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Another glimpse of extreme secularism…
Last week on the blog we discussed the rise of vocal, extreme secularism, as exemplified by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (here). Extreme secularism is not merely a worldly attitude devoid of God, it is a position that actively denies that faith, prayer, and/or religious expression play a role worthy of recognition. Militant secularists go further, seeking to remove any religious practice or mention of God from the public square. This past week we saw another example of this extreme secularism in remarks made by Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City. Asked why state/city COVID-19 protocols have been almost completely ignored and unenforced during recent protests in NYC (and across the nation), Catholic News Agency reports: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that ongoing prot...
From the Synod of Germany to the monastery of Bose — Anatomy of the Catholic revolutions…
> Italiano> English> Español> Français > All the articles of Settimo Cielo in English * Nothing seems to break the stride of the “synodal journey” undertaken by the Catholic Church of Germany. Neither the criticisms nor the defections of the rare dissenting bishops. Nor the serious concerns of Rome:> Francis and the Schism of Germany. History of a Nightmare Cardinal Reinhard Marx has been succeeded, as head of the episcopal conference, by Limburg bishop Georg Bätzing (pictured). But without any course correction. No less talkative than his predecessor, the new president immediately strung together a series of reckless statements on the most burning issues of the synod’s agenda, from the female priesthood to same-sex couples, along with the presumption of giving marching o...
Archdiocese of Washington, DC, invites priests to “prayerful protest” against racism at White House…
Washington D.C., Jun 8, 2020 / 10:20 am MT (CNA).- Priests in the Archdiocese of Washington will demonstrate outside of the White House on Monday as a “prayerful protest” against hatred and institutional discrimination of all kinds. The June 8 protest will be led by Fr. Cornelis Ejiogu, SSJ, pastor of St. Luke Church in Washington, DC. “Our mission: to pray for a change of heart, an end to hatred and institutional discrimination of all kinds,” said an email sent to priests of the Archdiocese of Washington by Fr. Daniel B. Carson, the vicar general and moderator of the curia for the archdiocese on June 5. “Please join the Catholic faithful in a public witness to pray for the soul of George Floyd and the soul of America,” said Carson. Floyd was a man who died in the cu...
Howard County, Maryland, officials recently tried to ban Mass. Why wasn’t that a news story?
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Trinity Sunday — One and One and One are One…
There is an old spiritual that says, “My God is so high you can’t get over Him. He’s so low you can’t get under Him. He’s so wide you can’t get around Him. You must come in, by and through the Lamb.” It’s not a bad way of saying that God is “other.” He is beyond what human words can describe, beyond what human thoughts can conjure. On the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity we do well to remember that we are pondering a mystery that cannot fit in our minds. A mystery, though, is not something wholly unknown. In the Christian tradition, the word “mystery” refers to (among other things) something that is partially revealed, something much more of which remains hidden. As we ponder the Trinity, consider that although there are some things we can know by revelation, much more is beyond our understa...
Pope’s Sunday Angelus: The action of the Holy Trinity “is all one single plan of love that saves humanity and the world”…
Pope Francis blesses an empty St. Peter’s Square on March 15, 2020. (Vatican Media.) According to Pope Francis, to live a Christian life means welcoming God-Love, encountering Him, searching for Him, and placing Him first in our lives. Hannah Brockhaus/CNA. VATICAN CITY — The Holy Trinity is saving love in a world filled with corruption, evil, and the sinfulness of men and women, Pope Francis said Sunday. In his weekly address before the Angelus prayer June 7, the pope said though God created a good and beautiful world, after the fall “the world is marked by evil and corruption.” “We men and women are sinners, all of us,” he continued, speaking from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. “God could intervene to judge the world, to destroy evil and chastise sinners. Instead, He love...
What is a labradoodle doing in this Catholic school yearbook?
Hadley Jo Lange and her faithful service dog, Ariel, are the best of friends. (Courtesy of Heather Lange) A 7-year-old and her service dog were featured side by side in the yearbook of St. Patrick Catholic School in Louisville, Kentucky, highlighting a message of kindness and inclusion. A sweet story recently got my attention — maybe you saw it, too: A 7-year-old and her service dog were featured side by side in the yearbook of St. Patrick Catholic School in Louisville, Kentucky. I spoke this week with Hadley Jo Lange’s mother, Heather, about the special bond her daughter has with her faithful labradoodle, Ariel, who has assisted Hadley, who has epilepsy, for the past four years. Ariel is always on guard to alert Heather and the Lange family when Hadley experiences a seizure. Heather says ...
12 things to know and share about the Holy Trinity…
The Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian Faith. Here are 12 things to know and share… The Church teaches that the Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian Faith. But how much do you know about this mystery? What is its history? What does it mean? And how can it be proved? Here are 12 things to know and share… 1. Where does the word “Trinity” come from? It comes from the Latin word trinitas, which means “three” or “triad.” The Greek equivalent is triados. 2. When was it first used? The first surviving use of the term (there may have been earlier uses that are now lost) was around A.D. 170 by Theophilus of Antioch, who wrote: In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinit...
5 insights on death and dying from Hilaire Belloc…
Most famous outside the Church for his line “and always keep ahold of nurse, for fear of finding something worse,” Hilaire Belloc wrote dozens of books of history, memoir, theology, travel and pilgrimage, and politics, as well as many novels and poems. He briefly served in Parliament as well. He was born in France in 1870 (his newly widowed mother moved the family to England when he was five) and died in 1953. With his friend G. K. Chesterton, he was one of the major public intellectuals of his day. Among his greatest accomplishments was his demolition of H. G. Wells’ progressive fantasy, the best-selling Outline of History. With Chesterton, he developed a distinctive political and economic system they called Distributism, which was neither socialist nor capitalist, and desired ...
Excellent NYTimes article and photo essay: “The Last Anointing: A Reminder That We Are Not Alone”…
Father Ryan Connors prayed over a Covid-19 patient while he administered a Catholic sacrament, the anointing of the sick, at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center. For centuries, Catholic priests have anointed the dying with oil. The ritual has become extraordinarily difficult during the coronavirus pandemic. But in rare instances priests have still been able to offer last rites. Beyond the glass lay a man, unconscious in the electric blue light, shrouded in tubes. His family was not allowed to visit. His body could not be touched. Father Ryan Connors stood at the door watching, his Roman collar barely visible beneath his face shield. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, he had gone to the bedsides of Covid-19 patients across the Boston area to perform one of the oldest religious rituals for the...
Vatican police arrest London property broker for extortion and money laundering…
Vatican Officials Arrest London Property Broker for Extortion and Money Laundering Gianluigi Torzi is being charged by Vatican prosecutors with several counts of “extortion, embezzlement, aggravated fraud and money laundering,” the Holy See said, noting that the crimes Vatican Law provides for sentences of up to twelve years imprisonment for such crimes. VATICAN CITY — The Holy See press office announced Friday that Italian businessman Gianluigi Torzi has been arrested after he was interrogated as part of a Vatican financial investigation. Torzi played a crucial role in the controversial purchase of a London property development by the Secretariat of State. “Today the Office of the Promoter of Justice of the Vatican Court, at the end of the interrogation of Mr. Gianluigi Torzi, who was ass...
Churches in China must preach ‘patriotism’ to reopen after coronavirus…
St. Dominic’s Church in Macau, China. (Shutterstock) China has been slowly re-opening institutions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, including religious services. ZHEIJIANG, China — State-sponsored Catholic authorities in parts of China have issued regulations on the reopening of churches during the coronavirus pandemic. The new rules include a requirement that churches must preach on “patriotism” in order to reopen. In the eastern province of Zhejiang, the state-affiliated Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the province’s Chinese Catholic educational administration committee issued a statement on May 29 regarding the resumption of Mass the following week. The statement requires that only “religious places that meet the conditions of epidemic pr...
