U.S. Bishops to Discuss Celiac Disease at November Assembly

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 7:23 pm By Kathy Schiffer

When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops convenes November 10-13 in Baltimore, one of the items on their agenda will be a discussion of communion for Catholics who are suffering from Celiac Disease. According to the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center, one in 133 adults in the U.S. (about 1% of the population) suffers from Celiac Disease, an autoimmune disease that damages the villi of the small intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients from food. Persons with Celiac Disease are... Read more

Mark Zuckerberg, the Sisters of Mercy, and the Simple Life

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 7:24 pm By Kathy Schiffer

Back in the days when religious sisters wore habits, it was commonly understood that there were several reasons why religious orders embraced the veil. Long robes to the floor and wimples that hid the neck were modest, to be sure, obscuring the body’s soft curves. What’s more, their long habits freed religious sisters from fashion needs which consumed the time and energy of other women: things like hair rollers and bobby pins, earrings and necklaces, lacy slips and blouses, nylon stockings held... Read more

Cardinal Burke’s Order of Malta: Who Are They, and What Do They Do?

Last updated on: December 28, 2014 at 3:44 pm By Kathy Schiffer

When Cardinal Burke assumes his new responsibilities as Patron of the Order of Malta, he will take the helm of a charitable organization which was founded at the time of the First Crusade. For nearly a thousand years, the Order of Malta has continued its charitable works among the sick and the poor. Who are the Knights and Dames of Malta, who will now benefit from Cardinal Burke’s spiritual guidance and leadership? * * * ... Read more

39 Years Later, Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald

Last updated on: November 9, 2014 at 12:21 am By Kathy Schiffer

Does anyone know where the love of God goes When the waves turn the minutes to hours… –Gordon Lightfoot, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” It was circa July 1973, and my husband and I—young, free-wheeling and in love, with more dreams than experience—embarked on a driving trip through upper Michigan. We’d never been much farther north than Lansing at that point. We pitched a tent along the way, getting to know Grayling and Mio, the Au Sable River and the... Read more

Protesters Spew Anti-Catholic Hate Outside D.C.-Area Parishes

Last updated on: December 28, 2014 at 3:45 pm By Kathy Schiffer

If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. John 15:18-19 A group of protesters has stormed parishes in the Diocese of Washington, chanting anti-Catholic slogans and distributing fundamentalist literature. Three or four D.C.-area parishes have had the protesters stand... Read more

Call for Prayer: Bishop Robert Baker Undergoes Surgery Today

Last updated on: December 28, 2014 at 3:45 pm By Kathy Schiffer

Prayer Warriors: Please say a prayer today for Bishop Robert J. Baker, bishop of Birmingham in Alabama. Bishop Baker will undergo surgery today at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. After a staph infection delayed the planned surgery, he has finally been cleared and sends the following message: A message from Bishop Baker: I was informed today that finally, I am in good enough health for surgery to remove the two kidney stones in my ureters and to face the surgery on... Read more

Blessed George Napier, Priest and Martyr, Pray For Us

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 7:27 pm By Kathy Schiffer

On November 8, 1610, a British cleric by the name of George Napier was executed in Oxford, England, for the crime of being a priest. George Napier [alternate spelling: George Napper] was born at Holywell Manor in Oxford and studied at Corpus Christi College; but he was expelled from the school in 1568 as a “recusant”–someone who refused to attend Anglican services. In 1580 he was imprisoned in the Wood Street Counter, a small prison in London, but was freed in... Read more

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Marriage Between One Man and One Woman

Last updated on: January 14, 2015 at 5:24 am By Kathy Schiffer

News today from Cincinnati, where the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld natural marriage laws in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote in his opinion: “Of all the ways to resolve this question, one option is not available: a poll of the three judges of this panel, or for that matter all federal judges, about whether gay marriage is a good idea. Our judicial commissions did not come with such a sweeping grant of authority,... Read more

Annulments and Tuition: Changing the Way the Church Does Business

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 7:28 pm By Kathy Schiffer

There are two items in the Catholic news this week that have the potential to make important services available to lower-income Catholics who have until this time been unable to afford them: 1. ANNULMENTS. Pope Francis, in an address to the Roman Rota, discussed the possibility of annulments being offered free of charge, so that divorced persons who do not have the means to cover court costs can still obtain an annulment, in order to have their second marriages convalidated and... Read more

If God Filled You Up, It Might Feel Like This

Last updated on: November 5, 2014 at 11:25 am By Kathy Schiffer

I’ve written before about the work of Andrew McNabb. Andrew and I are friends, and we’ve shared our hearts–on Facebook and in person. Once, when I was in Portland, Maine on business, Andrew and I sat and chatted in a coffee shop near his home. And in December 2010, I wrote about my sheer delight with the stories in The Body of This, McNabb’s first published work. Now, Divine Providence Press has released a combination text, Eight Days & Virtue. Sort... Read more