If it’s Lent, it must be time for yet another series that questions the veracity of faith. This year’s offering is a new six-part series by CNN, Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, Forgery, which begins on Sunday, March 1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT and concludes on Easter Sunday. Finding Jesus is co-written by award-winning journalists, authors and filmmakers David Gibson and Michael McKinley, who also co-authored the companion book. Finding Jesus looks at six holy objects from the time of Christ,... Read more
Willy Herteller is home at last. Willy, a homeless man who had migrated from Belgium to the streets of Vatican City, died December 12, but no one came forward to claim his body. He had no known family in Rome. No one was certain of his age, although he appeared to be about 80. But Willy was a man of prayer, and was a familiar face to many in the area surrounding the Vatican. He attended daily Mass–by some accounts,... Read more
Hell, Michigan is a small town about an hour west of Detroit, near the Pinckney Recreation Area. There’s not much there: a ghoulish gift shop where visitors can purchase Halloween decorations and ghastly souvenirs, and a post office where can get your letter postmarked “Hell.” Two weeks ago–on Friday the 13th– owner John Colone put the city of Hell up for sale. For about a million dollars ($999,666, to be exact), you can own about five acres of land as well as... Read more
I’m a pretty practical reader. I read solid theological tomes or historical fiction or self-help books–not sci-fi. I’m not one to be hooked on fantasy tales and spirits of the walking dead. So how in the world did I fall in love with a character who sees dead people, and whose path is crossed by shadowy purply-black death-chasers called “bodachs” who somehow show up every time there’s an impending cataclysm? I don’t know–but I’ll tell you this: I didn’t... Read more
Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. –Ephesians 4:29 Fr. Timothy Scott, C.S.B. should have read that verse over once or twice, before posting a tweet February 7 about His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke, patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Unhappy with Cardinal Burke’s outspoken remarks about a feminized Church and his apparent criticism of... Read more
This year in anticipation of the season of Lent, England’s historic Brentwood Cathedral has unveiled an exhibit of the Stations of the Cross, as interpreted by contemporary British artists. Top artists were each commissioned to paint one of the Stations, and each was given free reign to paint the scene as he or she saw it. The artists–some of whom were believers, and some, not–were each given the title of one Station and a 12-inch square aluminum panel. The paintings will... Read more
Blogging’s been light over at Chez Schiffer in the last week! That’s because I’ve been a bit of an itinerant–not traveling the globe, like fellow Patheosi Lisa Hendey who’s recently home from Tanzania and Hawaii, but moving around the South, with stops in Atlanta, Georgia and Greenville, South Carolina. * * * * * In Atlanta, I visited the set of the upcoming movie “90 Minutes in Heaven” which is scheduled to... Read more
I spotted this over on Reddit, and it’s too good not to share. Make fun of the Oscars? Check. Nudge Catholics to really live their faith? Check. Make me laugh: Check. Read more
It seems the news lately has been full of death: We’ve lost Hollywood idols like Robin Williams and Joan Rivers, ’60s rock stars like Leslie Gore, politicians like Mario Cuomo. “60 Minutes” host Bob Simon, and 21 Coptic martyrs. The New York Times’ David Carr entered eternity on the same day as Ahmad Givens, star of VH1’s “Real Chance of Love.”. Every day, souls are propelled off this planet, separated from the twisted bodies which had been their flimsy wrapper... Read more
Yesterday Dr. John Willke, known worldwide as the Father of the Pro-Life Movement, passed away unexpectedly at his home at the age of 89. * * * * * I was in college in about 1970, when I first learned of the pro-life work of Dr. John Willke. One winter’s evening, a spokesperson for Dr. Willke’s recently founded organization Right To Life was invited to address my undergrad sociology class. He brought... Read more
Seasons of Grace
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