The Catholic actor best known for “Bella” and his passionate pro-life work launching his most ambitious project yet. Details: An actor from Tamaulipas has created a project that would give the state’s capital, Ciudad Victoria, the world’s tallest statue of Jesus Christ. Eduardo Verástegui Córdoba explained that the 77-meter-high statue [about 252 feet] and a complex to be built around it will be known as The Christ of Peace. He said that the purpose of the project is to leave... Read more
From The Washington Post: Vatican investigators have finished collecting evidence in the sexual abuse case of disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, according to a person familiar with the investigation, indicating that the Catholic Church is moving quickly toward sentencing the cleric in its secretive justice system. The former prominent archbishop of Washington, who now stands accused of sexually abusing three minors and harassing adult priests and seminarians, already has become the first U.S. cardinal ever removed from that office due to... Read more
From The New York Times: When Larry Antonsen decided to report a priest who sexually abused him during high school, he believed the Archdiocese of Chicago was the right place to go. Mr. Antonsen and his wife were lifelong churchgoers who sent their children to Sunday school and counted themselves as members of a parish in the archdiocese. The priest Mr. Antonsen was accusing had spent 14 years working at Chicago-area Catholic high schools. But Mr. Antonsen, who is now... Read more
This is great: “Overeating destroyed my body,” Fr. Ryan Rooney says. “At my highest weight I was 464 pounds.” In a moving short film, Fr. Ryan recounts his story of compulsive overeating and how his recovery has changed his life, inspiring him to help others heal along the way. After his father left when he was four years old, he sought comfort in eating. He says it became for him an “emotional experience” to cope with the anger and rejection... Read more
Details: The radical-traditionalist Catholic group the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is now under sanction from the Roman Catholic Church for failing to follow Catholic teaching, according to documents released Monday. The sanctions — which range from a ban on routine Catholic sacraments at their Richmond compound to a revision of IRS documents that describe them as Catholic — could be ratcheted up if the group does not comply with orders by church leaders, especially orders to stop... Read more
This image popped up on my Facebook feed the other day, depicting the sanctuary at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Norton Shores, Michigan. The person who posted it branded the church “ugly as sin.” Well, it’s not exactly my cup of tea — it’s pretty ominous-looking — but I was curious to learn more. I visited the parish website and found some interesting history, including an online “self-guided tour” of the building, which has quite a story. First,... Read more
From The Washington Post: The Catholic community Opus Dei in 2005 paid $977,000 to settle a sexual misconduct suit against the Rev. C. John McCloskey, a priest well-known for preparing for conversion big-name conservatives — Newt Gingrich, Larry Kudlow and Sam Brownback, among others. The survivor is a devout, D.C.-area Catholic who was among the many who received spiritual direction from McCloskey through the Catholic Information Center, a K Street hub of Catholic life in downtown D.C. She told the... Read more
An interesting detail opens this afternoon’s report by The New York Times: Vice President Mike Pence insisted on beginning the first meeting with a prayer, so the chief of staff to the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, asked God to “to bring us together” when negotiators met Saturday in Mr. Pence’s ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The next day, Democrats began with their own prayer — read by a member of Senator Richard J. Durbin’s staff —... Read more
From my Patheos neighbor and friend Father Matthew Schneider, a great witness from a seminarian who explains why he still wants to be a priest, in spite of everything: One afternoon, after reading article after article about the extensive abuse, I asked myself why I was still studying to be a priest. […] What was my intention? Did I want the benefits of a priestly life? Did I want to escape the world that was seemingly falling apart around me?... Read more
From News 12 Connecticut: Police officers on patrol in Bridgeport discovered a swastika on the doors of the cathedral. Police say the swastika was found on the doors of St. Augustine’s Cathedral. Police say when they went up to the doors the paint was still tacky. Police tell News 12 the surrounding buildings have surveillance cameras and hope the footage will help with their investigation. Bridgeport’s Bishop Frank Caggiano released the following statement Saturday: As many of you know, on... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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