“A positive sign”: Pope Francis appoints highly-regarded French Patristics scholar to handle SSPX talks

Pope Francis Appoints French Patristics Scholar to Handle SSPX TalksPENTIN: Pope Francis appointed on Saturday a French Vatican official to oversee the care of religious communities of a traditional nature, and to assist with the regularization of the Society of St. Pius X. Msgr. Patrick Descourtieux becomes head of the section within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith dealing with such communities. He effectively takes over the responsibilities of Archbishop Guido Pozzo who was Secretary of the Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei’ which the Pope abolished through a motu proprio (papal decree) in January.

Laetare Sunday: Prompt devotion, eager faith

WDTPRS – 4th Sunday of Lent- Laetare: Prompt devotion, eager faith – PHOTOS | Fr. Z's BlogZUHLSDORF: The nickname Laetare originated from the first word of the Introit chant for Sunday’s Mass, “Rejoice!”

On Laetare Sunday there is a slight relaxation of Lent’s penitential spirit, because we have a glimpse of the joy that is coming at Easter, now near at hand. Moreover, in the ancient Roman Church, before Lent was lengthened, the real, strict discipline began on the Monday after this Sunday.

The custom of using rose (rosacea) vestments is tied to the Station churches in Rome. The Station for Laetare Sunday is the Basilica of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem where the relics of Cross and Passion brought from the Holy Land by St. Helena

Laetare Sunday — There was a man who had two sons

There Was a Man Who Had Two Sons - A Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent - Community in MissionPOPE: The Gospel this Sunday is about a man who had two sons, both of whom forsook him and refused to relive in relationship with him. Although the sons seem to have very different personalities, one outwardly rebellious, the other outwardly obedient, their internal struggles are similar. In effect, neither of them really wants a relationship with his father. Both prefer what their father has or can give them to their father himself.

Pope Francis urges Christians, Muslims to charity and dialogue in second day of Morocco trip

Pope Francis urges religious communities to charity and dialogue in Morocco: Pope Francis urged religious communities in Morocco to practice an “ecumencism of charity,” calling for dialogue, not proselytism, in the Muslim-majority country Sunday.

“Charity, especially towards the vulnerable, is the best opportunity we have to keep working to build of a culture of encounter,” Pope Francis told the priests, religious, and seminarians gathered in Rabat Cathedral March 31.

The pope pointed to the example of Saint Francis of Assisi, who “at the height of the Crusades went to encounter Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil” and Blessed Charles de Foucauld, the French missionary martyred in Algeria in 1916, who “wished to be a brother to all.”

A whole new world: Readings for Laetare Sunday

The Sacred Page: A Whole New World: Readings for Laetare SundayBERGSMA: The Fourth Sunday of Lent is known as “Laetare Sunday,” from the Latin Introit of the Mass, “Laetare Jerusalem,” “Rejoice, O Jerusalem”. This mid-point of Lent is traditionally a somewhat festive Sunday, to encourage the faithful to see “the light at the end of the tunnel,” as more than half of the fasting and mortification of Lent is behind us. The use of festive rose-colored vestments is authorized. Many Catholics relax Lenten observances on this day, before gearing up for the “final push” to Holy Week and the Triduum.

Pope Francis’ visit to Morocco raises hopes for its Christians

Pope Francis’ Visit to Morocco Raises Hopes for Its Christians - The New York Times: On a Monday evening in a ground-floor apartment shielded from the street by heavy yellow curtains, five people stood around a table in the living room as a woman read from a pink leather-bound Bible in Arabic.

Holding hands, they prayed and read psalms, as a mandolin player accompanied their chants and a 2-year-old girl hit a ball playfully against the pink walls.

They would prefer to worship in a church, but as Moroccans and former Muslims who converted to Christianity, they are compelled to hide their activities from public sight.

Pope arrives in Morocco for two-day trip

Pope arrives in Morocco for two-day trip | Reuters: Pope Francis arrived in Morocco on Saturday to start a two-day trip centered on inter-faith relations.

The Alitalia plane carrying the pope, his entourage and journalists arrived at the Moroccan capital’s airport, where King Mohammed VI greeted him.

Video: Security scare on Pope’s visit to Morocco as man charges at king’s motorcade

Security scare on Pope's visit to Morocco as man charges at king's motorcade - World News - Mirror Online: A man ran towards a car carrying the Moroccan king shortly after the arrival of Pope Francis in the North African nation on Saturday.

He was swiftly seized by security guards, live TV footage from the state broadcaster showed.


King Mohammed VI was standing up in the open-top car waving at crowds lining a street in Rabat, travelling in a motorcade
alongside the pope's vehicle.

A review of Disney’s new ‘Dumbo’ remake (Rotten Tomatoes 51%)

SDG Reviews ‘Dumbo’GREYDANUS: The Disney nostalgia train rumbles on with Tim Burton back at the throttle — not quite throttling the iconic tale of the flying baby elephant, but only barely rising to the challenge, sort of like Casey Junior struggling to clear that daunting hill.

One of the surprises of revisiting Disney’s 1941 cartoon Dumbo is how the famous magic feather is barely a thing.

Dumbo’s magic feather went on to become a substantial pop-culture metaphor, referenced in everyday speech and in titles to books and articles, blending the placebo effect, Linus’ security blanket and believing in yourself.

A dad’s impromptu Ave Maria goes viral at Walt Disney World

‘Hail Mary’ at Disney World? | Deacon Greg KandraKANDRA: Here’s something you might not expect to encounter at Walt Disney World: a father offering a stunning rendition of “Ave Maria” in the lobby of the Grand Floridian Resort Hotel. It’s quickly gone viral — and understandably so, especially when you watch his daughter watching him.

This is just lovely.

Take 19 seconds to watch how this six-eyed sand spider buries itself

New Advent: Take 19 seconds to watch how this six-eyed sand spider buries itself: It’s one of the world's most venomous spiders, but fortunately for us, it’s unusually bashful.

The worst disease ever recorded

The Worst Disease Ever Recorded - The Atlantic: A century ago, a strain of pandemic flu killed up to 100 million people—5 percent of the world’s population. In 2013, a new mystery illness swept the western coast of North America, causing starfish to disintegrate. In 2015, a big-nosed Asian antelope known as the saiga lost two-thirds of its population—some 200,000 individuals—to what now looks to be a bacterial infection. But none of these devastating infections comes close to the destructive power of Bd—a singularly apocalyptic fungus that’s unrivaled in its ability not only to kill animals, but to delete entire species from existence.

The Prodigal Son and the prodigal mind

The Prodigal Son and The Prodigal Mind: Our Lord’s Parable for Educators | Classical Catholic EducationLANGLEY: Our Lord’s parable about the man who had two sons, upon the younger of whom tradition has bestowed the sobriquet ‘prodigal,’ provides an excellent lesson for parents everywhere who are concerned about the education of their children. I have a hunch that the ‘parable of the prodigal son’ will always be on everybody’s top ten parable list partly because the parable is especially close to our own experience.

With Courage, same-sex-attracted man tells redemption story

With Courage, same-sex-attracted man tells redemption story – Catholic Philly: “It was harder to tell people that I was a gay man living the truth of the church than to tell people I was gay,” said Karl Miller, a Catholic man with same-sex attraction (SSA). “I lost friends.”

Miller recently spoke of his experiences as a same-sex attracted man during a talk last month at St. Jude Parish in Chalfont. More than 30 attendees attended the presentation, which Miller gave as a speaker for Courage International, an apostolate of Catholics who experience same-sex attraction and who are committed to lives of chastity.

Founded in New York City in 1980, the outreach is guided by priest chaplains who provide spiritual direction to members as they meet for prayer, fellowship and mutual support. EnCourage, an affiliated ministry created in 1992, provides spiritual support for parents, spouses and other loved ones of those involved in homosexual relationships.

What I learned by evangelizing Abby Johnson

What I Learned By Evangelizing Abby Johnson - Catholic Missionary Disciples - College Station, TXLEJEUNE: The local Planned Parenthood Director had quit her job and walked into the local Coalition for Life offices. It was a welcomed shock to those who heard. But, then it hit national news, because Planned Parenthood was scared. They were scared she would share inside information and that they wouldn’t control the narrative. They were right to be scared, because Abby Johnson had a new mission.
In fact, her story is now a movie - Unplanned.

Choices have consequences: A Lenten meditation on a warning from Moses

Choices Have Consequences: A Lenten Meditation on a Warning From Moses - Community in MissionPOPE: The themes of early Lent are pretty basic. The ashes of Ash Wednesday announce the simple truth that we are going to die, and thereafter we will face judgment. Hence we need to repent and come to believe the good news that only Jesus can save us.

The reading for Thursday after Ash Wednesday features Moses laying out the basic reality that all of us have a choice to make. He says to us,

Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom...

I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.

So there it is, our choice: life or death, prosperity or doom. An old Latin expression says, Tertium non datur (no third way is given). We often like to think that we can plow some middle path. But in the matter of the last things, there is no middle path, no third way. Either we choose God and his kingdom, and then reflect that choice in all of our smaller decisions, or we do not.

A young paleontologist may have discovered a record of a most significant event Earth’s history — “the Day the Dinosaurs Died”

The Day the Dinosaurs Died | The New Yorker: If, on a certain evening about sixty-six million years ago, you had stood somewhere in North America and looked up at the sky, you would have soon made out what appeared to be a star. If you watched for an hour or two, the star would have seemed to grow in brightness, although it barely moved. That’s because it was not a star but an asteroid, and it was headed directly for Earth at about forty-five thousand miles an hour. Sixty hours later, the asteroid hit. The air in front was compressed and violently heated, and it blasted a hole through the atmosphere, generating a supersonic shock wave. The asteroid struck a shallow sea where the Yucatán peninsula is today. In that moment, the Cretaceous period ended and the Paleogene period began.

The secret to finding answers when looking in the mirror

The Secret to Finding Answers When Looking in the Mirror - Seton MagazineCLARK: Shortly before Lisa and I were married, a priest friend of mine told me something I will never forget.

He said, “John, you are about to start your dream job, and you are about to marry your dream girl. But there will come a day when you look in the mirror and ask yourself, ‘Is this all there is?’”

I didn’t quite know what to say. And then he started talking about some other topic, but my mind stayed focused on his rather dour, depressing, and dysphoric prediction. So I interrupted him and said, “Father, what then? What gets you through those times?”

Bad theology, bad atheism

Atheism: Philosopher Peter Atterton Sidesteps the Heart of the Matter | National ReviewFRANKOVICH: “Why is there anything rather than nothing?” Accept the question as a koan, not a challenge to debate, and you will have a mystical experience, although you may need to walk away from your screen, still your mind, and sit alone quietly in your room for a few minutes before the strange wonder that the question points to begins to register. The “answer” to the question is not a proposition. It’s an experience — of astonishment, as you stop in your tracks before the inscrutable reality that things . . . exist, your own self being the thing you feel most keenly. You didn’t will yourself into existence. How did you get here? Look to your parents, and from there to their parents, and so on, back to . . . primordial dust? The Big Bang? Bracket for a moment the question of what we should call the thing where that regression into the past comes to its final stop. Bracket the question of what the thing is exactly. That it was there, rather than not there — that’s the stubborn mystery.

My uber-Calvinist troll and the one thing he gets really wrong

My Uber-Calvinist Troll and the One Thing He Gets Really Wrong | The StreamMILLS: I’m haunted by an uber-Calvinist troll. He writes behind a pseudonym, but if he is who I think he is, he’s a scholar of some weight in the world. He’s someone I know a little. And like.

And he talks crap about Catholicism. For example, he thinks we Catholics think Protestants like him will go to Hell. That’s unfathomably … dumb. Worse, it hurts people who believe him, by separating them from their brothers in Christ, at a time Christians can’t afford to be any more divided than we are.

Saturday mornings and the discipline of daily Mass

Saturday Mornings and the Discipline of Daily Mass | God-Haunted LunaticBECKER: One of the challenges of getting to daily Mass is the illusion it creates of superior personal piety. Those of us who’ve adopted the practice, though, are under no such illusions. We don’t go to daily Mass because we’re holy; we go to daily Mass because we know we’re not.

Saturday mornings, for me at least, readily demonstrate this reality.

For decades now, I’ve done my best to work daily Mass into my schedule. It was one of the first lessons I learned from Jim, my sponsor, in the months leading up to my reception into the Church. Retired now, Jim served as a public high school teacher in Chicago for many years, which was exacting, exhausting work. He also ran an Uptown soup kitchen twice a week – he still does! – serving hundreds of guests and involving the coordination of scores of volunteers.

Loving those who are homeless can be like standing at the foot of the Cross

Loving those who are homeless can be like standing at the foot of the cross on Vimeo: Andre Escaleira, a missionary with Christ in the City, describes helping those who are homeless, respecting their choices and witnessing their suffering.

He spoke March 19, 2019, on the monthly Engage live event, presented by Catholic Charities and hosted by Kyle Dyer. The other panelists were Mike Sinnett, vice president of Shelter Services of Catholic Charities; and Chris Conner, director of Denver's Road Home.

Pope Francis issues child protection laws for Vatican City State, Roman Curia

Pope Francis issues child protection laws for Vatican City State, Roman Curia: Pope Francis Friday issued new laws and guidelines on the protection of minors for those working within Vatican City State and the Roman Curia, including the obligation to report abuse.

Under the new law, promulgated by the pope March 29, officials of the Roman Curia and Vatican City State are obliged to report “without delay” any knowledge or well-founded suspicion of abuse against a minor or vulnerable adult learned in the exercise of their position – though with the obvious exception of information learned only within confession, which is protected by the sacramental seal.

‘Reflection of a sick society’ — Vandals desecrate 12 French Catholic churches

Vandals Desecrate 12 French Catholic Churches: "Reflection of a Sick Civilization" | ChurchPOP: Since early February, vandals desecrated more than a dozen Catholic Churches throughout France. They’ve looted, burned, destroyed statues, threw consecrated hosts all over the floors, and marked a cross on the wall with human feces. One of these churches was the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, the second-largest Catholic church in France. It caught fire on Mar. 17 shortly after the Sunday noon Mass.

‘Yes’ is a pleasant country

Yes is a Pleasant Country – Fr. Dwight LongeneckerLONGENECKER: There is a little quote that changed my life. I’ve written about it before, but the old quotes like the old jokes are the best.

It is F.D.Maurice’s dictum that “A man is most often right in what he affirms and wrong in what he denies.” I discovered this when I was in my first year of studies at Oxford. I had an attic room in a big old Victorian mansion overlooking the Banbury Road. I was being confronted with a whole range of stuff that was alien to my Bob Jones University world. I was receiving an education in the fullest way–by being plunged into a different country and a different culture.

The secret to finding answers while looking in the mirror

The Secret to Finding Answers When Looking in the Mirror - Seton MagazineCLARK: Shortly before Lisa and I were married, a priest friend of mine told me something I will never forget.

He said, “John, you are about to start your dream job, and you are about to marry your dream girl. But there will come a day when you look in the mirror and ask yourself, ‘Is this all there is?’”

I didn’t quite know what to say. And then he started talking about some other topic, but my mind stayed focused on his rather dour, depressing, and dysphoric prediction. So I interrupted him and said, “Father, what then? What gets you through those times?”

Face the future with hope and joy

Archbishop Chaput’s Address at the Pontifical College Josephinum–Facing the Future with Hope and Joy – Archdiocese of PhiladelphiaCHAPUT: I’m glad to be here tonight for two reasons. First, I admire – greatly admire — the Josephinum and the men it produces. The Church needs you because we urgently need more good priests, men of prudence and charity, but also of spine and courage, who understand the changing terrain of our times. In my life, the priesthood has been a deep source of joy and purpose, the gift of knowing with certainty why God made me. But it’s not a life for the weak or the lukewarm. Especially now.

My second reason is this. Cardinal Pio Laghi was a mentor and friend who showed great kindness to me as a young bishop. When you’re a baby bishop, everything is new and a bit intimidating. Cardinal Laghi’s encouragement made a great difference in my life and ministry. He gave me my first zucchetto, pectoral cross, and mitre. I’ve never forgotten the debt I owe him. Delivering these remarks in his name is not just a pleasure, the pleasure of being with you, but also an honor. So let’s begin.

Archbishop Wilton Gregory anticipated to lead Archdiocese of Washington, sources tell CNA

Archbishop Wilton Gregory asked to lead Washington archdiocese: Pope Francis is expected to appoint Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta to serve as the next Archbishop of Washington, multiple sources have independently reported to CNA. Gregory would become the seventh Archbishop of Washington, succeeding Cardinal Donald Wuerl.

A formal announcement could come as early as next week, sources say, though it has not yet been confirmed that the archbishop has accepted the appointment. Sources in Rome and the United States told CNA that Gregory was informed of the appointment earlier this week.

Vatican says Pope’s viral ring-kissing rebuff was driven by concern for ‘hygiene’

Pope Francis says he pulled ring hand away from worshipers' kisses for fear of spreading germs - CBS News: Pope Francis has set the record straight about why he pulled his hand away when throngs of people lined up this week to kiss his ring: for fear of spreading germs. Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Thursday that Francis was concerned about hygiene when, after greeting dozens of well-wishers in a lengthy receiving line Monday in Loreto, Italy, he began pulling his hand away to discourage people from kissing his ring.

How gratitude equips us for many other virtues

How Gratitude Equips Us for Many Other Virtues - Community in MissionPOPE: The Gospel for Mass on Tuesday (of the third week of Lent) featured the parable of the servant who owed a large sum to the king that he could not repay. The generous and kind king forgave him the entire debt. Strangely, the man then proceeded to treat a fellow servant who owed him a small amount with severity. When the king learned of the servant’s behavior, he grew angry and sentenced him to the very punishment he had meted out to his debtor.

For our mid-Lent purposes, let’s consider the heart of the parable, for it is aimed at our hearts!

Detailed images of baby heart inside the womb

Detailed images of baby heart inside the womb - BBC News: Researchers have produced unprecedented images of a baby's heart while it is still inside the womb.

Pregnant women were scanned in an MRI machine and powerful computers built 3D models of the tiny beating hearts inside their unborn children.

The team at King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas's says it will improve the care of babies with congenital heart disease.

The researchers say their approach could easily be adopted by hospitals.

NYTimes skips some icky details — and some chilling revelations — in obit for Cardinal Danneels

Gray Lady skips some icky details in obit for Cardinal Danneels, a key Pope Francis supporter — GetReligionMATTINGLY: What would it take to force The New York Times to criticize the career of a liberal Catholic who backed the modernization of Catholic teachings on many topics close to the hearts of the Gray Lady’s editors?

To answer that question, take a look at the recent Times obituary for the highly influential Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium.

Readers can start, of course, with the headline: “Godfried Danneels, Liberal Cardinal Tainted by Sex Scandal, Dies at 85.” That pretty much sums up the obituary as a whole. This cardinal was a liberal, but he was also a liberal with a connection to The Scandal. That’s bad.

Pope’s Wednesday Audience: “Give us this day our daily bread”

Pope Francis: We will be judged by whether we shared 'our daily bread': The ‘daily bread’ asked of God in the ‘Our Father’ is for everyone, and Christians will be judged by how well they shared their gifts with those in need, Pope Francis said Wednesday.

“Let’s get this in our heads: food is not private property, but providence to be shared with the grace of God,” the pope said March 27.

He reflected during the general audience on a line in the Lord’s Prayer, which says, “give us this day our daily bread.” Pope Francis explained that one day this “daily bread” could be the cause of one’s condemnation, if he or she did not share it with others.

An open letter to Cardinal Reinhard Marx

An open letter to Cardinal Reinhard Marx - Denver CatholicWEIGEL: I noted with interest your recent announcement of a “binding synodal process” during which the Church in Germany will discuss the celibacy of the Latin-rite Catholic priesthood, the Church’s sexual ethic and clericalism, these being “issues” put on the table by the crisis of clerical sexual abuse.

Perhaps the following questions will help sharpen your discussions.

Cardinals violating their vows: a ho-hum story?

Cardinals violating their vows: a ho-hum story? | Catholic CultureLAWLER: America magazine is running a story about the conclave of 2013. The story— excerpted from the forthcoming The Election of Pope Francis, by Gerard O’Connell— includes a precise account of the voting on the cardinals’ first ballot.

Do you have any doubt that O’Connell’s account is accurate? I don’t. A conclave is supposed to be confidential, and every cardinal vows to keep the proceedings secret. Yet within a few weeks after every conclave, journalists have at least a rough idea of how the votes were cast. O’Connell’s story is remarkable only for its details.

10 steps every bishop can take to renew the Church

Ten steps every bishop can take to renew the Church | Catholic CultureMIRUS: Everyone has a role in Catholic renewal, but there can be no question that the greatest spur to an authentic renewal of the Church is episcopal leadership. If results throughout the long history of the Church are any guide, however, even bishops often do not know the concrete steps they should be taking to move their dioceses closer to this perennial goal. Well, they can all breathe a sigh of relief now, because I am here to help.

More seriously, I would recommend, before any bishop should embark on these ten steps, that he follow the example of Bishop Fulton Sheen by making a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament each and every day of his episcopal ministry. This is even more important than reading my precious list.

Thanks to a handful of traditional bishops, Spain sees 24 percent jump in ordinations to priesthood

Spain sees 24 per cent jump in ordinations to priesthood | Catholic Herald: Ordinations to the priesthood in Spain have soared by 24 per cent in the last year.

In 2018, a total of 135 men were ordained priests compared to 109 in 2017, according to statistics released March 12 by the Spanish bishops’ conference.

The Archdiocese of Madrid recorded the highest number of ordinations, with 14. The Diocese of Valencia recorded 10 ordinations, followed by eight in the Diocese of Toledo, seven each in the dioceses of Seville and Alcala de Henares and six each in the Cartagena and Zaragoza dioceses.

Can you buy your own train? You sure can. Here’s what it takes...

Can You Buy Your Own Train? Here’s What It Takes - CityLab: When Bob Lowe wants to take a cross-country trip, the first stop for him is 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, where his own private railroad awaits. Sort of.

Lowe owns a pair of railroad cars, artifacts of the pre-Amtrak era, when the country’s passenger-rail network was a glorious patchwork of private operators. One is a Salisbury Beach sleeper car, so named after the shore in Massachusetts, that was originally put into commission by the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1954 and holds 26 people. The other: an old Colonial Crafts, just one of a series of Colonial railcars that entered service on the Pennsylvania Railroad out of Chicago in 1949. It’s got three bedrooms, a drawing room, a buffet kitchen, and a large lounge. So when Lowe wants to take a train from, say, Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., he doesn’t buy tickets for a seat in one of Amtrak’s coach cars. Instead, he asks Amtrak for a tow, essentially hitching a ride in his own cars with family and friends, usually 25 people at a time between both cars.

The gifts of wonder and awe are more necessary than ever

The Gifts of Wonder and Awe Are More Necessary Than Ever - Community in MissionPOPE: There is a remarkable interaction with God in the Book of Exodus that shows the balance we must develop in how we understand and relate to Him. Many of us get the balance wrong by turning God into a doting grandfather figure or seeing Him as an angry despot just waiting for any misstep. Trivializing or domesticating God is the more common error today, but we ought not to underestimate the number of people who struggle to find in God a loving Father.

Trump administration announces expansion of Mexico City policy on abortion access overseas

Pompeo announces expansion of Mexico City policy on abortion access overseas - CBS News: Secretary of State of Mike Pompeo announced refinements to the administration's Mexico City policy, a ban on federal funding for organizations that provide abortion services, in order to "protect the least amongst us." While the State Department will continue to refuse to provide assistance to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGO's) that "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning," Pompeo said Tuesday that the State Department is also making clear "we will refuse to provide assistance to foreign NGOs that give to other foreign groups in the global abortion industry."

One of the Most Fascinating Legends is the Myth of the Minotaur

Man, Myth and the Minotaur – Fr. Dwight LongeneckerLONGENECKER: The Minotaur was half bull, half huge and powerful man. The various mythic adventures about him and how Theseus defeated him are of secondary interest. What interests me is the symbolism of the myth.

The Bull-Man is just what it looks like–a frighteningly powerful beast from hell. Like a bull he is powerful, unpredictable, hot blooded and stubborn. Not only immensely powerful, but the Minotaur is hidden– locked in the underground labyrinth beneath the palace of the king.

In the book I am developing, Minotaur stands for the underground evil–the lurking, potent force in the subterranean passageways of our lives. Beneath the shining successful surface of the palaces we create for ourselves, the Minotaur roams and roars.

Founder, board of small Vatican women’s magazine ‘Women Church World’ quit

APNewsBreak: Founder, board of Vatican women's magazine quit: The founder and all-female editorial board of the Vatican’s women’s magazine have quit after what they say was a Vatican campaign to discredit them and put them “under the direct control of men,” that only increased after they denounced the sexual abuse of nuns by clergy.

The editorial committee of “Women Church World,” a monthly glossy published alongside the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, made the announcement in the planned April 1 editorial and in an open letter to Pope Francis that was provided Tuesday to The Associated Press.

“We are throwing in the towel because we feel surrounded by a climate of distrust and progressive de-legitimization,” founder Lucetta Scaraffia wrote in the open letter.

High-profile Australian reporters charged over Cardinal Pell gag order violations

Australian reporters charged over George Pell gag order violations - The Boston Globe: Some of Australia’s highest-profile journalists face possible prison sentences and large media organizations could be fined after being ordered to appear in court next month for allegedly breaching a gag order on reporting about Cardinal George Pell’s convictions on charges of sexually molesting two choirboys.

Reporting in any format accessible from Australia about the former Vatican economy chief’s convictions in a Melbourne court in December was banned by a judge’s suppression order that was only lifted in February.

Disgraced Bishop Eamonn Casey of Ireland, who died in 2017, accused of sexually abusing three women as children

Bishop Eamonn Casey accused of sexually abusing three women as children: Three women made allegations that they were sexually abused as children by former Bishop of Galway the late Eamonn Casey and two have received compensation as a result.

In one of the cases, Bishop Casey, who died in March 2017 aged 89, admitted the abuse when he was serving as a priest up to 2005 in the south England diocese of Arundel and Brighton.

Speaking then to the English diocese’s child protection officer Fr Kieran O’Brien, according to a diocesan document, Bishop Casey said “that there was another historical case dealt with by his solicitors in Dublin.

Here are the best time to buy flights in 2019, based on 917 million airfares

The Best Time to Buy Flights in 2019, Based on 917 Million Airfares: When you’re planning vacation one of the biggest factors to consider, or at least the priciest, is airfare. When you buy your plane ticket can often have as much impact on its price as where you’re traveling to.

This week CheapAir released its recommendations for the best time to purchase flights in 2019 based on its annual airfare study. The study analyzes 917 million airfares in more than 8,000 different markets to determine the “best” day to purchase that plane ticket as well as a “Prime Booking Window” with a range of dates you’re likely to find the best price.

Accept the Catholic faith not just to “change your life,” but to change your eternity...

Fall, perish? What? | Charlotte was BothWELBORN: The world of Catholic ministry is dominated by a central question: Why don’t they come? Followed by the related question: How can we keep them?

Everyone has an answer and (most importantly) a program centered on the question. Articles, books, blog posts, talks.

Why don’t they come?

Isn’t the answer pretty self-evident?

Because they don’t believe it matters.

They don’t believe it matters more than other things in their lives, and what they hear from the Church is that they’re right – it might help in some ways, but it really doesn’t matter.

How can I say this? When all the programs and talks contain the phrase “Life-changing?”

Sleep deprived? Try these strategies to catch up...

Sleep Deprived? Try These Strategies To Catch Up : Shots - Health News : NPR: There are lots of reasons why many of us don't get the recommended seven hours or more of sleep each night. Travel schedules, work deadlines, TV bingeing and — a big one — having young children all take a toll.

Research published recently in the journal Sleep finds that up to six years after the birth of a child, many mothers and fathers still don't sleep as much as they did before their child was born. For parents, there's just less time in the day to devote to yourself.

Pope marks Solemnity of the Annunciation with trip to Holy House of Loreto

Pope Francis on Feast of Annunciation: Marriage and family have 'an essential mission': On the Solemnity of the Annunciation, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of family and marriage for society. He also called the Virgin Mary a model for every vocation.

“It is necessary to rediscover the plan drawn by God for the family, to reaffirm its greatness and irreplaceability in the service of life and society,” the pope said March 25, during a visit to the Shrine of the Holy House in Loreto, Italy.

The Shrine of the Holy House preserves the building where tradition holds the Virgin Mary was born, raised, and greeted by the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation. Historic documentation shows that the Holy House was brought from Palestine to Italy in the 13th century. The Holy House also holds the statue of Our Lady of Loreto.

J.R.R. Tolkien, Led Zeppelin and the Annunciation

J.R.R. Tolkien, Led Zeppelin and the AnnunciationTURLEY: Today is the Feast of the Annunciation.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the Annunciation as “inaugurat[ing] ‘the fullness of time’, the time of the fulfilment of God's promises.” It is a pivotal moment in human history. As the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) states: “Many holy fathers (Sts. Jerome, Cyril, Ephraim, Augustine) say that the consent of Mary was essential to the redemption. It was the will of God, St. Thomas says (Summa III:30), that the redemption of mankind should depend upon the consent of the Virgin Mary. This does not mean that God in His plans was bound by the will of a creature, and that man would not have been redeemed if Mary had not consented. It only means that the consent of Mary was foreseen from all eternity, and therefore was received as essential into the design of God.”

An exclusive glimpse inside the conclave that elected Pope Francis

Exclusive: Inside the election of Pope Francis | America Magazine: The following excerpts are drawn from The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Account of the Conclave That Changed History (Orbis Books, 2019), by Gerard O’Connell, America’s Vatican correspondent. We join O’Connell’s tale on March 13, after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on Feb. 28, 2013, and the calling of a conclave to elect his successor. Those 115 cardinals eligible to vote in a papal conclave have gathered in Rome and have been sequestered under heavy security in the Sistine Chapel inside the Vatican, where they will conduct secret votes at regular intervals until a new pope is elected with two thirds of the votes.

Secularism isn't the answer to Islamic extremism, but arguably its cause

Secularism isn't the answer to Islamic extremism, but arguably its causeALLEN: At the end of March Pope Francis will make a quick overnight trip to Morocco, marking the latest chapter in modern papal outreach to the Islamic world. It’s a story that reaches back at least to 1964, when Paul VI became the first pope to leave Italy in modern times by visiting the Holy Land, starting with Jordan.

While these outings have many aims, these days one primary objective is to promote a greater climate of religious freedom - which, among other things, should make life a bit easier for the pope’s own small flocks in these places.

Ezzati defends his record as he steps down as Archbishop of Santiago, Chile

Ezzati defends his record as he steps down as Archbishop of SantiagoSANMARTIN: Although a decision had been expected, it was still a surprise when the Vatican announced Pope Francis had accepted the resignation of Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati of Santiago, Chile, who faces allegations of having covered up cases of clerical sexual abuse.

However, Ezzati was defiant to the end, saying he wasn’t ashamed of anything.

“I leave with my head up high because every allegation that has arrived at the complaints office, that I opened myself in 2011, has been or is being investigated,” Ezzati told reporters after the announcement was made.

Sooner or later, judgment must come

Sooner or Later Judgment Must Come – A Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent - Community in MissionPOPE: The most serious problem in life is not the fact that we die or the manner of our death. The most serious problem we face is not Pilate or any political misfortune; it is not falling towers or any physical threat. It is not financial setback, or suffering, or losing our job, or losing our possessions. The most serious problem we face is our own sin.

We don’t tend to think like this. Instead, we minimize the maximum and maximize the minimum. We get all worked up about lesser things while ignoring greater ones. We are forever worrying about passing things like health and money but paying little attention to the things of eternity and to getting ready to meet God. Let our physical health be threatened and we are instantly on our knees begging God for deliverance, but let our sins pile up and sinful drives be eating at our very soul and we take little notice. We don’t seem to care about being delivered from things that are far more serious than mere cancer.

Pope’s Sunday Angelus: Respond to God’s mercy with conversion, not ‘spiritual laziness’

Pope Francis tells Catholics to not abuse God's mercy: The mercy of God is not an invitation to “spiritual laziness,” but requires a sincere and prompt response from those who want to grow in holiness, Pope Francis said Sunday.

“Despite the barrenness which sometimes marks our existence, God has patience and offers us the possibility of changing and making progress on the path of good,” the pope said March 24.

However, the chance for conversion is not limitless, he said. “We can rely heavily on God’s mercy, but without abusing it. We must not justify spiritual laziness but increase our commitment to respond promptly to this mercy with sincerity of heart.”

The problem of evil — actually, it’s complicated

The Problem of Evil: Actually, It’s ComplicatedGREYDANUS: “God had to take her,” says a grieving father at a bereavement support group in the 2010 film Rabbit Hole, starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart. “He needed another angel. He needed another angel.”

I would be very reluctant to take issue with a thought or sentiment that a person in grief found helpful. But I couldn’t imagine saying something like this to a person in grief — and I can well understand the waspish response from Kidman’s character, also grieving a child:

“Why didn’t he just make one? Another angel. I mean, he’s God, after all. Why didn’t he just make another angel?”

Poetry has simply vanished from popular culture — and from church hymn books

The Bad Poetry of Modern Hymnody - Crisis MagazineESOLEN: In an earlier column, I asked why we could not sing hymns from the Christian treasury, which is nearly two thousand years old, and which features composers with names like Bach and Handel and poets from Prudentius to Thomas Aquinas to Isaac Watts, the Wesleys, and John Henry Newman, rather than silly, sloppy, banally sentimental, and often ungrammatical lyrics set to off-off-Broadway show tunes. I sensed from the comments that people don’t consider metrical poetry to be an art, with standards of excellence or at least of good workmanship, nor do they consider that the lyrics of hymns are supposed to be poems and should be judged as such.

Vatican commission has found “there is no historical evidence” that women were ever ordained as deacons, says theologian

Theologian claims Vatican commission on female deacons found no evidence they existed | Blogs | LifeSite: Professor Peter Hünermann – a well-connected and prominent German theologian – has told LifeSiteNews that, according to members of the German bishops' doctrinal commission who spoke to him, the report of the Vatican commission on female deacons found that “there is no historical evidence that in the patristics women were ordained as deacons.”

In a recent interview in Germany, Professor Hünermann spoke about this Vatican commission on the history of female deacons that had been established, in 2016, by Pope Francis. This commission has ended its work and gave Pope Francis, already in mid-2018, its report. Professor Hünermann commented on the fact that Pope Francis “has withheld the results for months now,” saying that this “is a sign for me that he does not agree with this statement as it stands.”

Watch this video: As lawmakers plot murder, young people sing a ‘lullaby of perfect pain’ for holy innocents in the Illinois State Capitol

STOP THE PRESSES: Young people sing in the Illinois State Capitol | Fr. Z's BlogZUHLSDORF: I have written about the

breath-taking,
throat-choking,
eye-blurring

composition of Philip Stopford, “Lully, Lulla, Lullay”.

This is the “Conventry Carol” about the Holy Innocents, a carol in some ways so heart-piercing that it seems out of step with Christmastide, except that the joyous season embraces also Childermas, and that the wood of the crib foretells the wood of the Cross.

The words of this lullaby of perfect pain are

Who was Garamond, anyway? The history behind 5 classic typefaces...

Sean Adams's The Designer's Dictionary of Type explains famous fonts: Typefaces create pictures of words. Like images, each typeface communicates an idea, emotion, and point of view. Helvetica might speak to neutrality and information; Garamond can read as literary and classic; Bodoni feels sophisticated, urbane, and crisp. The choice of typeface communicates a subtle message to the viewer. The typeface choice, like a moving and powerful photograph, is the difference between a good idea expressed adequately and a good idea expressed persuasively.

Disability rights activists protest assisted suicide bills as dangerous, discriminatory

Disability rights activists protest assisted suicide bills as dangerous, discriminatory: As multiple states consider assisted suicide legislation, disability activists are speaking out, saying the bills are slippery slopes that put the lives of people with disabilities at risk.

Connecticut lawmakers are now considering HB 5898, “An Act Concerning Aid In Dying For Terminally Ill Patients,” which would permit doctors to prescribe lethal medication to people with less than six months to live. The patient would be permitted to self-administer the medication when they wish to end their life.

HB 5898 is modeled after Oregon’s assisted suicide law, which was the first in the nation. On Monday, members of the state General Assembly’s Public Health Committee heard testimony from those who are in favor of the bill, and from those who are opposed.

What should be our attitude toward priests today? A great Doctor of the Church, St. Catherine of Siena, has an answer...

What does the Doctor Diagnose? Listening to the Church Doctor - Homiletic & Pastoral Review: This picture of the fourteenth-century Catholic clergy, and the love of one female saint, depicts perennial principles for us immersed in moral outrage over sexually abusive clerics, on the one hand, and critical defensiveness for many innocent priests on the other. Those in the “moral outrage” group are the ones who are leaving the Church, with a tendency to generalize every priest into a sexual abuser, and questioning the integrity of most, if not all, bishops. Those who are in the other group stand convicted of the Faith, remembering that Christ perdures in the Church, and loves even more all the self-sacrificing priests known. Then there is the “middle” who do not know what to think.

Lessons from Churchill’s walk with destiny

Lessons from Churchill’s walk with destiny - Angelus News - Multimedia Catholic NewsKACZOR: The first lesson of Churchill’s life is that serious parental failures do not necessarily destroy our potential for greatness. Winston’s father, Randolph, treated his son with disdain, repeatedly telling the young boy and later the young man that he would never amount to anything. Winston’s mother, Jennie, had numerous extramarital affairs and spent much more time and energy as a social butterfly than as a caring mother. Both parents neglected their son terribly. Sent away to boarding school, young Winston sent 76 letters to his parents who sent only six in return. The boy begged to spend Christmas with them, but was rebuffed. Despite these parental failures and their bad example, Churchill himself was a faithful husband, loving father, and a world historical figure.

Arguments against a germ-line editing moratorium fail

Arguments Against a Germ-Line Editing Moratorium Fail | Matthew SchneiderSCHNEIDER: Last week it came out that many scientists want a 5-year moratorium on gene-line editing. This means no editing DNA that might be passed down to your kids. However, a recent piece argued against this. I will dissect the arguments against this to point out why we should have a moratorium. Stat ran a story titled, “Leading scientists, backed by NIH, call for a global moratorium on creating ‘CRISPR babies.’”

A wretched ‘tell-all’ Vatican exposé that tells us only one thing

A wretched ‘tell-all’ Vatican expose that tells us only one thing | Catholic CultureLAWLER: “I don’t often talk about my own life in my books,” writes Frederic Martel, near the close of his sensationalistic In the Closet of the Vatican. Reading that phrase, I laughed out loud. The humor was unintentional; Martel takes himself very seriously. Still in light of the spectacular self-promotion on display in the preceding 300+ pages, this was one of the few entertaining passages in an otherwise wretched book.

In the Closet is styled as a tell-all exposé, and the considerable pre-launch publicity hinted that the author would provide all the salacious details about homosexual activity at the Vatican. But as I plowed through the book (originally written in French, here in an awkward English translation), I discovered absolutely nothing new. Nothing. Martel offers page after page of gossip, speculation, innuendo, and unsubstantiated claims. But apart from what I already knew, I learned nothing from the book—except what I learned about the author himself.

4 women in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth who reflect the beauty of the Virgin Mary

4 Women in Tolkien's Middle-Earth who reflect the beauty of the Virgin Mary - Voyage Comics & PublishingKOSLOSKI: J.R.R. Tolkien, being a devout Catholic, was well acquainted with the indispensable role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Christianity and had a deep devotion to her. He saw her importance in being the “Mother of God” and venerated her as the “Queen Mother” who sits enthroned with her Son in Heaven. This devotion to the “Morning Star” would find its way into four women in the realm of Middle-Earth...

Did the Catholic Church destroy the once-beloved anchovy pizza? (And if so, will this be the subject of Dan Brown’s next sequel?)

Did The Catholic Church Destroy Once-Beloved Anchovy Pizza?: Throughout much of the 20th century, anchovies were as associated with pizza as cream cheese is with bagels, or mustard with hot dogs. In movies, television shows, and (of course) pizzerias, anchovy pizza was ubiquitous. The practice of eating fish on pizza goes back to ancient Rome, so it was natural for it to be a part of the development of modern American pizza.

‘We're in a very different time now’: Montreal officials oust crucifix from City Hall

'We're in a very different time now': Montreal officials oust crucifix from City Hall: Montreal’s City Hall doesn’t need Christ, officials have said.

A crucifix that has hung on the wall of Montreal’s City Hall since 1937, reminding city officials to let God guide their decisions, will be taken down for a renovation project, never to be put back, local sources have reported.

City councilor Laurence Lavigne-Lalonde made the announcement at an executive council meeting this week.

Priest stabbed during Mass at St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal

A priest has been stabbed during mass at St. Joseph’s Oratory | Montreal Gazette: The rector at St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal was stabbed as he said Mass in the church on Friday morning.

The 8:30 a.m. Mass was being broadcast on a Catholic television network. Footage from the mass showed a man dressed in dark clothing and wearing a white baseball cap walking toward the altar, where Father Claude Grou was saying Mass. The man knocked over a candle as he rushed toward Grou. Grou moved away, falling as the man attacked him, knocking over a banner at the right of the altar.

Several other people rushed to the altar, blocking the man from getting close to Grou. Grou stood up and was helped by people in the church.

A rock and roll journalist opens her ears to God

A Rock and Roll Journalist Opens Her Ears to God – Catholic World Report: Dawn Eden Goldstein’s latest book, Sunday Will Never Be the Same: A Rock and Roll Journalist Opens Her Ears to God (Catholic Answers, 2019), chronicles her spiritual journey from a Jewish upbringing to Protestantism, and then to the Catholic Church, where she found healing and happiness. In 2016, she was the first woman to earn a doctorate in sacred theology from the University of St. Mary of the Lake, and is currently an assistant professor of dogmatic theology for Holy Apostles College and Seminary.

I recently spoke with Goldstein about her new book and her journey into the Catholic Church.

Small hole in the ground leads to mysterious English cavern with possible ties to Crusades

Small hole in the ground leads to mysterious English cavern: Hidden within a small wooded area on a privately owned Shropshire, England. farm lies a small hole in the ground. Only large enough for a grown man to enter on his hands and knees, the hole is easy to miss, but it leads to a cavernous chamber carved into rock...

How Jane Austen played baseball

How Jane Austen Played Baseball | John Wilson | First Things: Never mind Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, not to mention tales of Jane Austen as an espionage agent during the Napoleonic Wars or a Miss Marple avant la lettre. Why traffic in such fantasies when, without stretching the truth at all, we can marvel at Austen’s mention of baseball! It occurs in Northanger Abbey, where Austen says of her protagonist, Catherine Morland: “It was not very wonderful that Catherine . . . should prefer cricket, base-ball, riding on horseback, and running about the country at the age of fourteen, to books.”

The 3rd Sunday of Lent: Bearing the fruit of repentance

The Sacred Page: Bearing the Fruit of Repentance: 3rd Sunday of LentBERGSMA: The fig tree is, in the first instance, a symbol of the City of Jerusalem, which Jesus is about to visit. When he comes, he will not find the fruit of repentance there. As a result, the city will ultimately be destroyed (in a sense, destroy itself) in AD 70.

On the other hand, the fig tree is a type of each one of us, and a warning to us. The LORD is gracious and merciful, as the earlier readings have proclaimed, but there is a practical limit to the time this “window” of grace is open to us. We only have this short life to take advantage of God’s mercy and begin to bear the fruit of repentance.

What does it mean to bear fruit? In the New Testament, “fruit” are commonly the virtues that demonstrate interior righteousness

This is the only rational explanation for the world’s intense fear of and hatred for Christ and Catholicism...

The Unique Hostility Directed Toward the Lord and the Church - Community in MissionPOPE: I have often contemplated this hostility toward and resistance to Christ and His Body, the Church; it is unparalleled. Few of the Protestant denominations experience this hatred. The Buddhists don’t seem to be subject to it. Even the Muslims are exempt despite the distinctly non-Western views that predominantly Muslim countries have on many social issues important to the American Left.

There is an almost visceral hatred for Jesus Christ and His Church that is so over the top, so irrational, that one has to marvel at it. The world doth protest too much. Why?

Is it fear? Perhaps, but the Church is not powerful enough to “force our views” on everyone, as some who hate us say that we do.

Who will be the next archbishop of Washington? Arch Madness returns...

Whispers in the Loggia: "Big Dance" 2.0 – Amid Beltway Traffic, "Arch Madness" ReturnsPALMO: If only this scribe had a dime for every time one of this readership asked about the ongoing vacancy in Washington over these weeks, Whispers would be solvent into the next Holy Year – that is, 2025.

To be sure, that's a figurative line.

Still, almost six months into the singular move that'll define Pope Francis' stewardship of the Stateside Church, the process at hand has been nothing short of fascinating.

Lest anybody forgot, again, It's. A. Process. – even now, with tensions spiking in the capital and all sorts of variables in play on the broader front, all anyone can see is a snapshot.

A little dose of eschatology at the airport

Eschatology at the Airport – Fr. Dwight LongeneckerLONGENECKER: I’m on the road today to speak at the Youngstown Diocesan Men’s Conference.

I’m wearing my clericals and as I’m going through the ritual public humiliation we call “airport security” one of the rather stern looking guards–thin, bald headed with an aquiline look to him leans over and says to me, “What’s your eschatology?”

Now this is Greenville, South Carolina — the resplendent buckle on the Bible Belt. I pegged this fellow as a Bible believing, independent hyper Baptist dispensationalist, pre tribulation, rapture, Left behind sort of person.

3 tips to reaching modern culture for Catholic evangelists

3 Tips To Reaching Modern Culture For Catholic Evangelists - Catholic Missionary Disciples - College Station, TXLEJEUNE: A few years ago, my family and I went to Yellowstone National Park. It was amazing because we absolutely marveled in the majesty of God’s creation. But, we also saw the results of natural disaster - in this case, forest fires. There were some sections of the park when all you could see were burned down forests. It was a reminder that God wastes nothing and even in seasons of struggle, God is active. Because even from the remnants of destruction, life was flourishing.

As you may know, there are some species of plants that need fires to reproduce. There are some seeds that lie dormant for many years, waiting for fire to activate them into germination.

From St. Francis de Sales, 7 common undetected sins to consider before your next Confession

7 Hidden Sins To Consider Before Your Next Confession From St Francis de Sales - Joy of Devotion: “Do you have anything else to confess?” Said Padre Pio.

“No, Father!”

This back and forth continued twice more.

“Go away! Go away! Because you are not reformed of your sins!”

“But, but…”

“Keep silent, gossiper, you have spoken enough!”

St. Padre Pio was famous for knowing when people held back a sin in confession. And, while you may have never intentionally done that, St. Francis advises that you “be on guard against a number of sins that frequently live and rule undetected in your conscience.”

Learning the lessons of Lazarus and the rich man

Learning the Lessons of Lazarus and the Rich Man - Community in MissionPOPE: The well-known story of Lazarus and the rich man was read at Mass this morning (Thursday of the Second Week of Lent). On one level the message of the story seems plain enough: neglecting the poor is a damnable sin. However, there are other important teachings: about death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Those teachings are hidden in the details, but the subtlety is part of the story’s beauty. Let’s take a look at some of the teachings, beginning with the obvious one.

Pell case reminds the world why cardinals wear red

Pell Case Reminds the World Why Cardinals Wear RedLANDRY: Lent is a time in which we relive spiritually the events of Jesus’ sham trials for the crimes of blasphemy and sedition and his crucifixion.

It’s also a time in which we ponder his words from the Last Supper, “No slave is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).

Jesus sends us out “like sheep in the midst of wolves” promising that people, including those closest to us, will hand us over to courts, scourge us in places of worship, and lead us before civil leaders to give witness. He says that we will be “hated by all” because of his name and some of us will, like him, even be put to death (Matthew 10:16-22). But he assured us, “Blessed are you when they revile you … and utter every kind of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven” (Matthew 5:11-12).

Hell is real, you have a real chance of going there, and it will hurt like hell when you do

Hell Will Hurt Like Hell | The StreamMILLS: He doesn’t like the idea of Hell, this voice of urbane secular liberalism, of people who pity the poor yokels who not only believe in God but think he has standards. “What modern believer wouldn’t want to cast off this old, sadistic barrier to faith in a loving God?” writes Vinson Cunningham in The New Yorker. “What kind of deity draws such a hard line between his friends and his enemies, and holds an eternal grudge?” “I’m writing about hell because it is an unthinkable, horrible, destructive concept that can’t possibly be true,” claimed an old article a Facebook friend posted the same day. It appeared in the liberal Catholic weekly The National Catholic Reporter. After a good bit of not entirely coherent ranting, Carol Meyer finished: God could never ever “be so mean and evil as to create hell. … All arguments for hell, however reasonable they once sounded, are debunked by one single truth — God is LOVE. The end of the story.”

True humility means using the gifts God gave you to serve His people

To Be Truly Humble, Use the Gifts God Gave YouMILLS: Do you know what annoys a writer? A professional writer, I mean, someone like me who takes writing as his calling and his craft? When a reader says something like “It’s so easy for you” or “It must be great to have so much talent. The rest of us have to work at writing.” I will thank you, and look at you with what my wife says is an obviously insincere smile, which apparently undermines the effect of the thank you.

I’ve worked hard at my craft. I’ve sacrificed to get better at it, and have put up with neglect and abuse and the occasional weirdly fixated critic so that I could keep at it. And I’d like some credit for that, thank you very much.

Saving eggs before blocking puberty: Why “transition” if still uncertain?

Saving Eggs before Blocking Puberty: Why “Transition” If Still Uncertain? | Matthew SchneiderSCHNEIDER: A recent report came out about a young woman who thinks she is a man so will be blocking puberty. However, her parents decided to wait until her first period before blocking puberty, and collect her eggs to freeze at that moment. I want to examine this and the moral consequences. This whole article implies, but barely states, the reality that most forms of hormonal or surgical gender reassignment render the patient sterile. Transpersons after surgery are always sterile, and others with significant hormones generally are often also sterile. Another expert, Dr. Joshua Safer, admits this in the article, “The current treatment options can put fertility at risk.”

There’s some good in the world, and it’s worth fighting for. That’s a pretty good description of the vocation God is asking from you...

Archbishop Chaput’s Address at Vocations Jamboree cosponsored by the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, and the Diocese of Bismarck (March 20, 2019) – Archdiocese of PhiladelphiaCHAPUT: I want to talk about vocations today, especially to the young people in the audience, but I want to do it in a roundabout way. So I hope you’ll bear with me. I also need to express my gratitude for this award. I don’t deserve it, but I’m happy to have it for two reasons. First, because it comes from a university whose courage and fidelity I greatly admire. And second, because it gives me a reason to spend time with you. Time is precious. Time matters. It matters because we really have so little of it in any life, and if we misuse it, we never get it back. I’ll be 75 this year, so I’m old. Many of you here tonight are young. In a sense, I’m already the past. You’re the present. Time and experience separate us. But when we listen to and learn from each other, we make a future for the Gospel by using our time well together in the world.

See this movie. It matters...

Archbishop Chaput’s Weekly Column: SEE THIS MOVIE. IT MATTERS. – Archdiocese of PhiladelphiaCHAPUT: A friend of mine, a mother and teacher, has spent the last 40 years caring for young people: her hundreds of grade-school students, her children, and her many grandchildren. She’s spent those same 40 years volunteering in the cause of life. Over the decades she’s helped open 11 prolife clinics; led and served on the boards of prolife organizations; marched and picketed; given public talks; and spent hundreds of hours on the phone and in person listening to and trying to help women faced with the crisis of an unplanned pregnancy.

Suicide is contagious. Don’t let it spread by supporting assisted suicide...

Suicide is Contagious: Don’t Let it Spread by Supporting Assisted Suicide - Community in MissionPOPE: The Maryland physician-assisted suicide bill has been passed by the House of Delegates and is now being considered by the state Senate. The House bill is numbered HB 399, and the bill cross-filed in the Senate is SB 311. We have every reason to be very alarmed by these developments. Other states are considering similar legislation designed to advance, assist, legalize and normalize the suicide of those who no longer see a reason to live. Meanwhile, a law legalizing assisted suicide in the District of Columbia took effect in 2017.

Canada set to shut down one-third of its churches in coming years, says National Trust

Secularization: Canada Set to Shut Down a Third of Its Churches - World Religion News: While Canada has been a religious nation in the past, low numbers of worshippers at many of the churches in the country are forcing closures in up to a third of the country’s churches. According to the National Trust for Canada, low numbers of people making up congregations, combined with the high repair costs for old churches, is driving up to 9,000 of the churches in Canada to close in the coming years.

Amid continued Midwest flooding, Catholic groups step up to help

Amid continued Midwest flooding, Catholic groups step up to help: As devastating flood waters continue to rise in parts of the Midwest, Catholics are working to raise funds for both short-term aid and long-term rebuilding efforts.

“Please join Archbishop [George] Lucas in praying for all those displaced or otherwise affected by the ongoing flooding,” said the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska.

A special collection in Omaha this weekend will help fund recovery efforts. Parishes have been asked to evaluate needs in their communities and request funds for both immediate recovery needs and long-term rebuilding.

A tale of two Georges

A tale of two Georges - Denver CatholicWEIGEL: When a pope is elected, the cardinals who have just chosen him make their way to the Hall of Benedictions atop the narthex of St. Peter’s Basilica. It’s a challenging journey for some: In 2005, the frail, 79-year old Cardinal William Baum was carried out of the Sistine Chapel, through the basilica, and up to the Hall of Benedictions by his conclavist-secretary, Msgr. Bart Smith, doing a fair imitation of Aeneas toting Anchises out of Troy as sculpted by Gianlorenzo Bernini.

The filmmaking duo behind ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ and ‘The Lego Movie’ have a refreshing take on fathers

Fathers Know Best? Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s Surprising Animated DadsGREYDANUS: Right now the two most exciting names in American animation are Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

From their breakout film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 10 years ago and their smash hit The Lego Movie (both of which they cowrote and directed) to last year’s Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (cowritten by Lord and co-produced by them both), Lord and Miller haven’t just charted new possibilities for American animation.

They’ve reinvented their whole aesthetic for each new challenge, one-upping themselves every time, in the process offering a dramatic challenge to the visual and thematic sameness of so many Hollywood animated films.

The Charlie Brown cartoon that haunted Ronald Reagan

The Charlie Brown cartoon that haunted Reagan | Catholic Herald: Somerset House in London has put on an exhibition on the work of Charles Schulz, the American cartoonist famous for Peanuts – the story of Charlie Brown, his friends and his dog called Snoopy, a beagle with a taste for ice-skating and root beer. The show commences unpromisingly: “This exhibition explores the ways in which Peanuts has touched us all on so many different levels… on issues such as war, racism, feminism and gender-fluidity.” Oy vey. Why does everything nowadays have to be a political seminar?

When Native Americans backed the Jacobite cause

When Native Americans backed the Jacobite cause | Catholic HeraldBARESEL: It was 1715 and a tribal people were preparing to assist in restoring Britain’s exiled Royal House of Stuart, sharpening tomahawks, covering themselves in war paint and raising sails on ships built to the highest technical standards of the day.

No, I haven’t been drinking too much Bourbon. Nor am I confusing Scottish highlanders, American Indians and Caribbean pirates. I am writing about a combination of two facts – the amassing of a fleet of sailing ships by the Indian tribes of the Wabanaki confederation, and the role which those tribes played in the Jacobite movement – facts which are virtually unknown but which can be studied in Matthew Bahar’s book, Storm of the Sea: Indians and Empires in the Atlantic’s Age of Sail.

West Virginia diocese sued by state attorney general for “knowingly employing pedophiles”

WV MetroNews W.Va. Attorney General sues Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston - WV MetroNews: The Diocese of Wheeling Charleston is the target of civil litigation by the office of Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. The suit blames the Diocese and its Bishops for allowing those who had a record of child sexual abuse to continue to hold positions of power within the church, especially in areas with access to children.

“The suit alleges the Diocese and their Bishops knowingly employed pedophiles and failed to conduct adequate background checks for those working at school and camps,” Morrisey said.

Why the saints turn to St. Joseph

Why the saints turn to St. JosephLOPEZ: The first challenge is getting to the point of silence, where we can come to hear God’s voice and know His will for us. The next challenge is faithfulness, especially when it seems that no one understands what we are doing when we are doing what we believe to be God’s will.

The most unappreciated saint for these and all challenges may be St. Joseph. He appears in our Nativity scenes every Christmas. New Orleans and Italian families with still-strong traditions pay attention to him this month, but where is he every other season of our lives? He may be largely silent in the Gospels, but God’s will becomes clear to him in the night, and he responds with the most humble obedience of the kind that can’t be easy.

St. Joseph socks on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph Socks on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph – TOM PERNAPERNA: If you have been reading my blog/website for a few years, you will know that I have written on Saint Joseph many times. I think the exact number of blog posts is around twelve. I’ve always had a devotion to the foster-father of Jesus and continue to have one this day. I’ve always had a close connection with Saint Joseph because my middle is Joseph.

As I have learned more about Saint Joseph from different books and the writings of Pope St. John Paul II, my devotion and love for the saint has grown, most especially since losing my father in April 2015. Dad would also often pray to the saint. He found the prayers to St. Joseph regarding a happy death very comforting. I often look to Saint Joseph for prayers and guidance.

Supreme Court rejects appeal of Hawaii B&B owner who denied room to same-sex couple

Court won't hear appeal of BandB owner who denied room to lesbian couple: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place Hawaii court rulings that found a bed and breakfast owner violated the state’s anti-discrimination law by refusing to rent a room to a lesbian couple.

The justices rejected an appeal from Aloha Bed and Breakfast owner Phyllis Young, who argued that she should be allowed to turn away gay couples because of her religious beliefs.

Fertility doctor Donald Cline must have thought no one would ever discover his dark secret. Then DNA testing came along...

Fertility Doctor Donald Cline's Secret Children - The Atlantic: The first Facebook message arrived when Heather Woock was packing for vacation, in August 2017. It was from a stranger claiming to be her half sibling. She assumed the message was some kind of scam; her parents had never told her she might have siblings. But the message contained one detail that spooked her. The sender mentioned a doctor, Donald Cline. Woock knew that name; her mother had gone to Cline for fertility treatments before she was born. Had this person somehow gotten her mother’s medical history?

Houston library brings in registered child molester as part of “Drag Queen” story hour for kids

Houston's drag queen story hour: KHOU tells us librarians let in a child molester. Who fought this? — GetReligionDUIN: A photo of Garza in drag appears with this blog post. Despite this hiccup, the American Library Association isn’t dropping the idea of drag queen stories any time soon. See the ALA site’s resource page for libraries facing “challenges” with staging these events.

As this NBC-TV story points out, these story hours bring “pride and glamor” to libraries and have spread like wildfire across the nation in three short years. As the Brooklyn (N.Y.) library system says on its website: “Drag Queen Story Hour captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity in childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models.”

Here’s an Associated Press video of a drag queen at this same library announcing to kids that, “Who wants to be a drag queen when they grow up?” and “We can both be grooms.” The narrator mentions that there are opponents — but doesn’t interview any. That’s a journalism problem.

The unfathomable immensity of the Father’s love

Beginning to Pray: The Love of the Father - Unfathomable ImmensityLILLES: Christ Jesus, the radiant splendor of the Father's love, entered into our condition to infuse into human history a gentle blessing that was long ago misunderstood and rejected. This uncommon benevolence toward us in our present plight comes from the hidden depths of God's very Being. In those same depths, the Father conceived each one us us in His Word by an unfathomable ecstasy of goodness and truth. The Father asks us to listen to His Word now - to allow the words of His Word to enter our hearts.

For the first time since 2010, the number of priests worldwide has decreased

MondayVatican – Vatican Pope Francis, outward bound Church is always a target | MondayVaticanGAGLIARDUCCI: There is one striking figure in the 2017 Church Stats presented to the Pope on March 6: for the first time since 2010, the number of priests decreases, while bishops and deacons are more.

This clue must not be underestimated. It means there are no vocations.

Old bishops retire, other priests are appointed to replace them, and this is the reason why the number of bishops increases. But there is no greater number of priests, and this is the reason why the number of priests diminishes. In addition to that, deacons increase. And that could be a clue that just a few, today, feel the need to run the risk of a priestly life.

Here’s a concise description of what it means to be a “mature Christian”

The Mature Christian - Community in MissionPOPE: As a kind of follow-up to yesterday’s Gospel of the Transfiguration, we do well to reflect a little further on the Lord’s intention in leading Peter, James, and John up a high mountain. The Church teaches us His purpose in the Preface for the Second Sunday of Lent:

For after he had told the disciples of his coming Death, on the holy mountain he manifested to them his glory, to show, even by the testimony of the law and the prophets, that the Passion leads to the glory of the Resurrection.

In this way, not only was He preparing them for the difficult days ahead but also leading them to a more mature faith, one that could see beyond the Friday of the Passion to the glory of the Resurrection.

California lawmakers threaten the Seal of Confession

California Threatens the Seal of Confession | Charlotte Allen | First Things: On February 20, California Democratic State Senator Jerry Hill, whose affluent, liberal-leaning district encompasses the San Francisco Peninsula and portions of Silicon Valley, introduced a bill to abolish legal protection for the Catholic Church’s sacramental seal of confession, at least as regards confessions of child abuse.

Specifically, the bill would remove an exemption for “penitential communications” in an existing state law that designates more than forty categories of professionals—clergy, physicians, teachers, counselors, social workers, and the like—as “mandated reporters” who face criminal penalties if they fail to report sexual and other mistreatment of children that they learn about in their professional capacities. Currently, the law carves out a narrow exception for information obtained during the Catholic sacrament of Penance and other religions’ similar penitential rituals, which bind clergy to secrecy. If the California legislature enacts Hill’s bill, that exception would disappear—and Catholic priests, bound by canon law not to disclose the contents of a confession, could face criminal prosecution and imprisonment for refusing to comply. “The law should apply equally to all professionals who have been designated as mandated reporters of these crimes—with no exceptions, period. The exemption for clergy only protects the abuser and places children at further risk,” Hill said in a statement accompanying the proposed measure, SB-360.

Musings on Giussani, von Balthasar, and the creation of a “people” (“Opus Dei for lazy Catholics”)

Musings on Giussani, von Balthasar, and the creation of a "people"ALLEN: In January 1971, during a set of spiritual exercises in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, the great Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar met Italian Father Luigi Giussani, who founded the Comunione e Liberazione movement in 1954 and oversaw its rapid development into a global Catholic “brand.”

Von Balthasar had been invited by then-Father Angelo Scola, a young adept of Giusssani’s movement, who eventually would go on to be the Cardinal-Archbishop of Milan and such a strong candidate to be pope that the Italian bishops’ conference accidentally released an email blast congratulating him when the white smoke first went up in March 2013.

What’s the closest planet to Earth? Surprise — most of the time, it’s Mercury

What's the Closest Planet to Earth? Venus, Mars, Mercury Distance: What’s the closest planet to our own? Common sense would say the answer is either Mars or Venus, our next door neighbors. Of the two, Venus comes closer to the Earth than any other planet and its orbit is closest to ours. But as an article in Physics Today points out, over half the time Venus is not the nearest planet; Mercury is. In fact, the scientists behind the article crunched the numbers and found that on average, Mercury is the closest planet not only to Earth but to every other planet in the solar system as well.

Marble steps of Rome’s historic ‘Holy Stairs’ to be revealed to public for first time in 300 years

Worn marble steps of Holy Stairs to be uncovered for public to climb: For the first time in 300 years, the marble steps of the Holy Stairs will be free from the thick wooden panels installed in 1723 to protect the stairs and left uncovered for the public.

For at least 40 days, people will be able to touch and climb the bare stones that, according to tradition, are the ones Jesus climbed when Pontius Pilate brought him before the crowd and handed him over to be crucified.

3 ways to get over your discomfort and become an effective spreader of the Gospel

“Get Uncomfortable”: 3 Inspiring Ways Catholics Can Effectively Evangelize | ChurchPOP: Want to effectively evangelize? Get uncomfortable.

It goes without saying that one of the greatest modern evangelizers is the Ven. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. It is unquestionable that he maintained an unquenchable zeal for souls during his entire priesthood.

Here’s what Ven. Sheen wrote in a letter while he was a professor at Catholic University of America:

“During the past year letters demanding personal attention have run between 75 and a 100 a day…This coupled with classes never given with less than six hours preparation for each lecture has left me physically exhausted. However the good to be done is such that one dare not shrink from its opportunities for apostolate.”

If you want to be and become an effective evangelizer, follow Bishop Sheen’s lead and get uncomfortable.

How to avoid despair at our crumbling culture

How to Avoid Despair at Our Crumbling Culture | The Stream: Ever since the Senate rejected the “Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act,” which assures that babies who survive abortion are given medical attention, I have found myself uniquely in despair about our culture. The feelings run deep.

Our culture is at the point where we are failing to protect the most vulnerable among us. And we even celebrate their destruction. Are we really any morally superior to Roman-era paganism in which people practiced “infant exposure,” involving the abandonment of unwanted babies on a trash-heap for death or slavery?

What St. Patrick can still teach the world

What St. Patrick Can Still Teach the WorldCLARK: It’s terribly unfortunate when Catholic feast days and holy days become secularized and disconnected from any Christian meaning. Saint Valentine’s Day becomes just “Valentine’s Day,” Easter is somehow about bunnies, and Christmas is about new electronics. And though March 17 is still known to the world as Saint Patrick’s Day, the secular representation of the day tends to focus more on leprechauns and beer than on Saint Patrick himself. Even many of us Christians have lost sight of what we should be celebrating. That’s a shame because there’s a lot to celebrate today.

The Atlantic: How Catholic parents deal with scandals — and why some say “the way a priest says Mass” is a clue to his character

Catholic Church Abuse Crisis: How Parents Are Grappling - The Atlantic: As it has been for decades, the Catholic Church is in the midst of a crisis, one whose long reach has traumatized thousands and left one of the world’s oldest institutions struggling to find a way forward. In late February, the Vatican held a high-profile conference on the sexual-abuse crisis—the revelations of decades of abuse, by priests in different parts of the globe, of children, adult seminarians, and nuns. During the conference, Pope Francis called for “concrete” change, though the Atlantic reporter Rachel Donadio wrote that, on the whole, the meeting seemed largely to be a “consciousness-raising exercise,” out of step with the “zero tolerance” that many victims’ advocates in the United States have been demanding for priests who use their power to abuse. It seems the crisis will likely drag on as the Church’s highest authorities continue their slow-moving reckoning.

Sunday Angelus Address: On Christ’s Transfiguration and the Christian perspective of suffering

Angelus Address: On Christ’s Transfiguration and the Christian Perspective of Suffering - ZENIT - EnglishCOATOFARMS: In this Second Sunday of Lent, the liturgy has us contemplate the event of the Transfiguration, in which Jesus grants the disciples Peter, James, and John to taste the glory of the Resurrection: a bit of Heaven on earth. The evangelist Luke shows us Jesus transfigured on the mountain, which is the place of light, fascinating symbol of the singular experience reserved to the three disciples. They go up the mountain with the Master, they see Him immerse Himself in prayer and, at a certain point, “the appearance of his countenance was altered.” Used to seeing Him daily in the simple semblance of His humanity, in the face of this new splendor...

This 8-year-old chess champion will make you smile

Opinion | This 8-Year-Old Chess Champion Will Make You Smile - The New York Times: In a homeless shelter in Manhattan, an 8-year-old boy is walking to his room, carrying an awkward load in his arms, unfazed by screams from a troubled resident. The boy is a Nigerian refugee with an uncertain future, but he is beaming.

He can’t stop grinning because the awkward load is a huge trophy, almost as big as he is. This homeless third grader has just won his category at the New York State chess championship.

What were Moses and Elijah doing at the Transfiguration of Our Lord?

Moses, Elijah, and Jesus: Why are they all together at the Transfiguration?ESPARZA: The Transfiguration, the singular event in which Jesus appears radiant in glory upon the mountain, accompanied by Moses and Elijah, is minutely described in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), mentioned in the second Epistle of Peter and, according to some, discreetly alluded to in John’s Gospel (“We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son”), John being one of the three apostles who witnessed (with Peter and James) this miracle.

In 1915, as World War I raged in Europe, a girl in Fatima, Portugal, saw something strange in the sky...

Getting Fatima Right – Jimmy AkinAKIN: The girl—Lucia dos Santos—was seven years old and lived near the town of Fatima. One day, as she was tending her family’s sheep along with three other girls, they began to say the rosary and saw a strange sight.

In the second of four memoirs she would write, Lucia recalled: “We saw a figure poised in the air above the trees; it looked like a statue made of snow, rendered almost transparent by the rays of the sun.” She also wrote, “It looked like a person wrapped up in a sheet.”

USCCB president Cardinal DiNardo suffers stroke, Archbishop Gomez temporarily takes reins

Whispers in the Loggia: USCCB President Suffers Stroke – As Bench VP, Gomez Given The ReinsPALMO: Having soldiered through this last year carrying an unprecedented double burden – the daily life of a booming 1.8 million-member archdiocese (one currently under civil investigation) and the elected leadership of the US' largest religious body amid a season of epic crisis – Houston Chancery released the following statement at 7pm Central tonight, announcing a significant health scare for Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops...

2nd Sunday of Lent — The Cross is a fruit-bearing tree

The Cross Is a Fruit-Bearing Tree - A Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent - Community in MissionPOPE: The Second Sunday of Lent always features the Transfiguration. The first reason for this is that the trek up Mt. Tabor was one of the stops Jesus made with Peter, James, and John on His final journey to Jerusalem. It is commonly held that He did this to prepare His apostles for the difficult days ahead. There’s a line from an old spiritual that says, “Sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down, sometimes I’m almost to the ground … but see what the end shall be.” That is what the Lord is doing here: He is showing us what the end shall be. There is a cross to get through, but there is glory on the other side.

German bishops announce ‘synodal process’ on celibacy, sexual morality

German Bishops Announce ‘Synodal Process’ on Celibacy, Sexual Morality: Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising has announced that the Catholic Church in Germany is embarking on a “binding synodal process” to tackle what he says are the three key issues arising from the clerical abuse crisis: priestly celibacy, the Church’s teaching on sexual morality, and a reduction of clerical power.

Speaking at the conclusion of the plenary session of the German bishops’ conference on Thursday, Cardinal Marx told reporters that the bishops had unanimously decided these three topics would be subject to a process of “synodal progression” that could lead to a binding, but as yet undetermined, outcome.

“The Church needs synodal progress,” the president of the German bishops’ conference asserted. “Pope Francis encourages this.”

Pope reactivates plans for South Sudan trip

Pope reactivates plans for South Sudan trip | Reuters: Pope Francis has asked aides to resume plans for a visit to South Sudan, a trip that had to be scrapped in 2017 because of the civil war in the world’s youngest country.

Get your spouse to Heaven! Five tips for growing holier as a Catholic couple this Lent...

Get Your Spouse to Heaven! 5 Great Tips for Growing Holier as a Catholic Couple This Lent | ChurchPOPBURKEPILE: Imagine you and your spouse driving down an open road and all you see out the window is an endless body of water, a beautiful beach and captivating sunset.

What is your first thought?

Is it the beauty of God’s creation?
Is it the thought of how the water came to be?
Does your husband want to go fishing?
Or do you wish you could lie down and relax on the beach?

Regardless of your thoughts or desires, God created that image. He created the water, the sand, and he has complete control over the sunset. He may have even put those desires on your heart.

What will happen to the planet at the end of the world?

What will happen to the planet at the end of the world?BRISCOE: In his message for Lent 2019, Pope Francis connects the Lenten campaign for spiritual renewal to the teaching of St. Paul: “the whole of creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Romans 8:19). The Holy Father explains that just as sin has a corruptive power, which even blemishes creation, the grace of Jesus’ death and resurrection is restorative. Pope Francis says, “This mystery of salvation, already at work in us during our earthly lives, is a dynamic process that also embraces history and all of creation.”

Leaving the foot of the cross leaves the world unravelled. But Mary stays...

Mary who stays – SIMCHA FISHERFISHER: My daughter is drawing at church. She handily sketches in a crucifix: Top, bottom, one arm, then the other. She’s drawn it many times, over and over. Lately, she’s adding more detail, and at first I didn’t know what it was– some kind of ghost, a formless lump.

Then I saw it was Mary, swathed with robes and veils. Jesus on the cross is sharp and angular, and he turns his face up to the heavens in his agony; but Mary’s head is down, almost crushed into the ground as she bows under the great grief of his innocent suffering. She is utterly helpless. She can’t rescue the child she brought into the world.

In the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque attack, call on the power of God for a revolution of love

Christchurch Mosque Attack Aftermath: Fight Evil with Love | National ReviewLOPEZ: “My soul is forlorn.”

The words jumped off my phone Friday morning from Psalm 35. It was one of the prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours that many pray and once again I couldn’t help but recognize the hand of God in the prayers of the Church — that so many of us would be praying this early in the morning after 49 people were slaughtered overnight, having gone to their mosque to pray on the other side of the world. The words from the psalms captured the morning. The blood of those who were murdered cries out for our hearts to be poured out in love — including in prayer — wherever we are in the world.

Polish bishops release ‘tragic’ report on sexual abuse

Polish bishops release ‘tragic’ report on sexual abuse: Nearly 400 Polish priests were accused of sexual abuse of minors from 1990 until 2018, a study commissioned by the Episcopal Conference of Poland revealed on Thursday. The study covered data collected from the more than 10,000 parishes in Poland, and included religious orders. According to the report, 382 priests were accused of abuse during the time covered, and the allegations concern 625 potential victims. Of the clerics accused, 284 were diocesan priests, and 98 belonged to a religious order.

The New Exodus: Readings for the Second Sunday of Lent

The Sacred Page: The New Exodus: Readings for 2nd Sunday of LentBERGSMA: No one wants to be a slave. Yet many have fallen into slavery in the course of human history, and too often by their own choice. Jesus tells us, “Everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). How do we escape the slavery of sin?

Although loosely related, the Readings for this Sunday are linked by the theme of the Exodus. In the First Reading, the Exodus is prophesied; in the Gospel, Jesus begins a New Exodus that culminates in the Last Supper and Calvary.

10 things to know about death, judgment, heaven and hell

10 Things to Know About Death, Judgment, Heaven and HellBECKER: Converting to Catholicism was like being wooed. It was like a courtship, and I fell in love.

Among other delights during that courtship, I especially enjoyed learning about (and committing to memory) various Catholic lists – like the seven sacraments, the seven cardinal sins, the seven virtues, stuff like that.

In a previous post, I zeroed in on two such lists and compared them to a solid 4x4 catechetical post that provides pivotal stability in a wobbly world. There’s the Four Marks of the Church – one, holy, catholic, apostolic – that establish where we’ve been in the past as God’s family and where we are today. They identify the distinguishing features of the Church militant – us! – to assist those who might be looking for her, but also to remind us who we are as we march along in faith.

What Cardinal Newman can tell us about the Cardinal Pell verdict

What Newman Can Tell Us About the Cardinal Pell Verdict - Crisis MagazineRUTLER: The scene in the London courtroom in 1852 might have been out of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, with the defendant in simple clerical black standing in the dock before the bewigged representatives of ancient justice. But one of the judges, John Coleridge, a great-nephew of the poet, saw behind the stooped figure of John Henry Newman the shade of the Armada and the ghosts of spies from Douai. Thus the trial of Newman was about more than the slander of which he was accused. As a scion of Oxford, Coleridge, whose own wife Jane Fortescue Seymour had painted a portrait of Newman, resented that the Oxford Movement had been chipping away at the claim of the Established Church to apostolic validity and, worse, that it had become a halfway house to Rome.

Pope Francis shows no regret over a shocking appointment

Pope Francis shows no regret over a shocking appointment | Catholic CultureLAWLER: Was Pope Francis sending a subtle message to his critics this week? Or have I become a bit paranoid about papal statements? You decide.

In a statement of condolence after the death of Cardinal Godfried Danneels, Pope Francis summed up the ecclesiastical career of the Belgian prelate in two sentences. Pay particular attention to the second sentence