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2,000 rare artifacts — some possibly used for illegal Catholic Masses — discovered beneath Tudor manor’s attic floorboards…
While most of England was on lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, archaeologist Matt Champion was working solo at Oxburgh Hall, a moated Tudor mansion in Norfolk. As part of the site’s £6 million (roughly $7.8 million USD) roof restoration project, workers had lifted the floorboards in the estate’s attic for the first time in centuries. Probing the recesses beneath the boards with gloved fingertips, Champion expected to find dirt, coins, bits of newspapers and detritus that had fallen through the cracks. Instead, he discovered a veritable treasure trove of more than 2,000 items dating as far back as the 15th century. The cache is one of the most remarkable “underfloor” archaeological finds ever made at a National Trust property, the British heritage organization says in a statement. Togeth...
Come down, O Love Divine — A meditation on a great hymn of the Church…
Most of you know that I have just returned from Georgetown Hospital after 11 days in the ICU. Most who get COVID-19 experience some combination of fatigue, fever, cold-like symptoms, nausea, and vomiting, but do not require hospitalization. Some, mainly those who have a history of pulmonary weakness like me, experience respiratory failure and pneumonia. Such was my lot. I received wonderful care during my hospital stay and made steady progress, thanks be to God, to your prayers, and to the wonderful medical staff. I plan to write more fully about that experience in the future. Today, however, I’d like to write about a hymn that was on my mind the entire time I was in the hospital. It is a hymn to God, the Holy Spirit. I have heard from others that it is hard to pray when seriously il...
NPR dumps Jewish meteorologist who compares Seattle to Kristallnacht…
When it comes to freedom of speech, journalists are in a tough place these days. Yes, you are free to vent your views on social media, but should you? Those of us who covered regular beats in the past were told to not air our private views about some of the major players on our Facebook and Twitter feeds. We were even coached to not place so much as a bumpersticker on our car that advertised our leanings — on anything –- one way or another. For instance, if a reporter covering a crisis pregnancy clinic pulled up to the interview with a Planned Parenthood sticker on her rear bumper, the CPC folks would have every right to conclude they would not get professional, objective treatment. But if the reporter was a columnist, all bets were off, as he or she was being paid to be opinionated. Which...
Devout Catholics and secular progressives…
Imagine that I am running for public office—say, president of the United States—and I claim to be a “committed secular progressive.” You say, “But Professor George, you’re no such thing. You’re not secular—you’re Catholic; you’re not progressive—you’re conservative.” I reply, “Hey, but I was educated by secular progressives. I went to Swarthmore, then Harvard, then Oxford: All secular institutions dominated by progressives. I teach at Princeton—super secular and progressive. I learned the secular progressive catechism. I know it by heart. I can quote it to you verbatim. My secular progressive teachers largely shaped who I am. I’m grateful to them every day for the fine education they provided. That’s part of my life, man. “And you know what else? It’s in my fa...
What really gives left-handed pitchers their edge?
Left-handed pitching has long been one of the most prized commodities in professional baseball. Teams strive to obtain lefty pitchers, and southpaws recognize their competitive edge. Two-sport athlete Tom Glavine explained his career choice this way: “I love both sports, but the deciding factor was, being a left-handed pitcher, I had a huge advantage in baseball because of that, and I didn’t have that type of advantage in hockey.” Even a century ago, Tris Speaker expressed the sport’s reverence for southpaws — if falling short as a trade analyst — when he reportedly opined that “taking the best left-handed pitcher in baseball and converting him into a right fielder is one of the dumbest things I ever heard.”<a class="espn-footnote-link" data-footnote-id="1" href=&quo...
Pope Francis extends Loreto jubilee to 2021…
Vatican City, Aug 18, 2020 / 06:30 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis has approved the extension of the Jubilee Year of Loreto to 2021. The decision was announced Aug. 14 by Archbishop Fabio Dal Cin, the prelate of the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto, Italy, after the recitation of the rosary on the Vigil of the Assumption. The jubilee year, which began Dec. 8, 2019, marks the 100th anniversary of the official proclamation of Our Lady of Loreto as the patroness of pilots and air passengers. The jubilee was due to end Dec. 10 this year, the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, but will now run until Dec. 10, 2021, because of disruption due to the coronavirus crisis. According to the official jubilee year website, Dal Cin described the gesture as a “great gift” for those connected to aviation, as well as devot...
On the problem of rash judgments and the discernment to which we are called…
In the Gospel for today’s Mass (Monday of the 20th week of the year) Jesus resists being called “good teacher.” He replies that no one is good but God alone. Of course this puzzles us, since Jesus is God. But the young man he rebukes does not know or understand that. Hence Jesus warns him, and us that we human beings are a mixed bag. We are gifted, but flawed; capable of enormous goodness and also of great sinfulness. As such we ought to avoid the sin of rash judgment that can occur in numerous ways. Usually we think first of rash judgment as the tendency to believe too quickly a bad report about someone else based on very little evidence. Just because something is said or reported does not mean it is accurate or reported in context. We do well to avoid quick conclusions and discern what i...
After WashPost attack and Twitter pile-on, COVID-recovering Msgr. Charles Pope sets the record straight…
[embedded content] “Lord, save me from the deceitful tongue and lying lips.” —Psalm 120
Democrats tap array of religious figures to address convention; Sister Simone Campbell and Father James Martin to appear Thursday…
The Episcopal bishop of Washington, D.C., who criticized President Donald Trump after he held a Bible aloft at a photo op at a historic church in her diocese, is among the diverse group of faith leaders selected by Democrats to speak at their presidential nominating convention. Bishop Mariann Budde will deliver the benediction on Tuesday, the second night of the convention, according to a list shared with The Associated Press on Sunday before its public release. The convention will be almost entirely virtual, with online video addresses. Former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to accept the nomination on Thursday. Budde was outspoken in her criticism of Trump for staging the June 1 visit to the historic St. John’s Church across from the White House, where he held up a Bible after autho...
Why a generation of girls is fleeing womanhood…
Abigail Shrier has given us a gift—a valuable and costly one. Her decision to write on transgender issues has introduced her to the abuse heaped on those who inquire more deeply into the popular trans narrative. As an opinion writer, she initially passed on telling this story, trusting someone else would. Yet when she received an e-mail from a mother desperate to get the word out about her beloved daughter identifying as trans “out of the blue,” she couldn’t get it out of her head. Shrier began meticulously researching, conducting almost 200 interviews and consulting with dozens of affected families. This book is not about transgender adults, nor is it shaped by a particular faith perspective. Rather, it is an investigative report on the diagnostic craze of “gender dysphoria” that has swep...
Earthquake hits North Carolina during Mass reading about earthquake…
St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Charlotte. (Courtesy photo.) St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Charlotte experienced the earthquakes within minutes of reading “the Lord was not in the earthquake.” CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As North Carolina experienced a moderate earthquake Sunday, local pastors encourage Catholics to relinquish control to God. A 5.1-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter near Sparta, about 100 miles north of Charlotte, struck at 8:07 am Aug. 9. There were no injuries but there have been reports of damages throughout Sparta, including cracks in the road and shelves displaced in grocery stores, the Associated Press reported. The lesson at Mass was from 1 Kings 19, wherein Elijah said, “After the wind there was an earthquake – but the LORD was not in the earthquake.” St. Gabr...
Planting seeds is an act of hope…
“But on a well-banked plot Odysseus found his father in solitudeSpading the earth around a young fruit tree.”Homer, Odyssey It is one of the most powerful images of Greek literature. An old man is tilling the soil around a young tree. Most likely he will never see the fruit of this tree, and so in some sense neither will he see the fruit of his work. Yet he still sows seeds, and tills the earth. Working the earth can uniquely mirror, reveal, and instantiate the profound richness of truly human work—that is ultimately a cultivation of the fullness of human life. Real human life is a masterpiece beyond compare. It requires the work of cultivating many things—from seeds in the earth, to contexts in the household, to dispositions in the soul. Sometimes the work of sowing and cultivating is a d...
