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Pope Francis Removes Caritas Internationalis Leaders, Appoints Temporary Administrator…
Caritas Internationalis, founded in 1951, is a Catholic confederation of 162 charitable organizations based in 200 countries around the world. Pope Francis on Tuesday removed the entire leadership of an international confederation of charities and appointed a temporary administrator to improve the organization’s management. Pope Francis issued a decree Nov. 22 appointing Pier Francesco Pinelli, an Italian management consultant, as temporary administrator of Caritas Internationalis (CI). With the same ordinance, the Pope said the positions of the Catholic confederation’s leadership are to cease immediately. This decision includes Caritas Internationalis president Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle and secretary general Aloysius John. The positions of the vice presidents, treasurer, ecclesiastical ...
Beware of Catholics whose faith centers on ‘dialogue’ and ‘openness’ — when they get the power they seek, they can turn vicious…..
(Image: Screenshot / www.ncronline.org) The folks over at the National Catholic Reporter must think we have poor memories or no memory at all. For decades, the Reporter positioned itself as the loyal opposition to what it viewed as an overly authoritarian papacy thwarting the “true reform” of the Church. Operating from within a populist, liberal modality, they adopted the rhetoric of the various grassroots political movements of the Sixties in order to agitate for broad and sweeping changes in Church doctrine, morality, and practice. The new democratic ethos of modernity and the secular liberal trends of contemporary culture all pointed toward a “curve of history” that the Church needed to get in line with or perish. The “people of God” metaphor was put in the service of this populist mess...
‘Father, forgive them’ — Divine Mercy image desecrated at parish in Wisconsin…
Lord have mercy! St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Kenosha, Wis. fell victim to a vicious desecration of the Divine Mercy image in front of their church. The Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, who promote the Divine Mercy devotion throughout the United States, manage the parish. The vandal spray-painted the words, “Ankh e em Maat.” “Ankh“ is an Egyptian hieroglyphics symbol representing “the key of life.” “Ma’at“ is an Egyptian goddess, but also “the personification of truth, cosmic balance, and justice.” Father Donald Calloway, MIC, published a photo of the desecration on social media. Here’s his post below: Fr. Donald Calloway, Facebook Father Calloway’s post reads, “St. Peter’s parish in Kenosha, WI is run by the Marian Fathers. They woke up this morning to find this....
The New Old Movie Review: ‘The Glenn Miller Story’ (1954)…
Glenn Miller and my dad taught me a lesson: It is not just talent that produces inspirational music — it is love. Many of Jimmy Stewart’s movies are widely known and loved for plenty of good reasons. For millions of people, It’s A Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Harvey are favorite viewing. But there’s another Jimmy Stewart movie you may have missed. It’s a rags-to-riches musical called The Glenn Miller Story. When the movie opens, we see Glenn buying back his trombone from a pawn shop, and we get the idea that he has hocked it several times before. Glenn is a trombonist by profession, but he aspires to become a successful musical arranger. The problem is, no one else — not even his closest friend — seems to believe in his dream. We also learn that Glenn has a love interes...
The Art of Killing a Conscience…
By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio – articles – email ) | Nov 16, 2022 A troubled conscience can ruin our day, week, or year. The lawyer for legendary Old West gunfighter Doc Holliday (who was suffering from tuberculosis) once asked him if his conscience ever troubled him. “No,” he replied, “I coughed that up with my lungs long ago.” We may also consider techniques to silence one’s conscience. Here are some tips on how to wrestle with a conscience—and win. First, never underestimate vice. Conscience is the voice of God. It is informed by His revelation through authentic Church teaching, directing us to choose the good and disturbing us when we plot or commit an evil act. The more we respond to the disturbances with good choices, we become virtuous. When we repeatedly neglect the voice...
We Are Not Our Own: Childhood in a Technological Age…
Jesus makes becoming like children a condition for entrance into heaven and hence for the everlasting participation in divine life to which we are all invited. The human being is not only to begin as a child, as it were, but also to end as one. Liberal culture’s anti-child practices are bound up with a logic of childlessness most basically defined in terms of a forgetfulness of being and its Origin and expressed by the marginalization of philosophy, leisure, and liturgy as ways of being and acting. We can adequately address either these practices or this logic only by addressing both of them at the same time. The argument is that we will succeed in carrying out the tasks indicated here only by re-centering the culture in conception, birth, and being born: That is, in these as realized lite...
The Qur’an is wrong about Jesus’ crucifixion and death. Here’s how to explain to Muslims that Muhammad is keeping them from true Islam (submission to God)…
[Scroll down to the section: “The Huge Contradiction Between History and the Qur’an” if you want a shortened read. This is divided into two parts. Part I is enough for the apologetic to stand alone.] Part I: Freedom in the Truth: Jesus Died to Take-On Our Suffering and Death Do We Believe Because We’re Scared or Because It’s True? “The truth will make you free.” Mature adults accept a religion because they believe it is true and because they seek freedom and fulfillment in the truth. Mature and intelligent adults do not keep to a religion merely because people threatened them as children with punishment if they did not accept the religion of their forefathers. Only an immature religion – one for the childish and ignorant – is based on threats that continue even into adulthood. Yes, evildoe...
Amid the highs and lows of the USCCB assembly, an unexpected lesson…
Bishops attend a Nov. 15, 2022, session of the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. (CNS photo/Bob Roller) Outgoing U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops president Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles had a few good lines in his final address to that body, which contained a call to holiness, an observation that “we live in a noisy, distracted media culture” where “traditional norms and values are being tested,” and he made a plea for a Church unified through the Holy Eucharist, which “makes us one” to “raise up saints.” Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, gives his final presidential address Nov. 15, 2022, during a session of the fall general assembly of the bishops’ conference in Baltimor...
This ‘River Runner’ website is amazing — drop a raindrop on the magical map and watch its journey to the ocean…
Imagine a raindrop rolling off your slicker and falling to the ground. Can you picture what happens to it next? Now you can find out not only where a raindrop goes, but you can join it on its journey to the ocean (or other large water body) with a mesmerizing interactive map called River Runner. Created with watershed data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the map allows one to “drop” a raindrop anywhere in the contiguous U.S. and trace its path. And it’s not just watching a blue line snake across the states. Thanks to animation created with the Mapbox map and 3D elevation data, you practically get the raindrop’s view as it flows through mountains and fields on its adventures through the watersheds. Sam Learner The project is the brainstorm of web dev...
Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard, Facing Allegations of Sexually Abusing Minors, Asks Vatican for Laicization…
Editor’s note: This report was updated Sat. Nov. 19 to include a statement from the Albany diocese. Bishop Howard Hubbard has petitioned Pope Francis for laicization, the former bishop of Albany announced Friday. Hubbard, 84, is facing allegations of sexually abusing minors, and has admitted to knowingly reassigning abuser priests and failing to report instances of abuse to law enforcement. The bishop said his decision to be laicized came because of restrictions on his ministry as a priest – a claim the Albany diocese rejected as untrue on Saturday. And while Hubbard has declined to answer questions about the matter, sources have instead told The Pillar that the bishop has expressed the hope to marry if he is laicized by the Vatican. The bishop announced via a statement Nov. 18 that ...
9 key things the U.S. bishops did at their fall meeting in Baltimore…
The bishops gave a standing ovation after an impassioned speech on the war against Russia by Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop Borys Gudziak. Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego, who was named to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis in May, urged the USCCB to stand by Ukraine. Referring to the possibility that a Republican majority in the House of Representatives might back out of the nation’s commitment to the war effort in Ukraine, McElroy called on the bishops to act with haste to ensure continued U.S. military aid. In his speech Gudziak thanked the bishops and U.S. Catholics for their continued monetary support for humanitarian aid. 6. The bishops elected a steadfast defender of life to the pro-life committee. The election of Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, a staunch d...
‘Greater love hath no man than this’ — The Catholic WWII hero of Christ the King Sunday…
As Catholics in the U.S. marked the Feast of Christ the King 80 years ago, an American soldier gave his life to save his comrades in the South Pacific. In 1942, as Catholics in the United States marked Christ the King Sunday, a big hero from little Rhode Island died while saving others. His name is Elwood J. Euart. This year makes the 80th anniversary of his death in the early days of World War II. The Feast of Christ the King was originally celebrated in October. When Pope Pius XI released his encyclical Quas Primas (On the Feast of Christ the King) in 1925 he called for “the Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ to be observed yearly throughout the whole world on the last Sunday of the month of October — the Sunday, that is, which immediately precedes the Feast of All Saints.” I...
