From his homily today: Pope Francis warned the faithful against what he described as a “globalized uniformity” which is the result of secular worldliness.Often he said, the people of God prefer to distance themselves from the Lord in favour of worldly proposals. He said worldliness is the root of evil and it can lead us to abandon our traditions and negotiate our loyalty to God who is always faithful. This – the Pope admonished – is called apostasy, which he... Read more
Details: “Yes, it’s true. I received the telephone call by the Pope. It happened two weeks ago, November 1st, All Saints. But I naturally kept it to myself. No one was supposed to have known it, it was a conversation of an absolutely private nature. But considering that the [news] agencies have mentioned it…” Mario Palmaro, the Italian traditional Catholic writer and journalist who has authored many books and articles together with his friend Alessandro Gnocchi (many of which have... Read more
Photo: David Gilkey/NPR From NPR: Across the ravaged center of the Philippines on Sunday, people flocked to mass, often in churches that had been severely damaged or destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan. In many villages in Leyte Province, the only structure that survived the storm was the church. Spires and statues of angels look out over fields of smashed houses and twisted typhoon debris. In Tacloban, the typhoon ripped the roof off the once-stately Santo Nino Catholic Church. There’s still mud... Read more
The following e-mail arrived this evening from Rich Herbst, in the bishop’s office: Celebrating with an assembly estimated at over 1,300, Auxiliary Bishop Rutilio del Riego ordained three new permanent deacons for the Diocese of San Bernardino on Saturday morning at Sacred Heart Church in Rancho Cucamonga. Pictured with Bishop del Riego from the left are Deacons Antonio Hernandez, Alfredo Vargas, and Mark Weber. Congratulations and welcome, brothers! Ad multos annos! Read more
Details from National Catholic Register: Pope Francis’ interview with Eugenio Scalfari, the atheist founder of La Repubblica, has been taken down from the Vatican website, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi confirmed today. The Oct. 1 interview, which was also published in L’Osservatore Romano, was criticised for its inaccuracies after it emerged that Scalfari hadn’t recorded it. “The information in the interview is reliable on a general level but not on the level of each individual point analysed. This is why it was... Read more
Look what just arrived in my mailbox: This is a small pamphlet (very small: 15 pages, sized to fit in a purse or pocket) I wrote for the good people at Creative Communications for the Parish. For more information, check out their website. Fun fact: it’s even got an Imprimatur (that’s a first for me) from Bishop Edward Rice, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Read more
This video is a couple years old, but it popped up on my Facebook feed this morning. Need a smile? This will do it. As the groom notes on his YouTube page: My surprise for my wife Vanessa on our wedding day. All of Vanessa’s close friends and family rehearsed for a month in secret, leading up to the reception. What we lack in polish, we hopefully make up for in joy and love. In any event, everyone in this... Read more
From The Irish Times: Vintage Values – this is the title given to the just-published collection of 100 striking covers from a series of pamphlets published by the Catholic Truth Society (CTS) between the 1920s and 1970s. They really don’t make them like this any more, but then again, it is unlikely there’s much of a market for parents seeking pamphlets called Shall My Daughter Be a Nun?or for the general public, wondering Does Communism Threaten Christianity? The CTS (now Veritas), which published some 5,000... Read more
At last, the letter that started it all has been published. Check this out: FROM: The Reverend Mother TO: The Nuns My Sisters, As you know, our little convent has been plagued in recent months by “the Maria problem.” I must say, in all my years serving the Lord, this is the greatest challenge I have ever faced. It is like trying to hold a moonbeam in your hand. Nuns have described Maria as “a headache,” “a demon,” and “capable... Read more
If it seems like the holiday season is starting earlier this year, there’s a good reason. It is. You probably noticed it. Halloween decorations still were up in the stores when they started stocking the shelves for Christmas. You had holiday wrapping paper sitting next to plastic pumpkins. Then, it started to spread. Wal-Mart led the way with big pre-holiday bargains that began just this past Friday, trumpeting “Black Friday” sales two weeks early. Some online deals started even earlier.... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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