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Looking back on my 25-year friendship with Cardinal Pell, I thank him for reminding me of what is most important…
Editor’s note: Father Raymond de Souza reflected on his relationship with the late Cardinal recently on EWTN’s Register Radio. Listen to the full interview here or embedded below. The death of Cardinal George Pell was a monumental loss for the Church and an immense personal sadness for me. On the occasion of his 80th birthday, I wrote about his legacy, but fully expected in June 2021 that his contributions would be continuing and essential. That he was in the last 18 months of his life had not entered my mind. I concluded that column: Ad multos annos, Cardinal Pell! Alas, there were not to be annos, let alone multos. Now he is dead and the magnitude of the man can be measured in part by the massive reaction his death has occasioned — rather singular for a retired cardinal...
Let us all take a note from St. Fabian, especially in these uncertain and uneasy times…..
Let us all take a note from St. Fabian, especially in these uncertain and uneasy times. St. Fabian served the Church from Jan. 10, 236, to Jan. 20, 250, as our 20th pope, at a time when Christianity was still very much illegal. Despite that, he was able to get along with the imperial government relatively well, and was known for many good deeds — heck, he is a saint, after all. St. Cyprian of Carthage thought highly of him, he was known to have exchanged letters with Origen of Alexandria, and he might’ve even been the one who sent St. Denis to Paris in an effort to evangelize the Gauls. Denis, some might remember, is the guy who, after being martyred via beheading, supposedly picked up his head and proceeded to walk six miles while preaching a sermon. But I digress. Fabian even...
In praise of my friend and hero, George Cardinal Pell…
Last week Cardinal George Pell, a great man, a leader, a hero died, and I lost a friend. Many have written beautiful stories about him; I would like to share some of the things I learned spending time with His Eminence while working with him at the Vatican and simply enjoying meals together in Borgo Pio. His Eminence felt his mission at the Vatican was to change things. You can’t get from here to tomorrow in one giant leap, he used to tell me. Extraordinary things get done one step at a time and we must experiment and take risk by constantly generating small wins and by learning from mistakes and, despite persistent opposition and inevitable setbacks, we must demonstrate the courage to continue the journey. We discussed the fact that too often we forget that our parishes run also as ...
‘We have to be careful who gets their hands on it’…
“We have to be careful who gets their hands on it” January 19, 2023 by Amy Welborn And what is it, you wonder? Why, the Catechism of the Catholic Church of course! Over the past few weeks, the Catechism has been trending here and there for a couple of reasons. First, Benedict XVI’s death, which prompted folks to recall the Catechism as part of his legacy. Secondly, the Catechism in a Year podcast, which is proving to be as popular as the Bible in a Year podcast. Both are in the top 12 Apple Podcasts as I write, and I know the Catechism edition was #1 for at least a few days when it started at the beginning of the month. Aren’t we so grateful to Pope Benedict for the Catechism? What a gift! What would we do without it! Well, I am here to offer, as I like to do, a little bit of historical co...
A ‘pigeon pope,’ groundhogs in Texas, and being pro-life in London…
Happy Friday friends, And a happy feast of St. Fabian to all who celebrate it. For those of you who don’t know, Fabian was elected pope in January 236, in the days before conclaves and cardinals. Papal elections as we now think of them were brought in first by Pope Nicholas II in 1059 with the bull In nomine Domini, but back in Fabian’s day papal succession was a much more fluid process. According to the best history we have, he was a gentleman farmer who came into town for the general gathering of the local Christian community after the death of Pope Anterus which would elect a new Bishop of Rome by general consensus. There were a few names under discussion, we are told by Eusebius, and debate about the best candidate dragged on for nearly two weeks. Fabian, “while present, was in the min...
Catholic journalist George Neumayr died Thursday of malaria in Africa. May his soul rest in peace…..
Journalist and author George Neumayr, who died of malaria while reporting from Ivory Coast, Africa, is seen here in photos posted on his Twitter account earlier this month. (Images: Twitter) The sad and shocking news broke this morning on social media that journalist and editor George Neumayr died of malaria while in Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (often referred to as Ivory Coast) in West Africa, where he had been visiting and reporting for The American Spectator. The Lepanto Institute tweeted: Regarding the death of @george_neumayr, here is what we know from CONFIRMED sources:1) George was sick seven days ago.2) George steadfastly refused to go to the hospital.3) The US Consulate tested his body and confirmed that he tested positive for malaria. Neumayr, who was in his late fifties, was my pr...
It is my conviction that the best way to honor the unborn is to be openly grateful for our children — and to speak of that gratitude to others often…
It is no mistake that we honor the life of the unborn especially in this month woven with the childhood of Jesus. By Denise Trull Thus begins the quiet time. January. The unsung month. God’s gracious gift. An unhurried, undistracted space reserved for traveling inward to unpack the abundant graces of Advent and Christmas; graces that tumbled forth in such God given abundance we hardly had time to capture the glorious goodness of it all. We may have found ourselves, like our Lady, tucking those graces away for later pondering. We turn them over in our minds, now, like treasures to warm our memories and release within our hearts a ready praise. January is the time when shepherds have turned back to the hills with their flocks. A cave, once lit by the light of a fantastical new star, is dul...
Our rivals may not be as powerful as we think…
By Phil Lawler ( bio – articles – email ) | Jan 18, 2023 Sometime in my impressionable adolescent years, I saw a film clip from the Vatican, showing the procession of bishops entering a session (the opening session, maybe?) of Vatican II. My memory is of a solemn, stately march; I marveled at the precision with which it must have been organized. Now that I am older—closing in on the age when bishops are obliged to retire—I realize that my youthful memory has played tricks on me. I have watched bishops enter churches in procession on many important occasions, including the sad events at the Vatican in the past few weeks. These processions are certainly solemn. They may be stately. But precise? No. Soldiers march in precise formation. Marching bands stay in stride. Bishops do not...
Opening 50th Annual March for Life in Washington, Bishop Thanks Pro-Lifers But Warns of Tall Tasks Ahead…
Listen to this story: WASHINGTON, D.C. – Celebrating a Mass for the first National Prayer Vigil for Life in a post-Roe v. Wade nation, a senior U.S. prelate offered a message of gratitude for the efforts of pro-life advocates over the years but also a reminder of the tall task ahead. “Today we have so much to celebrate. For the first time in the 49-year-history of the March for Life, we can say that Roe vs. Wade, a blight on our nation, our system of justice, and our culture, is no more,” Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, said in his homily, drawing applause. “This is a moment for joy, and for gratitude; a moment to recall the countless souls who have dedicated themselves to political and social action, to prayer, and to service in the name of this cause.” “But even as we cel...
She witnessed the worst excesses of Mao and his Communists. Now she has a warning for the world…..
HONG KONG — Yuan-tsung Chen, an author, leaned forward in an oversize velvet chair to tell the story of the man so hungry that he ate himself. Once, that tale had seemed unbelievable to her. “I thought that was an exaggeration,” she said. But living in a village during the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong’s calamitous attempt to catapult China into communist plenty in the late 1950s, changed her view on what extreme hunger could drive people to actually do. “It wasn’t anyone’s exaggeration, it was as true as real life, but nobody would say it,” Ms. Chen said, recalling the desperation and starvation caused by Mao’s experiment. Historians estimate that up to 45 million people died over the course of five years. Now, sitting at a restaurant in one of Hong Kong’s most opulent hotels, Ms. Chen, ...
Cardinal Schönborn Calls Archbishop Gänswein Book ‘Unseemly Indiscretion,’ Confirms Key Detail of Benedict Papacy…
In his book, Archbishop Gänswein also addressed the fact that Cardinal Schönborn and Cardinal Ratzinger were on a first-name basis. ROME — Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn on Wednesday confirmed he was the person who encouraged Joseph Ratzinger to accept the conclave’s decision — if elected — to become the successor to Pope John Paul II as supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church. Benedict’s longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, revealed Cardinal Schönborn’s identity in his book titled Nothing but the Truth (“Nient’altro che la verita”), which was published in Italy last week. CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported that Cardinal Schönborn on Jan. 18 confirmed Archbishop Gänswein’s assertion that Cardinal Schönborn had written Cardinal Ratzinger “a little lett...
Philadelphia Flyers’ Ivan Provorov Sparks Media Firestorm With Refusal to Wear Rainbow ‘Pride Jersey’ at NHL Game…
The defenseman cited his Russian Orthodox faith in his decision to decline the sweater at Tuesday’s ‘LGBTQ+ Pride Night’ In the car the other day, I was listening to two hosts on Toronto’s sports radio station. They were discussing the decision by Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov not to wear a rainbow warmup jersey during the pregame skate-around. The jersey was meant to show that the Flyers are “inclusive” of the LGBTQ community. It was a solution in search of a problem. Provorov said donning the jersey went against his Russian Orthodox Christian beliefs. He told the media: “I respect everybody, and I respect everybody’s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion. That’s all I’m gonna say.” The National Hockey League has a policy stating that no player ...
