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As release of Vatican report draws near, Theodore McCarrick moves from Kansas friary to undisclosed location…
Denver, Colo., Jan 7, 2020 / 11:00 am (CNA).- The disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick has moved from the Kansas friary where he had been living since 2018. A spokesman for the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Conrad told CNA Jan. 7 that McCarrick left St. Fidelis Friary in Victoria, Kansas, just days ago. He has moved to a residential community of priests who have been removed from ministry, senior Church officials told CNA. The former cardinal made the decision to leave the Kansas friary himself over the Christmas period, sources say, adding that his continued presence in the friary had become a strain on the Franciscan community that was hosting him. McCarrick moved to the friary shortly after he was accused in 2018 of sexually abusing minors, seminarians, and young priests. ...
The Medal of Honor winner with a devotion to St. Michael the Archangel…
Washington D.C., Jan 6, 2020 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in 2012, a team of Navy SEALs navigated the mountains of remote eastern Afghanistan in darkness, on a daring mission to rescue a captured U.S. doctor. Accompanying the SEALs was Chief Petty Officer Special Warfare Operator Edward C. Byers Jr., a Catholic with a devotion to St. Michael the Archangel. A SEAL since 2001, Byers had already seen seven straight years of combat. He was unaware of the feast day due the gravity of the operation and lack of access to a church. “That is something that gives me chills thinking about,” Byers told Columbia Magazine seven years later in a recent interview. “I don’t believe in coincidences.” Byers is a member of the Knights of Columbus; Columbia Magazine is the m...
At Golden Globes, pregnant actress Michelle Williams attributes her success to an abortion she had…
Please pray for Michelle Williams! Pregnant actress Michelle Williams thanked God for abortion in her 2020 Golden Globes acceptance speech. The former Dawson’s Creek star accepted a 2020 Golden Globe award for her performance in Fosse/Verdon. She expressed gratitude for her right to an abortion, attributing it to her success today. She also concluded her speech with a shout-out to 14-year-old daughter Matilda Ledger and fiancé Thomas Kail, whom she is expecting a child with. “I’m also grateful to have lived in a moment in our society where choice exists, because as women and as girls, things can happen to our bodies that are not our choice,” Williams begins. “I’ve tried my very best to live a life of my own making, not just a series of events that happened to me, but one that I could stand...
After decades of fighting, have United Methodists avoided a visit from the Ghost of the Episcopal Future?
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If you have never done the Epiphany blessing with your family, I encourage you to do so this year…..
Last year the Feast of the Epiphany came and went for my wife and me during our first year of marriage, however, later that day we said to each other that when our child is born next year, we would like to start the tradition of blessing our home each year. Today, just around two hours ago, after getting home from 7:30 AM Mass and eating breakfast, together, with our son in my wife’s arms, we blessed our home with the Epiphany Home Blessing. We said the prayers together, I marked the door frames and the outside door with the inscription (see below) and then went from room to room blessing each space with our small bottle of Epiphany Water. Above our front door If you have never done this short ceremony with your family, I would highly encourage you to do so today or tomorrow, most especial...
The Magi represent Christ’s manifestation to the Gentiles…
“The Magi Journeying” – James Tissot, Brooklyn Museum by Donal Anthony Foley – On Sunday, we celebrate the Epiphany, or manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, in the persons of the Magi, or wise men, whose presence is one of the most mysterious aspects of the whole nativity story. St. Matthew introduces the Magi in his Gospel as wise men from the East who have come to Jerusalem in search of the newborn King of the Jews. We are not told where they came from or how many they were, but are informed that their arrival caused a stir in Herod, and “all of Jerusalem with him” (Mt 2:3). We also learn that it is Herod who assembles the chief priest and scribes to learn more about where the Messiah is to be born and directs the Magi to Bethlehem. So who were the wise men? The Greek word for “wise ...
Pope Francis: ‘When we do not worship God, we end up worshiping ourselves’…
Vatican City, Jan 6, 2020 / 04:15 am (CNA).- On the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, Pope Francis said worship of Christ reveals the true meaning of our journey of life, as it did for the magi in the Gospel. “When we do not worship God, we end up worshiping ourselves,” Pope Francis said Jan. 6 in St. Peter’s Basilica. “Worship means concentrating on what is essential,” he said. “In worship, we learn to reject what should not be worshiped: the god of money, the god of consumerism, the god of pleasure, the god of success, the god of self. Worship means bending low before the Most High and to discover in his presence that life’s greatness does not consist in having, but in loving.” In his homily for the Epiphany of the Lord, Pope Francis reflected on the magi, or wise men, who bearing g...
The Netflix film ‘The Two Popes’ should, by rights, be called ‘The One Pope’…
The new and much-ballyhooed Netflix film The Two Popes should, by rights, be called The One Pope, for it presents a fairly nuanced, textured, and sympathetic portrait of Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) and a complete caricature of Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI). This imbalance fatally undermines the movie, whose purpose, it seems, is to show that old grumpy, legalistic Benedict finds his spiritual bearings through the ministrations of friendly, forward-looking Francis. But such a thematic trajectory ultimately does violence to both figures, and turns what could have been a supremely interesting character study into a predictable and tedious apologia for the filmmaker’s preferred version of Catholicism. That we are dealing with a caricature of Ratzinger becomes clear when, in the...
This Sunday, we each need a strange Epiphany…
By Tom Hoopes, January 2, 2020 Certain stories in the Gospel take us by surprise. The three temptations of Christ, with the devil whisking Jesus around like a magician. The beheading of John the Baptist as a prize for a birthday dance. They are wild, unexpected incidents that don’t follow the rules of the rest of the Gospel. The Epiphany is one of those. It’s an exotic adventure story that feels almost incidental to the main event. But it is crucially important not only for its meaning in salvation history, but for what it means for our own life. Think of what the Magi did for each of the characters of the Nativity story, and for us. Herod takes Jesus as seriously as anyone else in the Gospel. He not only believes in Christ’s identity, he believes in his power — but sees it only as a ...
Priest or Pinocchio? People can tell the difference…..
The commercial below is a reminder to all of us clergy who stand before the people of God each Sunday that they aren’t easily fooled. People know if we are genuine or if we are just saying things we think we ought to say or heard others say. They can tell if we really know the Lord and the truths we proclaim or if we’ve just studied them. No preacher can perfectly live the Gospel he preaches, but people know when clergymen are living double lives or are being inauthentic. They know when we are merely playing a role. They know when we are half-heartedly saying what we think we’re expected to say without really believing it—a lot like Pinocchio in the commercial. People also recognize when we are striving for holiness, really loving God and His people. They can tell whether we are men of pra...
Epiphanies at Bethlehem, the Jordan, Cana and in our lives…
Epiphany evokes adoration and obedience. This is true whether we adore Christ with the Magi, enter into the Baptism of the Lord with John the Baptist, or obey the Lord with those servants who listened to the “Woman” who dared to approach the Lord. Each epiphany is a manifestation of glory, the unveiling of God’s beautiful plan for humanity. Those who through obedience to His Word welcome this manifestation of love invite new astonished wonder into their lives – a mystery too great for this world to contain. Mysteriously, such greatness requires such humility. The only way to welcome the Word made flesh in all His glory, the only way to become obedient to this Word in a way that brings light to the world, is through the prayer of faith. I write this because some sugg...
As magi, they followed the stars. As wise men, they follow Jesus…..
There are so many wonderful details in the Epiphany story: the call of the Gentiles, their enthusiastic response, the significance of the star they seek, the gifts they bring, the dramatic interaction with Herod, and their ultimate rejection of Herod in favor of Christ. In this meditation, I would like to follow these Magi in their journey of faith to become “Wise Men.” As magi, they followed the faint stars, distant points of light; as wise men, they follow Jesus, who is the ever glorious Light from Light, true God from true God. We can observe how they journey in stages from the light of a star to the bright and glorious Light of Jesus Christ. And, of course, to authentically encounter the Lord is to experience conversion. All the elements of this story ultimately serve to cause them to ...
