2015-03-13T16:12:50-04:00

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:12 pm   By

A Bible handwritten in Latin, on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. (Via Wikipedia / Public Domain)  From AP:  Mississippi is the birthplace of William Faulkner, Richard Wright and recent U.S. poet laureate Natasha Trethewey. However, some lawmakers say they want to look beyond the secular literary world and designate the Bible as the state book. At least two bills are being filed during this state election year to make the holy book a state symbol. One is from Republican... Read more

2015-03-13T16:12:50-04:00

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:12 pm   By

Photo: from Vatican Radio / Facebook From Catholic News Agency: At a Marian shine during his three-day trip to Sri Lanka, Pope Francis touched on the country’s brutal decades-long civil war and pointed to the Mother of God as the ultimate witness of forgiveness. “In this difficult effort to forgive and find peace, Mary is always here to encourage us, to guide us, to lead us,” the Pope said Jan. 14 at the Our Lady of Madhu shrine in Sri... Read more

2015-03-13T16:12:51-04:00

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:12 pm   By

Actor Dario Grandinetti (photo: Prensa TV Pública via Wikipedia) From Variety:  A battle between rival Pope Francis biopics has just kicked off, with shooting starting this week in Buenos Aires on two feature films about Jorge Mario Bergoglio, both toplining Argentine A-list actors as the Jesuit priest and tracing the path to his groundbreaking papacy. Thesp Rodrigo de la Serna, who played alongside Gael Garcia Bernal in Walter Salles’s “The Motorcycle Diaries,” is playing the former Buenos Aires bishop, a son of Italian immigrants,... Read more

2015-03-13T16:12:51-04:00

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:12 pm   By

Some big news—and a very welcome addition:  While introducing readers to a new Patheos Catholic blogger, particularly one who has great writing chops but may have flown under the radars, biographical information can sometimes be a little thin; sometimes research is required. This is not the case with Michael Novak, whose new blog, Coming Down to Earth debuts today with a reminiscence of Lithuania and the Divine Mercy. In Michael’s case, the biographical material is so plentiful it needs its own editor, or... Read more

2015-03-13T16:12:51-04:00

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:12 pm   By

Gloria Steinem at a news conference for the Women’s Action Alliance in 1972, via Wikipedia The news was announced in September: Famed writer, lecturer, editor and activist Gloria Steinem will speak at St. Norbert College on April 21, 2015. Steinem’s appearance will come during a week-long residency at the college by renowned public intellectual bell hooks, April 20-24, 2015.Throughout the week, the social-justice scholar hooks will host a number of talks related to her work on topics including the theology... Read more

2015-03-13T16:12:51-04:00

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:12 pm   By

Deacon Tom Powell and his wife Lydia (photo by Kevin Kelly / The Catholic Key) From The Catholic Key in Kansas City-St. Joseph: Deacon Tom Powell wasn’t ordained to win awards. But he won one anyway. True to his calling to service, Deacon Powell wasn’t available in Jefferson City in October to receive his Citizenship Award — given to one person in each of Missouri’s four dioceses — during the annual Missouri Catholic Conference General Assembly. “I was preaching that... Read more

2015-03-13T16:12:52-04:00

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:12 pm   By

From The Charlotte Catholic News Herald: A retired dramatics teacher from Charlotte Catholic High School has been told he cannot work as a substitute teacher at the school after he publicly announced he is planning to marry his same-sex partner later this year. Lonnie H. Billard, who had signed up to be a substitute teacher at the high school and was scheduled to teach during January, wrote on his Facebook page that he and his gay partner were planning to... Read more

2015-03-13T16:12:52-04:00

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:12 pm   By

Read on, via National Catholic Reporter:  Less than 10 percent of the 500 invited showed up. The low attendance was discouraging. It told me that the church is irrelevant to their lives. They do not even care enough about church to come and tell us why they don’t want to come. For them, the church is a dead letter, not good news. Of the roughly 40 young adults who did attend, about half were still going to church most Sundays.... Read more

2015-03-13T16:12:52-04:00

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:12 pm   By

From the CNS blog, this is remarkable:   Everyone — rich or poor — wants to look his or her best when greeting the pope. Today volunteers at a three-year-old program to assist the homeless at Manila’s Ermita Church made sure their clients will be ready for the pope’s arrival Thursday. The program, run by the Knights of Columbus and the Lions’ Club, offered clean clothes, haircuts and a shower. More than 200 people showed up in the first hour, and in... Read more

2015-03-13T16:12:53-04:00

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:12 pm   By

You may remember the link I posted several days back, about a Florida deacon who wrote about accepting his LGBT child. Deacon Ray Dever dropped me a cordial and appreciative email over the weekend. But he took issue with how his essay was framed. Among other things, he made this distinction: You responded to my article with some citations of familiar Church teachings about same sex marriage and homosexuality. I think it was clear, but I just wanted to reiterate... Read more

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