CATHOLIC NEWS: Cardinal Ouellet-- not Cardinal Pell-- to head Congregation for Bishops?... PLUS 16 MORE

CATHOLIC NEWS: Cardinal Ouellet-- not Cardinal Pell-- to head Congregation for Bishops?... PLUS 16 MORE

Link to New Advent

Cardinal Ouellet-- not Cardinal Pell-- to head Congregation for Bishops?

Posted: 17 Jun 2010 08:42 AM PDT

An Italian journalist who reported in May that Australian Cardinal George Pell would become the new prefect of the Congregation for Bishops is now saying that the post will go to Cardinal...

The Semi-Permeable Membranes of the Various Protestantisms

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 10:00 PM PDT

One basic rule of thumb to understand in Catholic/Protestant conversations is that it is not the case that Catholics rely on Sacred Tradition and Protestants don't. Rather, Catholics (and, by this, I mean "educated Catholics speaking out of the Magisterial teaching of the Church") rely on Sacred Tradition and know they do...

Thomas Kinkade's Cottage Fantasy

Posted: 17 Jun 2010 10:05 AM PDT

The painter of light has entered a dark period. Thomas Kinkade, the self-proclaimed (and trademarked) Painter of Light™, is beset with legal troubles. Several years ago, art gallery owners successfully sued his Kinkade's Media Arts Group for millions after it was revealed that he and company officials invoked God and their "higher calling" to hide the financial ris.

Deep Catholicism

Posted: 17 Jun 2010 09:21 AM PDT

Eight years ago, during the Long Lent of 2002, I started using the phrase "Catholic Lite" to denote a cast of mind that, in my judgment, had contributed mightily to the crisis of fidelity that was at the root of clerical sexual abuse and episcopal misgovernance. Within that mindset, one of the fundamental questions shaping ecclesial li.

Hypocrisy Is More Than We Usually Think. An analysis of Jesus' teaching on hypocrisy in Matthew 6

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 07:02 PM PDT

In the Gospel from today's Mass Jesus gives an extended teaching on the problem of hypocrisy. You can read it here: Matthew 6 - On Hypocrisy. In the modern age we have tended to reduce the notion of hypocrisy to duplicity. The modern notion is that a hypocrite is someone who says one thing but...

I've never seen Catholics evangelize!

Posted: 17 Jun 2010 06:17 AM PDT

Last night I had the fortune of meeting Msgr. Charles Pope, pastor of Holy Comforter/St. Cyprian church in downtown Washington, D.C., and über-blogger for the Archdiocese of Washington. He was holding a meeting at his parish to plan for a major door-to-door evangelization campaign his parish will be conducting this Fall.

German bishop claims he was forced to resign

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 04:00 PM PDT

The former Bishop of Augsburg, Germany, Walter Mixa, has told a German newspaper that he was forced to sign his April 22 letter of resignation, and that it was written by others. He plans on discussing the matter with Pope Benedict in a July audience.

Kid Pulls Tooth With Rocket

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 04:22 PM PDT

OK. My first instinct was to nominate this Dad as craziest Dad ever but then I thought that at least the guy's engaged with his kid's life and you know what, this kid will remember losing that tooth the rest of his life. I'm not saying I'd recommend pulling children's teeth out via rocket but the kid seemed to enjoy it (after the really super frightened look that crossed his face.

RIP for BFF?

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 06:37 PM PDT

Incredibly, there's a movement afoot to stop kids from having best friends. I'm not making this up. Really. Take a look: Increasingly, some educators and other professionals who work with children are asking a question that might surprise their parents: Should a child really have a best friend? Most children naturally seek close friends.

L'Osservatore Discusses…The Blues Brothers

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 10:38 AM PDT

By Edward Pentin | Is The Blues Brothers, which turns 30 tomorrow, a Catholic movie? L'Osservatore Romano thinks so - and has devoted a whole page in tomorrow's edition, plus an editorial from its editor, Professor Gian Maria Vian, to explain why. It's the newspaper's latest foray into pop culture which, like its articles on the Beatles...

Stephen Hawking is a brilliant physicist…

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 10:00 PM PDT

By Mark Shea | and an absolutely room temperature average member of the British intelligentsia when he stops talking about his field of expertise and starts talking philosophy and religion. What particularly amuses me is "There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason.

"Discovering" Catholics or "Returning" Catholics?

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 05:00 AM PDT

There is an article today in US Catholic about You Can Go Home Again that makes a very important point. Outreaches like Catholics Come Home and Landings are aimed at older adults who once had a strong sense of being Catholic and have drifted. I once spent quite a bit of time analyzing the images of the Catholic Come Home commercials and they were clearly aimed at the middle aged and...

Learning the Latin of the Hymns for Benediction and Adoration

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 07:55 PM PDT

I sometimes get requests for help in understanding the Latin texts of the very familiar hymns for Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction. The O Salutaris and Tantum Ergo, though familiar to many Catholics remain only vaguely understood in terms of a word-for-word translation. Most know the poetic English renderings ("O Saving Victim Opening Wide" and "Humbly...

Cardinal Pell is the victim of a smear campaign designed to stop him reforming the world's bishops

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 04:15 AM PDT

I write this with some urgency. For the last week, Catholic sources have been insisting that Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, will not take up his appointment as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. Two reasons are given - one connected to his health, the other to utterly false sex abuse allegations he faced...

Thanks to Dog Training Tips from the Monks of New Skete

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 05:52 AM PDT

On Memorial Day, I tried to sit on the front steps of my parish to watch the town parade. But our 10-month-old puggle, who had just joined our family, wouldn't sit still. Riley ran all over the stairs, annoying other families, knocking over water bottles...

Did you hear the one about how Catholics "worship" statues?

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 11:55 AM PDT

When I arrived one evening at a suburban Chicago parish to conduct an apologetics seminar, I noticed a life-sized statue of Our Lady of Fatima on the rectory lawn. Kneeling before that statue were three smaller statues of Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta - the children to whom Our Lady appeared. Their statues were kneeling in prayer...

QUAERITUR: glass tabernacle and reserving Precious Blood

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 11:19 AM PDT

From a reader comes this distressing bit of information from Australia: Attached is an excerpt from a local parish newsletter. Fr Richard Leonard is a prominent Australian Jesuit and Director of the Australian Catholic Film Office. The glass-fronted tabernacle he refers to would seem to be clearly in breach of Canon 938.3.