2016-09-30T15:54:56-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm   By

I hope you enjoyed NBC’s live television broadcast of “The Sound of Music” on Thursday evening. How successful was the broadcast?  There were some weaknesses, to be sure:  Myself, I enjoyed Carrie Underwood’s performance in the role of Maria, but I found “True Blood” star Stephen Moyer unconvincing as Captain Von Trapp.  Overall, though, I enjoyed it tremendously. And according to early reports, “The Sound of Music” gave NBC its biggest non-sports Thursday since the finale of “ER” in 2009. ... Read more

2016-09-30T15:54:56-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm   By

Kudos to the group Catholic to the Max, which came up with this idea: For Pope Francis’ 77th birthday, which is coming up on December 17, the Steubenville-based group is shipping a giant birthday card to Rome.  The card was recently at the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) in Indianapolis, where it was signed by thousands of Catholic young people.  From there it was returned to Steubenville, where it’s been made available for additional signings at various locations and events.... Read more

2016-09-30T15:54:56-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm   By

I’m from a family of Christmas-lovers.   My Dad always took us kids downtown to watch the annual Thanksgiving Parade.  Bundled and mittened, my sisters and I shivered anyway in the cold, perched on ladders to peer over the crowd of merry-makers.  And the highlight, of course, was always Santa—his merry ho-ho-ho! thrilling children lining Woodward Avenue along the route which ended with Santa’s climbing to his throne in front of J.L. Hudson’s. Years later, when my own children were small,... Read more

2016-09-30T15:54:57-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm   By

An elementary school in Frisco, Texas is planning a “winter” party with the halls decked out in… PURPLE? Nichols Elementary School will not have a Christmas tree, and boys and girls will not be permitted to make any reference to Christmas.  Also banned are the colors red and green. According to Todd Starnes writing at Fox News, Texas State Representative Pat Fallon, who introduced a successful bill in the Texas Legislature last year titled the “Merry Christmas Bill”, was alerted... Read more

2016-09-30T15:54:57-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm   By

This afternoon at 3:30 in the Vatican Radio offices in Rome, a new app for the iPad was introduced.  Called Bibleword, the app is produced by Edizione San Paolo, a Catholic publisher in Rome which is associated with the Paulist Fathers here in the U.S. I learned about it from Luca Paolini, an Italian blogger who, with me, attended the Vatican Blogfest in May 2011.  Luca thinks that an English-language version is available, but I’m struggling to find it.  (I’m... Read more

2016-09-30T15:54:57-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm   By

This morning at the Vatican, it was announced that Pope Francis will set up a child protection commission to combat child abuse.  Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who is in Rome to attend the Council of Cardinals meeting at the Vatican, told reporters that the commission will survey child protection programs and work with bishops and religious. Among the commission’s responsibilities will be reviewing existing guidelines, priestly formation programs, codes of conduct, and procedures for screening candidates for the priesthood.  The... Read more

2016-09-30T15:54:57-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm   By

Today one of Norman Rockwell’s best loved paintings, Saying Grace, sold in auction for a record $145 million. Until today, the highest price ever paid for an American painting was $27.7 million, the 1999 selling price for George Bellows’ “Polo Crowd”.  Rockwell’s own previous auction record was $15.4 million for “Breaking Home Ties”, which sold in 2006. Saying Grace was first published as the cover art on the Saturday Evening Post on November 24, 1951.  It was characteristic of Rockwell’s... Read more

2016-09-30T15:54:57-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm   By

Last month, a storm passed through Metropolitan Detroit—downing power lines, ripping branches off of trees, and causing serious damage to the iconic steeple at Detroit’s historic St. Josaphat Catholic Church. I wrote about it then, assuming the worst:  that although shingles could be replaced, the spire had sustained such critical damage that the lurching, twisted steeple would be torn down, sounding a death knell for the aging parish. NOT SO FAST! A campaign has been launched to save and restore... Read more

2016-09-30T15:54:57-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm   By

Pope Francis, at the end of his General Audience on Wednesday, December 4, called on everyone to pray for a group of Syrian nuns who were kidnapped from the Monastery of Saint Tecla, a Greek Orthodox monastery near the ancient Christian town of Ma’lula, about 35 miles north of Damascus. I told the story over at the Kresta in the Afternoon blog.  The Holy Father said, “Now I would like to invite everyone to pray for the religious sisters of... Read more

2016-09-30T15:54:57-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm   By

Roisin Monroe moved to Ohio from her native Ireland in 1992. The last time she was able to make the long trip home to visit was twelve years ago.  Her eleven-year-old son had no recollection of the visit; and her nine-year-old daughter had never been there at all.  So when the Northern Ireland Tourist Board held a contest, offering one lucky family the chance to travel to Northern Ireland for the holidays, Roisin entered. And she won! So in December... Read more

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