A reader writes: A friend brought your blog post of 1 July 2013 to my attention (UPDATE: Franciscans Deny Priests Killed in Syria: “The Monks Are Still Alive”), and I wanted to write to you concerning your interpretation of the Custos’ press releases. I used to live in the Latin Patriarchate, so I am familiar with the Custody and their manner of communication. The official language of the Patriarchate is French. The official language of the Custody is Italian. I am fluent... Read more
From the Facebook page for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter: Congratulations to Deacon Patrick Allen from Charleston who was ordained to the transitional diaconate yesterday. His young son decided to share in the experience with him! Congratulations and welcome, deacon! Ad multos annos! UPDATE: A few people have been puzzled by the fact that this man is being ordained a transitional deacon. How can he be married and have a child?, they ask. He is part... Read more
Any video that opens with deacons is a video you have to see. 🙂 Some insight on being a bishop, from our friends at CNS: Read more
Note: I’ve removed an earlier report from this blog indicating that the Vatican had confirmed Fr. Francois Murad’s execution. Details are just too sketchy. A colleague forwarded this brief news item to me, dated late Friday: In a statement to the religious information service SIR, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa has said the news reported by Radio France Internationale on the alleged beheading of three Franciscan monks in Syria is false. ”The monks in the region are all still alive,” said the... Read more
Rocco has the scoop: At a pre-Noon briefing today, the Holy See announced that Pope Francis’ first encyclical, entitled Lumen Fidei – “The Light of Faith” – will be released this Friday, 5 July. A trio of Vatican heavyweights – the prefect of Bishops, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the CDF chief Archbishop Gerhard Müller and the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization Archbishop Rino Fisichella – are slated to unveil the text at 11am Rome time in the... Read more
From Vatican Radio: Britain may allow a controversial technique to create babies using DNA from three people. The country’s top medical officer says the move would help couples avoid passing on rare genetic diseases. But opponents say the procedure is unethical. Josephine Quintavalle from the UK based group Comment on Reproductive Ethics gave her reaction saying, “The United Kingdom is on its own with these developments, the rest of the world is not in favour of what they’re doing…” She... Read more
From the Facebook page for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter: Congratulations to Deacon Patrick Allen from Charleston who was ordained to the transitional diaconate yesterday. His young son decided to share in the experience with him! Congratulations and welcome, deacon! Ad multos annos! UPDATE: A few people have been puzzled by the fact that this man is being ordained a transitional deacon. How can he be married and have a child?, they ask. He is part... Read more
Amazing but true. Details: There aren’t a whole lot of priests in the Latin Church with two grown sons, but the Archdiocese of Seattle’s newest priest, Father Mark Kiszelewski, is one of those few. He was ordained to the priesthood June 8 by Archbishop J. Peter Sartain at St. James Cathedral. From an early age, Father Kiszelewski, now 58, felt a tug toward the priesthood, but his path to ordination was obviously not a direct one. From seminary to ‘real... Read more
Details: Pope Francis on Sunday praised his predecessor, Benedict XVI, for courageously following his conscience in deciding to retire. Benedict became the first pontiff in 600 years to quit the post when he resigned in February, paving the way for Francis’ election as pope two weeks later. By lauding Benedict’s surprise choice to step down, Francis put his papacy on record as supporting the move and leaving himself and future popes a possible way to leave what is traditionally an... Read more
From TIME magazine: Following a lawsuit and more than a year of controversy, at noon on Saturday a group called the American Atheists will unveil the United States’ first public monument to atheism in a square outside the Bradford County courthouse in Starke, Florida, near Jacksonville. The five-foot-long, grey granite bench and connecting pillar, which were built and engraved by local masons using granite quarried in Georgia, will feature secular quotes from the Founding Fathers as well as a statement from the organization’s founder, Madalyn... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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