2015-03-13T16:13:25-04:00

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

From Huffington Post:  The Bible App has been downloaded more than 162 million times, according to the app’s creator, YouVersion. And unlike the print version of the immensely popular sacred text, the digital version can be mined for data. That traceability lets YouVersion come up with a number of interesting conclusions about how users all over the world are reading the Bible. Interest in using the Bible App surged over the past year in several surprising places. The highest amount of growth in activity... Read more

2015-03-13T16:13:25-04:00

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

From WLOX-TV:  Jasen Dixon’s nativity scene featuring zombies was ordered to be taken down Friday, however, it’s still standing in Sycamore Township. On Tuesday, Sycamore Township ordered the nativity scene to be taken down.  Dixon had until Friday to take the scene down.  If he did not take down the exhibit, legal action would have been taken and he would be fined $1,000. According to documents obtained by FOX19 NOW, Sycamore Township does not allow structures to be located in the front or... Read more

2015-03-13T16:13:25-04:00

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

Winston Churchill in 1904 (photo: Imperial War Museum / Wikipedia) From The Daily Telegraph:  In the public eye, Sir Winston Churchill’s long political career earned him a place among the greatest of Britons. But what may come as a surprise is that he was a strong admirer of Islam and the culture of the Orient — such was his regard for the Muslim faith that relatives feared he might convert. The revelation comes with the discovery of a letter to... Read more

2015-03-13T16:13:25-04:00

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

Photo: by Edgar Jiminez / Wikipedia Tour operators must be thrilled. That’s nearly three times the number from Benedict’s final year as pontiff. From Vatican Information Service:  In a communique published today, the Prefecture of the Papal Household reports that during the year 2014, more than 5,900,000 faithful participated in the various encounters with Pope Francis: audiences, both general (1,199,000) and special (567,100); liturgical celebrations in the Vatican Basilica and St. Peter’s Square (1,110,700), and the Angelus and Regina Coeli... Read more

2015-03-13T16:13:26-04:00

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

Over the Christmas break, I was able to attend Mass at my childhood parish, St. Patrick’s in Rockville, Maryland. My parents helped build the place back in the mid-1960s, and it was there that I first donned a cassock and surplice and served as an altar boy some 45 years ago.  The church was, and is, something lovely to behold—particularly for a post-Vatican II suburban parish. (You can read its colorful history here.) I remember being in awe of it when... Read more

2015-03-13T16:13:26-04:00

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

From an extensive interview in the Catholic World Report:  CWR: You’ve spent half your life as a Roman Catholic and half in the Episcopalian church. The Church of England—of which the Episcopalian church is an outgrowth—recently made the news by naming its first female bishop, Libby Lane. How has the Episcopalian church changed over your lifetime? Fr. Rutler: It’s changed very significantly. It is vanishing. A few generations ago, it was the unofficial official church of the United States. It was a... Read more

2015-03-13T16:13:26-04:00

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

Writer Sarah Thebarge unloads over at Huffington Post:  I was on staff at a church for a year, and I understand the pressure people must’ve been under in past Christmas seasons to bang out a new song their people could sing to celebrate baby Jesus. But it seems that in their haste, they have created some shoddy work, and they’ve altered the theology of the Christmas story — sometimes because it’s cute, and sometimes merely for the fact that it... Read more

2015-03-13T16:13:26-04:00

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

Details: ISIL Takfiri militants have razed to the ground a Catholic church in a gruesome act of terrorism in the Iraqi city of Mosul. “Members of the extremist organization (ISIL) cleared the Church of Virgin Mary of its contents in al-Arabi area, north of Mosul, and blew it up after few hours,” Pastor Behnam Raad told the Kurdish newspaper Rudaw on Friday. According to local Iraqi sources, the Takfiri terrorists had planted the bombs in the church and sealed it... Read more

2015-03-13T16:13:27-04:00

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

Photo: Jeffrey Bruno, Wikimedia Commons From Vatican Radio:  Pope Francis said on Sunday that “in a world often marred by selfishness, a large family is a role model for solidarity and sharing and this benefits the whole of society.” The Pope’s remarks came during an address to a gathering of around 7,000 people belonging to an Italian association for large families. Speaking to the families and their children, Pope Francis said he was pleased to meet them, saying it was... Read more

2015-03-13T16:13:27-04:00

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

As Anthony Joseph Alles is ordained, two deacons hold up a cloak called the bashkoon so that it shielded the man being ordained from view. (photo: Catholic Sentinel/Ed Langlois) Details, from The Catholic Sentinel:  In a liturgy Saturday that included actions unfamiliar to Roman Catholics, Father Anthony Joseph Alles became a priest of the Maronite Eparchy, or diocese, of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles. Father Alles is a member of the Maronite Monks of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, who... Read more

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