Want beautiful sacred music? Don’t go to church. Head to the train station.

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:52 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Proof, from the New York Times: On a recent Sunday afternoon, 17 people with sheet music gathered in a semicircle in the Graybar Passage at Grand Central Terminal. People streamed by. After a brief warm-up, the group’s conductor, John Hetland, dressed in dark jeans and a green plaid shirt, lifted his hands and the chorus began its a cappella rendition of a polyphonic hymn, “Kyrie,” by the 15th-century German composer Heinrich Finck. The hallway filled with sound, the baritones roiling like cumulonimbus... Read more

Pope Francis on the temptation to gossip: “These everyday things happen to everyone, including me…”

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:52 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

It’s rare to hear this kind of candor from the pulpit—let alone, from a pope. This comes from his daily homily this morning. Details: In his homily Pope Francis reflected on the Gospel passage that recounts the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus, who did not immediately grasp how a man can be “born again”. Through the Holy Spirit, the Pope said, we are born into the new life which we have received in Baptism.” However, Pope Francis added, it is... Read more

Planned Parenthood lobbyist who favors infanticide served on board of Catholic Charities

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:52 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Creative Minority Report got the scoop: Alisa Lapolt Snow, the Planned Parenthood lobbyist, who shocked the nation with her defense of live birth abortions in front of a Florida House committee, served on the board of Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida. Here’s what her bio on her website said: Alisa is a graduate of the University of Tennessee where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications/journalism. She was a founding member and secretary of the Sunset Rotary Club of Tallahassee and serves... Read more

Want to attend a papal audience?

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:52 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

If so, just take a couple minutes and watch this video from the good folks at CNS. It captures the atmosphere and spirit of these events. (This one is from last week.) When I attended one about 10 years ago, a young Jewish woman from Germany was next to me and exclaimed, with wonder and delight, “It’s like a football match!” Indeed. Sometimes the cheering and screaming and carrying-on can be surreal. But what comes through below, first and... Read more

Chicago’s Fr. Michael Pfleger gives final blessing at Roger Ebert’s funeral

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:52 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: As a standing ovation finally quieted inside Holy Name Cathedral, Chaz Ebert paid the last words of tribute to her husband, famed movie critic Roger Ebert. “He had a heart big enough to accept and love all,” Chaz Ebert said, telling the crowd of fans and friends under the vaulted ceilings of the church that “Roger would want me to thank you. He would have loved this. He would have loved the majesty of it.” “My heart is so... Read more

RIP: Annette Funicello, Catholic

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:52 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Sad news, with word that the most famous Mouseketeer of all died today after a long battle with MS. The photo here shows her with first husband Jack Gilardi, leaving St. Cyril’s Roman Catholic Church in Encino, Calif., on Jan. 9, 1965, following their wedding ceremony. Annette spoke of her faith some years back, and how it helped her fight the disease that eventually took her life: When I was young, I never imagined something like this would happen. Now people... Read more

Pope Francis on the “way of humility”

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:52 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

As has become his custom, the pope celebrated daily Mass for a small group of people at his residence this morning, and Vatican Radio has highlights: For the Christian, “making progress” means “lowering oneself” on the road of humility in order allow God’s love to emerge and be clearly seen. This was the central focus of Pope Francis’ homily on Monday morning at Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae chapel. The liturgy was attended by some of the Sisters of... Read more

A blast from the past: all about Pope Francis’ crozier

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:52 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

The always-reliable Cindy Wooden at CNS has the scoop on the papal accessory a lot of people were talking about—or complaining about (see comments here)— yesterday: At last evening’s Mass at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Pope Francis carried a crozier that most people associate with Blessed John Paul II. As a matter of fact, though, Pope Paul VI commissioned the work from Italian sculptor Lello Scorzelli in 1963, and used it for the first time Dec. 8, 1965, at the... Read more

Meet Matt Malone, editor of America

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:59 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

I can report from personal experience that Fr. Matt Malone is a very nice man, and exceedingly tall. I first met him a few years ago, when he was a guest on my TV show, “Currents.” Now we’re both working as magazine editors. He’s being profiled in the New York Times. I’m not. Go figure. Some of what he had to say: In Rome, one of Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s first acts as Pope Francis was to call his newsdealer back home... Read more

The “villas of misery” that inspired Jorge Bergoglio

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:59 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Another fascinating dispatch from John Allen, continuing his visit to the pope’s homeland: In Argentina, they say that if you want to understand the priestly soul of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, then you have to know the villas miserias, literally “villas of misery,” meaning the slums in Buenos Aires where the poorest of the poor are found. According to Fr. Juan Isasmendi, who lives and works in one of the villas, this is where the future Pope Francis filled his lungs with the... Read more