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It’s a bad abbot. Four Buddhist monks in Thailand have been shipped off to rehab after they all tested positive for meth. The holy men — including the temple’s abbot, or head monk — failed the drug tests in the Phetchabun province’s Bung Sam Phan district on Monday, an official told Agence France-Presse. “The temple is now empty of monks and nearby villagers are concerned they cannot do any merit-making,” said the official, Boonlert Thintapthai. Police forced the monks to undergo urine tests after they raided the temple as part of the province’s crackdown on drugs. The monks, who haven’t been named, have since been sent to a health clinic to undergo drug rehabilitation. Four Buddhist monks failed the drug tests in the Phetchabun province’s Bung Sam Phan district on Monday.ViralPress They w...

By Phil Lawler ( bio – articles – email ) | Nov 28, 2022 Well that didn’t take long, did it? In October the Vatican renewed an accord with Beijing governing the appointment of new Chinese Catholic bishops. Barely over one month later, China violated the accord. But wait. Was it actually a violation? Although a formal statement from the Holy See was strongly worded, it only expresses “surprise and regret” at the Chinese move, saying that it was not “in conformity with the spirit of dialogue” between Rome and Beijing. So that “spirit of dialogue” had been violated. But had the terms of the agreement? We don’t know, because the terms of the Vatican-Beijing accord have never been disclosed. The common understanding is that the agreement governs the appointment of new bishops, suppo...

The liturgy has little meaning for people who cannot comprehend its symbolism. Pope Francis laments the modern person, who has “lost the capacity to engage with symbolic action, which is an essential trait of the liturgical act” (Desiderio desideravi, 27). The materialistic view of secular culture runs contrary to any sort of symbolic understanding of reality or nature. As a result of the eclipse of God, St. John Paul II contends in Evangelium Vitae that the world which was once viewed as mater has become merely matter (22).   In light of the fact that modern culture has lost its sense of symbolism and sacramentality, it seems incomprehensible that Fr. Raymond J. de Souza would argue for a return to the ancient practice of celebrating the liturgy toward the east (ad orientem). Ye...

The Respect for Marriage Act “poses a pretty significant risk to religious Americans, both individuals and organizations. Like the Equality Act, it hopes to cement into federal law the idea that marriage is not the institution, defined by God, consisting of the union of one man and one woman. It goes, obviously, far beyond that…The first thing it does is to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act that was passed by huge bipartisan majorities and signed by Pres. Clinton in the 1990s. It also imposes an obligation on many — including, potentially, religious organizations — to recognize same-sex marriage. And that’s the piece that creates a lot of the religious liberty problems. And then the last thing it does is to define marriage for federal government purpose,” said Greg...

Editor’s Note: On Nov. 22, 2022, five representatives of America Media interviewed Pope Francis at his residence at Santa Marta at the Vatican. Matt Malone, S.J., the departing editor in chief of America, was joined by Sam Sawyer, S.J., the incoming editor in chief; executive editor Kerry Weber; Gerard O’Connell, America’s Vatican correspondent; and Gloria Purvis, host of “The Gloria Purvis Podcast.” They discussed a wide range of topics with the pope, including polarization in the U.S. church, racism, the war in Ukraine, the Vatican’s relations with China and church teaching on the ordination of women. The interview was conducted in Spanish with the assistance of a translator, Elisabetta Piqué. A transcript of the Spanish text can be found here. Pope Francis: Thank you for coming! Matt Ma...

The first weeks of Advent focus more on the Lord’s second coming in glory than on His first coming at Bethlehem. The gospel clearly states that we must always be prepared, for at an hour we do not expect, the Son of Man will come. “Ready” is the key word, but how should we be ready?  The second reading from today’s Mass (Romans 13:11-14) gives us a basic recipe for readiness. We can distinguish five fundamental instructions in Paul’s recipe. Wake up – The text says, … you know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, … Although St. Paul has mor...