A friend posted this intriguing link on her Facebook page the other day, and it offers us a little glimpse at the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic church in Tanzania. Note the coat of arms, which includes Kilimanjaro and the Eucharist. And the mission statement? It doesn’t get any more basic than this: “Diocese of Moshi is committed to build a united and responsible family of God by witnessing and proclaiming The Good News, through teaching and provision of socio-economic... Read more
Talk about the end of an era: The Washington Post is being sold: The Washington Post Co. has agreed to sell its flagship newspaper to Amazon.comfounder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos, ending the Graham family’s stewardship of one of America’s leading news organizations after four generations. Bezos, whose entrepreneurship has made him one of the world’s richest men, will pay $250 million in cash for The Post and affiliated publications to the Washington Post Co., which owns the newspaper and... Read more
From the Vatican Insider: Friday went by and still no news from the Jesuit priest Paolo Dall’Oglio who went off the grid on Monday. This means it is likely the priest was kidnapped. Over the past few days, activists have been claiming that Dall’Oglio had gone silent because he was involved in a mediation attempt. They said Dall’Oglio had told them to raise the alarm only if they had no news from him by Friday. And there has been no... Read more
Photo: Reuters And John Allen is taking notes. From NCR: One could argue that in most of the ways that matter, the change has already arrived. In just four months, Francis has revived the international prestige of the papacy and its moral capital. The Italian edition of Vanity Fair recently declared him its “Man of the Year,” including snippets of praise from unlikely quarters such as Elton John, who termed the pontiff “a miracle of humility in the era of vanity.” Polling... Read more
CNS throws a spotlight on an intriguing (and free) audio app: The gentle lilt of Julia Ormond emotes the Magnificat, the deep voice of Blair Underwood narrates as Gospel writer Mark, Kristin Bell plays Mary Magdalene and Brian Cox is the voice of God. You’ve never heard the Gospel quite like this. Hoping to create something that allows people to not only read, but hear and experience the word of God, the team behind the “Truth & Life” dramatized audio... Read more
Some astute analysis of where we are today, from Rev. Paul Scalia (son of Antonin): The Church, like a nation, must defend herself and her faith. She must fight for the truth and for the salvation of souls. This demands doing battle, for which reason we call ourselves the Church Militant. Like a nation, however, the Church also encounters a danger: that the fighting spirit of the Church Militant turn against her. The danger is not of fighting—but of only... Read more
Fr. Paul, center, with clergy from the parish before Mass. For several years now, my parish has undertaken a novena to St. John Vianney, patron of parish priests, as a way to support seminarians and pray for vocations. The novena opens with a Mass celebrated by a jubilarian priest; it closes on a Sunday, as close as possible to John Vianney’s feast day, with a choir Mass celebrated by a newly ordained priest. Afterward, he offers blessings in a nearby... Read more
Photo: Gregory Shemitz A great profile of a great priest, from Greenwich Time: For a man just appointed by Pope Francis to be bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, which covers all of Fairfield County, [Bishop Frank] Caggiano has rather humble roots. He was born on Easter Sunday 1959, into an Italian family so new to the U.S. that his parents couldn’t even name him after his grandfather, Francesco, as they wished. When a hospital nurse wrote down “Frank” on... Read more
You may remember this story about a young man named Dustin Rhodes battling brain cancer. The reporter who wrote that piece, Teresa McMinn, now has this update: Dustin Rhodes and his high school sweetheart Rebecca used to train together for York Catholic’s cross country teams. Frequently, practice for meets included a run up the incline near Mount Rose Cemetery. On Monday, the top of that hill will mark the final resting place for Dustin Rhodes, who died on Wednesday at age... Read more
From my Shamelessly Proud of Where I Came From file…a great story involving my alma mater in Maryland, St. Vincent Pallotti High School: The first two people in line arrived within 10 minutes of each other Friday evening, ready to sleep on the sidewalk overnight for free dental care at a high school in Laurel on Saturday morning. Twelve hours later, one woman was reclining in a dentist’s chair, getting a new tooth made of a synthetic composite. The other was... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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