Pope Francis at Asian Youth Day in August 2014. (photo: by Korean Culture and Information Service / Jeon Han / Wikipedia) A writer in the Philippines has compiled a list, and it’s a good one: 1. Don’t gossip. It’s one of our hobbies. For Francis, it’s also one of the most evil activities. The Catholic leader denounces gossip as “murder.” He feels so strongly about it that in less than a year as pontiff, Francis has preached against gossip... Read more
You might remember this story from last week, about a priest in Kentucky “paying it forward” by giving away thousands of dollars for Christmas. Now, an anonymous donor is paying it forward, back to his church—and in a big way. What a great start to the new year. Check out the video below. LEX18.com | Continuous News and StormTracker Weather Read more
From The Chicago Sun Times: Cardinal Francis George was dropped from the clinical drug trial to treat his cancer because recent scans showed the treatment hasn’t worked for him, the Archdiocese of Chicago said in a statement Wednesday. While the experimental antibody drug was not effective in George’s case, physicians and others overseeing the trial assured him the information they gathered during his treatment will benefit others, the archdiocese said. George was participating in a trial being conducted by University... Read more
Details: In one of his final acts of governor of the state of Maryland, Martin O’Malley has commuted the sentences of four death row inmates to life without parole. The likely 2016 presidential candidate helped shepherd in the abolition of the death penalty in his state in 2013, arguing that it wasn’t a deterrent for criminals, could end up being applied to innocent people, and was far more costly to the state than other punishments. But the change left in effect sentences... Read more
“Happy Christmas” by Johansen Viggo, via Wikipedia Someone posted this tidbit on Facebook this morning, which addresses the question of when you should take down your Christmas tree: Traditionally, Catholics did not take down their Christmas trees and other Christmas decorations until January 7, the day after Epiphany. The Twelve Days of Christmas begin on Christmas Day; the period before that is Advent, the time of preparation for Christmas. The twelve days of Christmas end on Epiphany, the day that the Three Wise Men came to pay homage to... Read more
“The Madonna of Humility” (by Dominico di Bartolo, 1433 / Wikipedia) From the vault: my homily from January 1, 2009. Happy New Year! +++ About a century ago, the Jesuit poet and priest Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a poem that begins: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.” It’s a beautiful statement of the miraculous – and it’s more surprising because Hopkins himself suffered from depression. His life was a struggle, full of difficulties and disappointments. It was... Read more
St. Peter’s Basilica (photo: Andreas Tille / Wikipedia) From Vatican Radio: The number of Catholics in the world has increased with growth registered across all five continents. The figures are taken by the Fides news agency from the latest edition of the Church’s Book of Statistics updated to 31 December 2012. These show that on that date the number of Catholics in the world stood at 1,228,621,000 with an overall increase of more than 15,000,000 compared to the previous year.... Read more
Details from CNS: The Archdiocese of Santa Fe has placed new emphasis on reaching out to Pueblo communities, continuing evangelization efforts while upholding a traditional Indian way of life that is unique to New Mexico. “We are renewing our connection with the pueblos,” Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan told visitors with the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions during a late October meeting. “The Catholic Church has a place of prominence in the pueblo communities,” said the archbishop. “But we also need... Read more
Image: “Communion of the Apostles” by Fra Angelico (1440) via Wikipedia. This is a time of year when we see a lot of people in the communion line at Mass who, Sunday after Sunday, normally aren’t there. Some folks call them “Chreaster” Catholics—for one reason or another, they just show up for Christmas and Easter—but there may be others from out of town, visiting. But there may also be those who aren’t Catholic at all but feel, somehow, entitled... Read more
Photo: Rosalind Chan Consider this your warm-up for the Exsultet. A lot of places don’t do this chant anymore; a visiting priest who heard me do it last January was amazed. “I’ve never heard that before, anywhere,” he said. But my parish also does arcane bits of liturgy like the Blessing of Chalk and marking the church portal with the initials of the wise men. (That ritual is getting harder to repeat every year — nobody uses chalk anymore! It’s... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In