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Pope Francis attempts to mend some doctrinal divisions by rejecting Amazonian Rite…
<div class="sqs-block video-block sqs-block-video" data-block-json="{"blockAnimation":"none","layout":"caption-hidden","overlay":true,"description":{"html":"Pope Francis released his official text on the Amazon Synod February 12 at noon Rome time, bringing with it what is sure to be a strong debate and controversy over its meaning for the life of the worldwide Church."},"hSize":null,"floatDir":null,"html":"\n","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jEWgCcRSt4&feature=emb_logo","width":854,"height":480,"providerName":"YouTube","thumbnailUrl":"http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-jEWgCcRSt4/...
No married priests, no women deacons, says Pope Francis in long-awaited new Amazon Synod document ‘Querida Amazonia’…
ABOVE: Pope Francis, with Master of Ceremonies Msgr. Guido Marini at his side, offers Mass Feb. 1, 2020, at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican [Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images]. BELOW: See photo captions and credits at end of article. In ‘Querida Amazonia,’ Pope Francis Lays Out a Vision for the Future of the Amazon The post-synodal apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia sets forth the Holy Father’s ‘Four Dreams’ for the region, but steers clear of endorsing married priests or women deacons. VATICAN CITY — Through “four great dreams” for a better ecological, social, cultural and ecclesial future, Pope Francis says he wishes his new post-synodal apostolic exhortation will “awaken” the world’s “affection and concern” for the Amazon region — and help other areas of the world to confront ...
Orson Bean’s wild life: Why did the LA Times obit skip God’s role in his final chapters?
<div class="sqs-block video-block sqs-block-video" data-block-json="{"blockAnimation":"none","layout":"caption-hidden","overlay":true,"description":{"html":"Orson Bean shares his personal journey of finding God in brutally honest and unforgettable fashion."},"hSize":null,"floatDir":null,"html":"\n","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDyoZlTRatE","width":640,"height":480,"providerName":"YouTube","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GDyoZlTRatE/hqdefault.jpg","resolvedBy":"youtube"}” data-block-type=”32″ id=”block-yui_3_17_2_1_1...
5 ways to be a better Catholic evangelist…
My friend is a Southern Baptist pastor and his statement about the Catholic Church floored me and it wasn’t about what you are probably thinking it was. He told me a story about when he was in seminary in the 80s. One of his seminary professors was teaching a class on missiology, which is the study of Christian mission. They did an exhaustive historical study on the spread of the Gospel. Toward the end of the class, one student asked what we could do to reach the world with the Gospel. Was it a matter of greater missionary zeal? His response was, “it isn’t just missionary zeal. We will reach the world with the Gospel when the Catholic Church recaptures her mission given to her by Jesus.” In other words, the Catholic Church holds the key to reaching the world with th...
How to help make Valentine’s Day less annoying…
I’m about to write something extremely controversial and provocative. Proceed with the pitchforks and torches if you must. It will not change my opinion. Here goes. I’m glad—no, downright gleeful that my kids’ Catholic school does not celebrate Valentine’s Day. There. It’s officially out there. I’m truly happy there will be no shoebox “mailboxes” wrapped in red and pink paper and plastered with colorful stickers and foam heart decorations. No cutesy purple cupcakes heaped with gobs of frosting and sprinkles. No party with pastel streamers, balloons, Pinterest-inspired crafts, sugary drinks paired with adorable polka-dotted straws, and candy galore. Some of these things I look back on fondly from my own youth. I did really love those candy hearts with the pithy little sayings… miss you, be ...
In countries like Lebanon and Nigeria, Catholic bishops aren’t afraid to say the emperor has no clothes…
ROME – We’re now fully immersed in election season in America, even if the Democratic caucuses in Iowa weren’t exactly the most promising beginning, and once again it seems likely the “religious vote” will be a contentious and important force in the outcome. Every time religion and politics collide in the U.S., someone is sure to object that church and state are supposed to be separate, that religion is a private matter that shouldn’t be injected into the public bloodstream, etc. That’s always been a rule more honored in the breach than the observance, but Western societies nonetheless pride themselves on a strong sense of distance between the religious and political spheres. In other parts of the world, however, religious leaders often show no such reticence about wading into political de...
The Little Sisters of the Poor are headed to the Supreme Court — again…
There is nothing quite so depressing as politicians jerking nuns around. The Little Sisters of the Poor are returning to the U.S. Supreme Court for a third time. They’ve already twice defended their right not to comply with the Obamacare requirement that employers provide free contraceptive coverage in their health insurance. The Little Sisters are a Roman Catholic charitable order that cares for the elderly and poor by operating 30 nursing homes across the country. Those homes have lay staff for whom the Little Sisters provide group health insurance. Everything was fine until the Obama administration and certain state governments got it into their heads that the Sisters ought to ignore their beliefs and include contraception and abortion-inducing drugs in their insurance coverage. Li...
“It’s a disturbing time in America” — Pro-life Dems respond to Bernie Sanders…
Washington D.C., Feb 10, 2020 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- Pro-life Democrats responded on Monday to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ suggestion that there is no room in the party for pro-lifers. “It’s a disturbing time in America,” Louisiana state senator Katrina Jackson (D) told CNA, “when the party that’s supposed to be the big tent party, that has always had differing views not only on abortion but also on other issues, begins to have candidates that try to close off the party to those with diverse views.” “Across our country, there are pro-life people of all political persuasions and I don’t believe it makes sense for any party to try to exclude people because of their position on life,” Rep. Colin Peterson (D-Minn.) said to CNA on Monday. Democratic presidential candidat...
The vastness of a human soul makes the universe seem so tiny and insignificant by comparison…
If something is very small, it does not follow that it is insignificant and meaningless. I enjoy watching and hearing the reactions of my students when I tell them that, if they were on the edge of our galaxy and their friend were on the other side, and if they sent a text message to their friend, the galaxy is so large that it would take 100,000 years for that message to get there. That is how big our galaxy is, and ours is only one among billions of galaxies. The awe practically drips off their faces; often it is audible. In the midst of this reaction, it is quite common for a student to then say something like this: “Wow, the universe is so huge! We are so meaningless and insignificant. Life has no meaning.” I can understand how the first statement makes sense. But the deduction of the ...
Thoughts on the lay vocation…
Over the past eighteen months, we’ve heard a great deal about the need for lay activism and lay collaboration in the management of Church affairs. I’m all for it. Such action items are, in principle, good and necessary. And also admirably American in their practical focus. But a caution: They also risk obscuring a deeper problem. The chronic, underlying illness of the Church in our country, in our day, isn’t prone to quick fixes, and real lay “power” doesn’t reside in money or professional skill or positions of influence within or over a Church bureaucracy. It proceeds from a personal witness of holiness. The abuse scandals of the past two decades are a brutal indictment of those priests and bishops who helped create the catastrophe. Nothing ...
The oldest company in every country, mapped…
While many of the companies that feature so prominently in our daily lives (Google, Apple, etc.) are relatively new, many companies around the world are pretty old — older than countries like the US, in fact — and a few of the oldest have actually been in operation for more than 1,000 years. If you want to know which companies are actually the oldest around the world, you can check out this map from Businessfinancing.co.uk, that shows the oldest company in each country that is still in business. See a full-size image of the map here. And in greater detail, here are maps that show the oldest company in each country by continent. It should be noted that the maps are not exhaustive and do not include data on every single country and that when it comes to determining what business is the ̶...
Only first-class relic of St. John Henry Newman stolen from Birmingham Oratory…
The only surviving piece of bone thought to belong to St John Henry Newman has been stolen from the Birmingham Oratory. The Oratory announced the theft in its weekly newsletter on Sunday, saying the bone fragment had been taken from its casket in the Newman Shrine. The fathers appealed for anyone who had seen any suspicious activity to come forward. Newman was buried in a cemetery in Rednal, outside Birmingham, in 1890. His grave was excavated in October 2008, but other than the small fragment of bone, no physical remains were found save for brass coffin handles and an inscription plate. A spokesman said at the time that given the damp nature of the soil, total decomposition was not surprising. Newman was eventually canonised in October last year. The incident is the latest in a spate of r...
