There’s a great homily in this story: Japanese commuters teamed up to heave a 32-ton train carriage away from the platform to free a woman who had fallen between the train and the platform at rush hour. In a nightmarish scenario, the woman, who is in her 30s, slipped and fell into the eight-inch gap between the carriage and the platform edge at the busy JR Minami-Urawa station north of Tokyo. But she escaped unscathed after around 40 commuters joined... Read more
I received an e-mail last night, alerting me to the ordinations which happened over the weekend at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Hiawatha, Iowa. It marks the first class ordained by Dubuque’s Archbishop Michael O. Jackels. No pictures or details have appeared online yet, but the Dubuque Catholic newspaper, The Witness, has a complete list of biographies of the men, who include a locksmith, an engineer for John Deere and a Catholic school principal, among others. Congratulations and welcome!... Read more
I received an e-mail last night, alerting me to the ordinations which happened over the weekend at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Hiawatha, Iowa. It marks the first class ordained by Dubuque’s Archbishop Michael O. Jackels. No pictures or details have appeared online yet, but the Dubuque Catholic newspaper, The Witness, has a complete list of biographies of the men, who include a locksmith, an engineer for John Deere and a Catholic school principal, among others. Congratulations and welcome!... Read more
If memory serves, Anne Thompson also did the readings at one of the pope’s daily Masses shortly after his election. Now, she unabashedly pops up on national television receiving a papal blessing. Some women who appear on NBC channels wear tampon earrings. Some wear holy medals. Go figure. From the NBC Nightly News: Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Read more
And no, that’s not another headline from The Onion. People are seriously objecting to the use of a religious symbol in the memorial. Details: Plans for a Holocaust memorial at the Ohio Statehouse have stirred a debate over the separation of church and state that may lead to a lawsuit because a focal point of renowned architect Daniel Libeskind’s design is the Star of David. Plans for the memorial in in Columbus, Ohio, by Libeskind, the son of Holocaust survivors and... Read more
From the flight to Rio, via CNS: With economic hard times as an excuse not to hire young people, the world risks tossing them aside and endangers its own future, Pope Francis said. Speaking to reporters aboard the papal flight to Rio de Janeiro July 22, the pope declined to answer their questions, but instead made very brief remarks about his July 22-29 trip and then greeted each of the 71 media members. A Mexican veteran of papal trips, speaking... Read more
Details: A new study has found that while the number of religious conservatives is still greater than that of progressives, the religious left may have a better chance of maintaining its foothold with Americans over time. “If you’re using a generational snapshot today as a proxy for the future, it is is safe to say that religious progressives hold a stronger appeal among Millennials,” said Robert Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute, which surveyed 2,000 adults in partnership with... Read more
Here’s a glimpse at part of the Catholic Church that will be welcoming the pope this week, from CNN: It looks like an airport hangar and it sounds like a rock concert. Thousands have packed into a megachurch on the periphery of Sao Paulo for one of Father Marcelo Rossi’s Thursday night masses. The Roman Catholic priest belts out some of his hit songs before walking up to the altar. The parishioners join in, waving their arms in the air.... Read more
And for proof, you have to check out this video of a muddy horserace in New York City last month. Just watch what happens. “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” — Acts 20: 24 Read more
Details: On her MSNBC show Sunday, Melissa Harris-Perry introduced a new type of jewelry inspired by the recent protests at the Texas Capitol. Tampon earrings. “My producer Lorena made for me, last week, some tampon earrings,” Harris-Perry said as she inserted them into her pierced ears. “Because, of course, you’ll remember the Texas state legislature said you could not bring tampons in when they were going, these women, to in fact stand up for their own reproductive rights. You weren’t... Read more
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