Report: Tampa priest committed suicide

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: A Tampa priest that died earlier this week committed suicide, according to reports. A memorial near the altar at St. Joseph’s Parish honors Father Vladimir Dziadek. According to police, a maintenance man discovered Father Vladimir at the bottom of a staircase along with a broken belt in the church office on Monday morning. The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner says the cause of death is a suicide by hanging. Nobody yet knows exactly why Father Vladimir committed suicide, but a Catholic... Read more

Romero beatification announcement?

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Maybe: The Salvadoran Church says that it will have a major announcement about the canonization process of slain Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar A. Romero next Sunday, May 18. In describing the upcoming announcement, Auxiliary Bishop of San Salvador Msgr. Gregorio Rosa Chávez would only say that it will be “very good news” and that “all indications are that we are on the verge of very exciting news, which will be given by [Archbishop José Luis Alas Escobar] when he returns to El Salvador.” >Archbishop Alas has been in Rome,... Read more

Vatican says Francis will not use bulletproof car during visit to Holy Land

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

From Reuters: Pope Francis is shunning bulletproof vehicles during his trip to the Middle East this month, insisting that he use a normal car and be allowed to be as close to people as possible, the Vatican said on Thursday. The Vatican, briefing reporters on the trip, also confirmed that a rabbi and an Islamic leader will accompany Pope Francis on his trip to the Middle East in a gesture of the importance he attaches to inter-religious dialogue. Francis will... Read more

Family, church feud over portrait of priest

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

From The New York Times: The family of Msgr. Patrick J. Garvey, a Catholic priest who was once friendly with the realist painter Thomas Eakins, is trying to block the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from selling a valuable Eakins portrait of the monsignor through the auction house Christie’s. The archdiocese said that the painting was given to the church decades ago, and that the sale of it, and several other paintings, is essential to boost the finances of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary,... Read more

“Be like a deacon this week…”

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

A very good reflection on the diaconate, pegged to this Sunday’s scripture readings, from Fr. Charles Irvin in Catholic Journal: Deacons give us living witness to what we all should be about, namely heeding God’s call for us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the imprisoned, bury the dead, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and shelter the homeless. What empowers deacons and energizes them is their ministry of the Word wherein they proclaim the Word... Read more

“I don’t identify with the expressionless person who stands outside the abortion clinic reciting their rosary…”

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

That quote, believe it or not, comes from a leading Italian bishop and advisor to Pope Francis. This item is tearing up the interwebs—and raising a lot of eyebrows: The Catholic Church should listen to all the arguments in favour of gay relationships, Communion for remarried divorcees, and ending mandatory celibacy for priests, a senior Italian bishops has insisted. The secretary-general of the Italian bishops’ conference (CEI), Nunzio Galantino, bishop of the southern diocese of Cassano all’Jonio, told the Florence-based La... Read more

Ordination update: 4 new deacons for Green Bay

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:29 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

From The Catholic Compass: Bishop David Ricken told four deacon candidates for ordination that there are great needs for their ministerial service. Before ordaining John Bundra, Ernesto Gonzalez, Jr., Mark LeGreve and Michael Zebroski to the diaconate May 10 at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Bishop Ricken encouraged the men to embrace the new evangelization and share the Gospel with others. In his homily before the ordination rite, attended by several hundred people, Bishop Ricken explained that the church is faced... Read more

Ordination update: 9 new deacons for Syracuse

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:29 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: The Diocese of Syracuse was made all the richer May 10, when Bishop Robert J. Cunningham ordained nine new permanent deacons at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The Cathedral was filled to overflowing with people who had come to support them — wives, family, friends and clergy. “It was glorious, and almost overwhelming,” commented newly ordained Deacon John Bowden, of the ordination Mass. Deacon Bowden will serve at Our Lady of Peace Church in Syracuse and St. Cecilia’s... Read more

New order of nuns takes root in Wisconsin

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Photo: William Glasheen/Post-Crescent Media Details from The Green Bay Press Gazette: If a young soul wanders, Mother Mary Catherine has dedicated her to life to shepherding it back on the path to heaven. She is trying to save souls as the founder and mother superior of a new community of Roman Catholic religious women within the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay. They’re called the Missionaries of the Word and their focus is to bring the Gospel to teens and young... Read more

Bishop urges Catholics at “blended” parish in Virginia to go elsewhere—UPDATED

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

You may remember when this unique parish made news last year. Now it’s in the news again: Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo has urged Roman Catholics attending a one-of-a-kind Catholic and Episcopal church to worship at a nearby parish because he has not been able to find a “suitable priest” to serve the blended congregation. It was the latest round of adversity for a church that has battled to maintain its ecumenical mission in the face of flagging support in... Read more