Some intriguing news from the world of archeology: Spanish archaeologists have discovered what may be one of the earliest depictions of Jesus in an ancient Egyptian tomb. Painted on the walls of a mysterious underground stone structure in the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, about 100 miles south of Cairo, the image shows a young man with curly hair and dressed in a short tunic. “He raises his hand as if making a blessing,” said Egyptologist Josep Padró, who has... Read more
Really. Details: Bishop Jon Bruno, Bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles, ordained Scott Claasen in a laundromat. Claasen was sponsored by Thad’s, an experimental community of the Episcopal Diocese. From their home page: Thad’s is a movement of missionary people who’ve made a choice to leave the relative safety of the established church and take the love of Jesus “to the streets”. Our calling is to bring this transforming love into people’s lives in positive, transformative and practical ways.... Read more
A surprising piece of news uncovered in Catholic New York: Cardinal John O’Connor, who as Archbishop of New York cultivated and cherished his strong ties to the Jewish community, was born of a mother who was born Jewish. It is not known whether he knew that his mother, Dorothy Gumple O’Connor, was born Jewish. She converted to Catholicism before she met and married Thomas O’Connor, the late cardinal’s father. Mary O’Connor Ward, the cardinal’s sister, told CNY in an exclusive... Read more
Well, this is different: Now you can have your beefcake and have someone feed it to you, too. That’s the idea behind “Rent a Gent,” a new escort service that offers up hireable hunks to serve as handymen, arm candy and sexy task rabbits, or even just to make your ex jealous. Actually, revenge was the motivating factor in creating the idea of rentable studs. Rent a Gent founder Sara Shikhman came up with the idea because she needed a... Read more
Horrifying: A battle of political wills over Oklahoma’s secretive lethal-injection protocol turned into a gruesome scene of macabre theater Tuesday evening, as the state botched the execution of one inmate and halted that of another scheduled later in the night. The mishandling reflects the extraordinary and surreptitious lengths a handful of active death-penalty states are now willing to go to in order to continue their executions, capital-punishment opponents say, and represents just the latest episode in a string of disturbing... Read more
Cute: Priests, nuns, and Romans of all ages have been very “happy” about today’s dual canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II since it was announced, ifthis video is any indication! The Vatican’s #2popesaints social media campaign put out the adorable video, which features clapping nuns, dancing priests, and Rome’s amazing architecture. Father Stefano Cascio, the man leading the #2popesaints initiative, told AFP, “The Church is already active on social media but the novelty is a communication campaign by young people... Read more
Some exciting news, from Catholic Extension: Modeling faith in action, Catholics from Alaska to the Gulf Coast are reaching out to make a difference in their communities. Since 1978, Catholic Extension has been honoring these faithful servants with the Lumen Christi Award. Accompanied by a $50,000 grant ($25,000 for the honoree and $25,000 for the nominating diocese), the Lumen Christi Award is presented to a priest, woman religious, lay person or group of people who have demonstrated how the power... Read more
This is highly unusual: German priest Stefan Hartmann has sent a personal petition to Pope Francis asking him to waive his vow of celibacy, which he posted on his Facebook page. As Francis continues his leadership of the Catholic Church, many have wondered whether there will be a change in the requirement of priestly celibacy, a practice which has gone on for hundreds of years. Hartmann secretly fathered a daughter in 1989, eight years after he took his vow of celibacy, reports The... Read more
A little over three years ago, I was blogging at Beliefnet when Elizabeth Scalia called to invite me to join her merry band at Patheos. My first reaction was “Pathy-what?” At the time, the Catholic portal (it wasn’t a full-fledged channel yet) had only a handful of bloggers; I think it was Elizabeth, Frank Weathers and someone who emptied the trash every other day. I decided to seek some counsel from the only guy from Beliefnet who had made a... Read more
Details: The Archdiocese of New York took a major step last week toward consolidating its dense network of 376 parishes, entering the final stages of planning for what is likely to result in the most significant sweep of parish closings seen here in recent memory. Early last week, an advisory board that has been working for months with outside consultants to find ways to streamline the centuries-old archdiocese quietly sent its preliminary recommendations to local working groups—known as clusters—for review.... Read more
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