An update on this story that’s been developing for the past few hours. The spokesperson from The Satanic Temple just sent me the following email: I am writing on behalf of The Satanic Temple to relay that there will NOT be a consecrated host at the Black Mass. This was a miscommunication on our part and want to let you know that we respect all religions and don’t want anyone to feel offended. We understand the powerful role that the... Read more
Yes, it’s true. Elizabeth Scalia has confirmed it: the The Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club is indeed hosting a Black Mass Monday night. And the group staging this event, The Satanic Temple, has announced plans to use a consecrated host. The Extension School issued a vague and rather passive aggressive statement about this “controversial event,” without actually saying what the event is, or even mentioning what it entails or why it might be in the least bit controversial. It’s an independent... Read more
Details: Catholic Bishop Michael Burbidge unveiled a scaled-back plan for a new cathedral in West Raleigh on Tuesday, saying the changes reflect feedback from parishioners and the diocese’s ability to raise money. Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, the mother church for the 54-county diocese, will cost about $41 million, compared to an estimated $75 million to $90 million that church officials proposed for the cathedral campus in 2011. Burbidge has long said that the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh would build... Read more
This has popped up on Facebook in several places, so it seems worth noting. Several bloggers have gotten emails announcing this event for next week, and Women of Grace has details: The Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club is hosting a black mass on May 12 to be staged by The Satanic Temple and which will include a consecrated host. According to a press release from The Satanic Temple, they plan on presenting the black mass at the Queens Head Pub... Read more
Elizabeth Scalia captures something raw and revealing and awful in a pro-abortion video that has now gone viral: If you let yourself become distracted by what is coming from her mouth, you miss all that is revealed in her face, which tells the whole, and very different story. A month after the abortion — with the dramatic change in hairstyle that so many women effect when emotions are high and they need to feel in control of something — watch Emily,... Read more
She performed again a few days ago on Italy’s “The Voice.” As one of the judges noted, the song was a good choice for the singing nun, because it was about salvation. The lyrics: There’s a hero If you look inside your heart You don’t have to be afraid Of what you are There’s an answer If you reach into your soul And the sorrow that you know Will melt away [Chorus:] And then a hero comes along With the... Read more
A fascinating video from the good folks at CNS, and producer Tyler Orsburn, showing how performers take a “leap of faith” and juggle a lot of competing responsibilities, while being both circus performers and Catholic. (And get a close look at the priest’s unusual stole…) Read more
She’s telling her story for the first time, and evidently trying to move on with her life. Whatever one may think of her and the president who made her name an international punchline, there’s a lot here for a Christian to ponder during this season of resurrection, renewal, mercy and growth. How many of us are, like Monica Lewinsky, spending our lives seeking to write “a different end to my story” and “give a purpose to my past”? More than... Read more
Photo: by Evan Boudreau/Catholic Register From The Catholic Register in Canada comes this story of one man’s efforts to save the sacred: When Mark Siolek read an article about a bar owner purchasing confessionals from the Archdiocese of Buffalo to be used in bathrooms, his stomach turned. “They were having like a church yard sale (and) one fellow had bought confessionals and they took the confessionals and he put them in his bar as urinal stalls,” said Siolek. “That... Read more
Details: The Vatican has recognized a supposed miracle attributed to Paul VI’s intercession and will beatify the late Italian pope in October, a Vatican source said on Tuesday. According to the Italian news agency ANSA, the apparent miracle identified by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints was the healing of an unborn baby from an otherwise incurable illness. ANSA said the beatification could occur on 19 October after the synod of bishops’ meeting. Last month, CNS had additional... Read more
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