer at Baltimore’s historic Basilica of the Assumption, from July 7-9, 2015. We have put together a great program, featuring Fr. Romanus Cessario, Fr. Basil Cole, Fr. Fred Miller, and Msgr. Charles Pope (and others). Curious? Check out this website for more information.... Read more

Vatican: “Threat exists” from ISIS against pope, but “we know of no plan for an attack”

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:11 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

From Crux: While acknowledging that ISIS represents a real threat to Pope Francis and the Vatican, the commander of the Vatican gendarmes says security services have no knowledge of a planned attack. “The threat exists. This is what has emerged from my conversations with Italian and foreign colleagues,” said Domenico Giani, inspector general of the Corpo della Gendarmeria, the police and security service for the Vatican City State. “At the moment, I can say that we know of no plan... Read more

Great moments in parenting: baby bottles that look like beer bottles

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:11 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

From The Los Angeles Times: Babies don’t drink beer, and for good reason. But if you’d like for all the parents in your Mommy & Me class to give you dirty looks — and question your sanity — you can now at least give the illusion of handing your child a baby beer bottle. Perpetual Kid, an online retailer, is listing a Chill, Baby Lil’ Lager Baby Bottle on its website. It’s a baby bottle made to look like a... Read more

Kidnapped mother of priest rescued in Nigeria

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:11 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Praise God. Details: The mother of a priest in the Madison Catholic Diocese has been rescued after being kidnapped in Nigeria and held captive for a week, according to the diocese. The woman, Virginia Arinze, had been abducted at gunpoint from her home on the afternoon of Feb. 21, Nigerian time, according to Monsignor James Bartylla, the diocese’s second-in-command. She is the mother of the Rev. Paul Arinze, 42, a Nigerian native and pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption... Read more

Bishop calls for month of prayer for persecuted Christians

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:11 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

The following letter was issued by Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence this morning: Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. . . . If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it.” (Cf: I Cor 12: 12-26) These words of St. Paul come quickly to mind these days as we witness the unimaginable suffering that our fellow... Read more

Stephen Colbert talks saints, Lent, scripture—and he dances

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:11 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

This is something else: a side of the late night star many haven’t seen before. He stopped by the offices of America magazine to chat with Fr. James Martin. Check this out. You will smile. Photo via Wikipedia Read more

A priest who spent 50 years “jousting with The New York Times”

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:11 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Catholic News Agency reports: A lot has changed in journalism since 1961, but not Msgr. Daniel S. Hamilton’s resolve to rebut the New York Times on its editorial opinions regarding matters of faith and morals.The New York priest has submitted Letters to the Editor of the publication since 1961 and recently compiled them all in a self-published book entitled “Jousting with the New York Times 1961-2014: Worldviews in Radical Conflict.”Why has he written so faithfully?“Among various instruments contributing to and... Read more