2016-09-30T15:58:11-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:58 pm   By

Though some politicians may make us feel otherwise, industry professionals insist this a dying art.  (H/T Dennis Poust) Details from The NY Daily News: As the “Greatest Show on Earth” returns to Brooklyn Thursday, circus folk fear a national clown shortage is on the horizon. Membership at the country’s largest trade organizations for the jokesters has plunged over the past decade as declining interest, old age and higher standards among employers align against Krusty, Bozo and their crimson-nosed colleagues. “What’s... Read more

2016-09-30T15:58:11-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:58 pm   By

From Zenit: The bishops of New York State have published a pastoral letter regarding people who suffer mental illness. The letter, titled, ‘For I am Lonely and Afflicted’: Toward a Just Response to the Needs of Mentally Ill Persons,” recalls the example of Jesus, saying, “we must reject the twin temptations of stereotype and fear, which can cause us to see mentally ill people as something other than children of God, made in His image and likeness, deserving of our... Read more

2016-09-30T15:58:11-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:58 pm   By

photo: Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger From The Newark Star-Ledger:  The 4,500-square-foot home sits on 8.2 wooded acres in the hills of Hunterdon County. With five bedrooms, three full bathrooms, a three-car garage and a big outdoor pool, it’s valued at nearly $800,000, records show. But it’s not quite roomy enough for Newark Archbishop John J. Myers. Myers, who has used the Franklin Township house as a weekend residence since the archdiocese purchased it in 2002, is building a three-story, 3,000-square-foot addition... Read more

2016-09-30T15:58:11-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:58 pm   By

I missed this on Friday, but CNS featured it in a roundup of the pope’s Valentine’s Day festivities with engaged couples: It’s a special pillow commemorating the occasion; it’s designed to be used on the wedding day to hold the happy couple’s rings. Read more

2016-09-30T15:58:11-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:58 pm   By

Maybe, according to John Allen in The Boston Globe:  Sometimes mocked as “Catholic divorce,” an annulment is a declaration by a church court that a marriage never existed in the first place because one of the conditions for validity wasn’t satisfied, such as free consent by both parties. Facing that tension, a compromise may be coming into focus: No change on the sacraments ban, but an easier and broader process for granting annulments. [Cardinal] O’Malley floated that idea during a... Read more

2016-09-30T15:58:11-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:58 pm   By

A few fascinating tidbits from Huffington Post:   Did you know that Ulysses S. Grant was never baptized and reportedly got into trouble for not attending religious services while he was a student at West Point? Or that the first national public celebration of Christmas, with the lighting of a national Christmas tree, didn’t happen until the presidency of Calvin Coolidge?  Or that Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president on Air Force One using a copy of the St.... Read more

2016-09-30T15:58:12-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:58 pm   By

From Florida comes the story of Miami’s first priest for the Anglican ordinariate:  It’s a claim very few newly-ordained Catholic priests can make: They celebrated their first Mass on their wedding anniversary. But that is just what Father Pedro Toledo did Feb. 16 at St. Louis Church in Pinecrest, celebrating his first Mass on his 34th wedding anniversary, with his wife, Betsy, daughters Lina and Eilyn, sons-in-law Ruben and Victor, and 17-month-old granddaughter Olivia in attendance. The only one missing was his... Read more

2016-09-30T15:58:12-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:58 pm   By

Here’s a great story from my home state (and my alma mater) about a college student who saw a desperate need and found a way to fill it:  A few years ago, students at the University of Maryland – College Park noticed a problem that is common at colleges across the country: huge amounts of leftover food from campus dining halls and sports events were being thrown away. At the same time, 1 in 8 people in the D.C. area were... Read more

2016-09-30T15:58:12-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:58 pm   By

He mentioned it during Sunday’s Angelus:  Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus message emphasized the importance of avoiding all forms of slander in living a Christian life. “It’s so rotten, gossip. At the beginning, it seems to be something enjoyable and fun, like a piece of candy.  But at the end, it fills the heart with bitterness and also poisons us,” Pope Francis said Feb. 16. “I tell you the truth,” he preached to the crowds filling St. Peter’s Square. “I am convinced... Read more

2016-09-30T15:58:12-04:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:58 pm   By

Some preachers like to raise you up  on Eagles’ wings, especially when the Eagles in question are the rock band. From Omaha:  A church band played the Eagles’ song “Desperado” while pastor Bruce Davis preached on a winter morning. Davis tied the song’s lyrics — “You better let somebody love you, before it’s too late” — to God’s love for all people. The Omaha pastor regularly weaves pop music into his sermons at St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church to make... Read more

Follow Us!
TAKE THE
Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet confronted David about his sin with Bathsheba?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Browse Our Archives
TRENDING AT PATHEOS Catholic
The Children in the Cloister
Submarines Positioned Near Russia: What It Means
The Three Occupations Of God
Progressive Catholicism: The Human Person Reimagined
Every Christian Should Heed Paul's Call For Unity
A Parable for Our Times
view all Catholic blogs