Kendall Harmon over at Titusonenine reports that Andrew Hutchinson, the head of the Canadian Anglican Church has knocked the Archbishop of Canterbury for not providing clear leadership. Geesh, if he wants clear leadership, why’s the guy an Anglican? Doesn’t he geddit? Archbishops of Canterbury are elected because they know how to compromise. As it used to be said of Archbishop Robert Runcie…”He was very good at nailing his colors firmly to the fence.”Huthcinson’s grumble about the lack of clear... Read more

This is one of my favorite religious paintings. It shows Peter and John running to the tomb on Easter morning. One of the striking features of the gospel readings for Eastertide is all the running that is going on. Mary Magdalene runs to tell the apostles about the resurrection. Peter and John run to the tomb. The disciples on the road to Emmaus run all the way back to Jerusalem to tell their tale. The energy and rush continues into... Read more

A blog dedicated to promoting vocations in the Catholic Church has this post which chronicles the devastating shrinkage in the Catholic priesthood and religious orders in the USA. The numbers represent a reduction of about 90% since the mid 1960s. What’s up? There are so many different reasons for the seminaries and religious houses reducing as they have. The favorite scapegoat among conservatives is the Second Vatican Council. “The Council was a disaster!” they cry. “See what the result has... Read more

…or herding in the sheep, or rescuing the perishing, or exercising the ministry of reconciliation, or soul winning… whatever image you use, the Catholic Church in the United States estimates that about 154,000 adults were baptized or received into the Church at Easter this year. Statistics are slippery things. What do these numbers mean in the overall statistics of population, church goers and believers in America? Dunno. Do Catholics have more converts than other Christians? It’s impossible to compare these... Read more

From London’s Daily Telegraph: According to recent studies, Britain has 4.2million CCTV cameras – one for every 14 people in the country – which amounts to 20 per cent of the global camera total. It has been calculated that each person is caught on camera an average of 300 times daily. The latest gadget to help police British streets is the talking camera. The big brothers watching the goings on can say, “You there, yes you wearing the red shirt:... Read more

On observing the larger numbers for Easter one pastor wisecracked, “I have to apologize to all of you about all the lilies in Church. I wanted to get poinsettas, so it would look just like it did last time you were here…” Read more

Amy Welborn covers Easter worldwide. She’s got moving photographs from Catholic celebrations of the Triduum from around the world. She’s also posted to Pope’s Easter message to the world as well as his homily at the Easter Vigil. Thanks, Amy for keeping at it while other bloggers were taking time off! Read more

I’m signing off for Holy Week, and will be back with the Alleluias. Read more

  A dear friend sent me this link to a story of a Jewish guy who converted to the Catholic faith. The story of his conversion is moving and real, then the story goes sour as he recounts his disappointing experience of Catholicism on the ground. He comes across New Agey kooks leading RCIA, ignorant Catholics, a priest who is liberal on abortion and likes Clinton, bad music, sloppy liturgy…you know the whole sad tale. I’m sympathetic, but I’d like... Read more

What is “Church unity”? Probably the most shallow concept of church unity is in the ecumenical movement as popularly understood. “Church Unity” in this context means Christians of different denominations should meet together, be more charitable toward one another, find ways to work out their differences, and where possible, work together for the common good. That’s fine as far as it goes, and others would go further and say that we are all working toward eventual visible unity in some... Read more