From NBC News: Four years have passed since the Islamic State group’s fighters were run out of Kobani, a strategic city on the Syrian-Turkish border, but the militants’ violent and extreme interpretation of Islam has left some questioning their faith. A new church is attracting converts. It is the first local Christian place of worship for decades. “If ISIS represents Islam, I don’t want to be a Muslim anymore,” Farhad Jasim, 23, who attends the Church of the Brethren, told... Read more
Details: he attorneys that are representing the Covington Catholic High School student who went viral after engaging in a confrontation with a Native American have sent over 50 letters to media outlets, Catholic organizations, celebrities and individuals to begin the first steps to possible libel and defamation lawsuits. The list, which was obtained by the Cincinnati Enquirer, shows 54 names and organizations on the list of possible lawsuits, including The New York Times, CNN, presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren, actress Alyssa Milano, comedian Jim... Read more
This is just great: A GoFundMe account redirected the attention given the harassment of a family with ties to Covington Catholic toward charitable giving. The account creator, John Andrew Hodge, writes that he is Michael Hodge’s brother. Michael Hodge and his family were harassed after the Covington Catholic student was misidentified as Nick Sandmann. The account has raised more than $18,000 for the Mary Rose Mission, a Catholic organization that serves low-income families and individuals in Northern Kentucky. The nonprofit provides meals to food-insecure individuals. “Michael has volunteered cooking... Read more
Two minutes of heart, touched with a little bit of genius. I finally saw this Sunday morning: This is Jeep’s Super Bowl ad this year and it works on so many levels, it is pure visual poetry. (Which is something you can’t say about most car ads!) Kudos, Jeep, kudos. Just watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msllMWcmC08 Read more
Is there any scripture passage more familiar than that reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians? You hear that passage all the time at weddings. I know it was read at my wedding. It’s been used at funerals – most famously, perhaps, at the funeral for Princess Diana, where it was read by Tony Blair. When he was sworn in as president, Franklin Roosevelt had his family Bible opened to that chapter. He rested his hand on words that proclaim... Read more
From Ross Douthat in The New York Times: The Catholic Church — in New York, especially — used to be an effective pro-life political force straddling partisan divides, instead of an institution devastated by attrition, internal division and the sex abuse disaster. That declining influence is neatly distilled in the story of Mario and Andrew Cuomo. The father felt constrained by his Catholicism to at least agonize publicly over abortion, to insist that he could be pro-choice and “personally opposed.”... Read more
Bishop Ed Scharfenberger, who himself holds a license in canon law, offers some thoughts on what that law has to say about excommunication in the current edition of The Evangelist: As calls for excommunication from rank-and-file Catholics across the state began to increase, it became clear that there were some fundamental issues that needed to be addressed: What exactly is excommunication? How would it be used? When was the last time it was used? The Evangelist sat down with Bishop... Read more
Details: After a months-long hiatus, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence has returned to Twitter to pointedly remind Rhode Island’s Catholic legislators — and the state’s Catholic governor — of his “track record on dealing with pro-abort Catholic politicians” — specifically, his asking then-Rep. Patrick Kennedy in 2009 to stop taking communion. In a week when state legislators held hearings on bills that would enshrine the right to an abortion in state law, Bishop Tobin weighed in with a series... Read more
And it’s movingly, unexpectedly, pro-life. Here it is, from Microsoft: a celebration of resilience, optimism and human dignity. It’s just great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=110&v=_YISTzpLXCY Read more
From the Diocese of Orlando website: Marianne Cano walked down the aisle of St. James Cathedral in Orlando dressed in a long white gown and filled with irrepressible joy. The day she awaited and prepared for since her youth, to become a “bride of Christ”, was here. Surrounded by family and guests from as far away as Dominican Republic, she was consecrated to a life of virginity. Cano, who attends Ascension Parish in Melbourne, is the first woman to become... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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