I love this...

...but I hope he leaves just one standing to temper the change.

And I pray for his safety...

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Do any of you remember

Ember Days? (Assuming I have any readers at all, of course.)

I have a vague recollection of this, but then I was brought up in the bosom of Mother Church (and don't harbour any old and festering wounds, either! ) You'd have to be an older netizen to remember as they faded away a long time ago.

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Some of the most bizarre theories




in the Conspiracy Theory vein are about Catholicism.

10 Crazy Catholic Conspiracy Theories

These are pretty incredible. Especially when we all know that the real bad guys are the Lutherans!

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Become a success

You, too, can become a successful writer in a niche market!

Vatican reprimand sends American nun’s book up bestseller lists

Just get the Vatican to condemn your book and you're off to the races!

Seriously, some years ago a condemnation or a warning would prevent sincere Catholics from even considering reading a book. Now the Church believes people are more mature and responsible for their faith so it leaves the faithful alone to make up their own minds, but gives them a warning.

Alas, I think that most people still need to be led by the Church, and given more counsel than they get.

"All we like sheep..."

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Ummm... no...

American Nuns Say Vatican Report Has Caused “Scandal and Pain throughout the Church”

I think the only 'Scandal and Pain' that has been caused has been among the adherents of the nuns group, possibly mostly their leaders. 'The Church' hasn't been affected much at all, really.

And it's a little disengenuous of PBS to post a photo of what looks like a cloistered group of nuns praying when the average member of the group that the Church looked at for the report looks nothing like this. I don't think you'd be able to tell any of them from the average woman on the street.

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A good list

Ten Catholic women who changed the world

A really good list. What I like is that it just isn't women religious, but others, and not just celebrities, but average individuals who did special things...

(I didn't have a graphic to simply indicate that this was about women. My apologies. It was either this one or a Nun and I didn't want anyone to think this was just about Nuns.)

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If any saints deserve it...

...these two do.

Regina Coeli: Jesus sends His Spirit to the Church

"...Pope Benedict announced that on October 7, at the beginning of the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, he would proclaim St. John of Avila and St. Hildegard of Bingen as Doctors of the Church."

A rare honour, as both of these saints have had profound effects on the theology and life of the Church, this has been long in coming...

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Most things like this

have their origins lost in time.


Cleansing evil spirits at El Colacho baby-jumping festival

"El Colacho is a vibrant, albeit Pope-worrying festival in Castrillo de Murcia in north-west Spain, the culmination of 96 hours celebration following the feast of Corpus Christi."

Though I'm really not sure at all how this could have come about...

There's no documentation, but the comments about the Church and Pope Benedict XVI are interesting.

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You know,

I only got this far in the article: "Here we are trying to launch the year of the new evangelization, the project of the new evangelization" and I start asking myself how much this sounds like the work of the Spirit and how much it sounds like the work of a bureacracy...

Petty politics of Vatileaks embarrasses Vatican

...and then I couldn't finish reading it. I don't know. It's just me, I guess...

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An instance

in which a group is making a major issue out of something that isn't a major issue, and making accusations about things that have already been adequately answered.

This article:

Group calls for exorcism inquiry after Saskatoon incident

followed this one:

Sprinkling Holy Water Not Exorcism, Bishop Says

You'll recognize the group if you see them. They're the ones standing there with their fingers in their ears shrieking loudly "Medieval abuse! Stuck in the middle ages! Science uber alles! These people are luddites! The Catholic Church is evil! There is no God!" and renting bus signs saying the same thing.

You know, the new athiests...

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In the eyes of the Church, that is

in the form of the local Bishop as the Church's local authority.

When a Shrine Isn’t

Anyone can build a shrine or grotto on their property. However, for it to be sanctioned by the Church and become an 'official' shrine, the Bishop has to investigate it and approve it. One thing that this article doesn't tell us though is if the person who built the shrine was claiming any supernatural events at the shrine. I suspect he must have been, or why would people from elsewhere be visiting it? THe person can have his statue - we have a statue of St. Francis in our back yard - but once the claims of supernatural events, visions, locutions, etc., start coming out the Bishop has to get involved. The person doesn't have to listen to the Bishop but if they don't they're threatening their relationship with the Church. The Church doesn't take it lightly when people start drawing others away from revelation that has been properly approved...

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What is this all about?

He's either taking the prayers for 'the office of Bishops' in each new Mass translation too seriously, or something else is happening. One doesn't make an apology for something so serious and then say that they shouldn't have apologized.

Egan's remarks on priest abuse scandal draw fire

The people who are out to destroy the Church as it is are always looking for more ammunition.

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Blogging the Pope

Calumny and Lies (I Tell You!)

A Combermere, Ontario, Madonna House priest discusses the writings of Pope Benedict XVI.

I know one thing, Pope Benedict XVI is a wonderfully articulate, clear and understandable writer who can hold a reader tightly in subjects that, from most writers, would be dry and, possibly, bore one to tears. He is a marvelous writer who has a clear idea of who his audience is - academic, religious, theologian, student, or lay person - and writes so well that his words grasp you from start to finish...

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I understand their anger

but I also understand the Church's position on this. I think it's an issue of Church officials being more bureacratic and not terribly pastoral in the way they interact with these people.

Fury at boy’s Holy Communion ceremony ban

On the other hand, it gets tedious hearing people go on about their 'rights' regarding things that are really privileges. There are many times you don't have a right to receive the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. We've all forgotten about that, I think, with all our concern about 'rights'.

And so the Church loses more members...

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I think this is good

Pets head to church for blessing

Everyone who has a pet (or who has had one) knows how loved the pets are, and how much they want their special family members to do well and live happy, and long, lives. If they blessed pets here, and I could bring ours, I would bring them. Mind you, Thomasz Goldwyn (Goldie) would have a heart attack in the car on the way there, so that wouldn't do much to prolong his life!

(Doesn't the turtle in the photo look happy? Just reaching up high with his head to get the holy water. Great photo...)

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They want

their own form of liturgy approved.

"Placet" or "Non placet"? The wager of Carmen and Kiko

Given the current climate of the Vatican, I would doubt that they'll be successful. Even under Pope John Paul II I doubt that formal and permanent approval would be given...

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Are they really what they claim to be?

And does it matter?

CathBlog - Magi relics in Cologne Cathedral

Along with many things in the Church, as long as they're not abused and don't become a focus of people's faith, belief in certain things, such as relics, act to deepen believer's faith in God and in God working in this world, something that isn't bad in itself. It falls into error when the objects (apparitions, prophecies, relics, etc.) become the focus of people's faith, and not simply signposts pointing to God...

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A definite part of the Mass again

If There Are No Kneelers, Is It a Catholic Church?

I feel sorry for pastors in Catholic churches that were built during a certain period post-Vatican II and were built without kneelers. A previous pastor (and bishop, I guess), who was in place during the construction of the church, showed his spirit of renewal by not including pews with kneelers. This is the 20th century! We don't kneel to show our awe of God! The early church didn't.

Well, now almost 50 years down the road, we're discovering that yes, kneeling is a perfectly correct way to show our honour, respect, love and awe of God, and in fact, we're enshrining it in our Mass revisions. And, in order to follow the Vatican's decisions, the current pastors have to figure out how to put kneelers into churches that weren't designed for them. Or the local Bishop will be making lots of exceptions. That is what will most likely happen.

But what were they thinking? Didn't they realize that people do like to kneel when they pray, whether it's during Mass or not? Was sitting or standing decreed the new kneeling in these parishes? It makes me wonder...

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And he's not that old

California bishop resigns, says he has 2 kids

You have to suspect that he somehow got found out. Is it likely that his conscience was bothering him after so many years? Well, I admit it is possible. No one is past reclamation, and God is all-powerful.

There's really some things happening of late to the Church in the area of priests and sexuality. I wonder if the whole issue of married priests might be coming up faster than the present Pope and hierarchy would like?

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So, are they saying



that it is growing quickly again, or is still continuing to grow as it has over the years?

Charismatic movement growing quickly worldwide

The Charismatic Movement in the Catholic Church started at the beginning of the 1970s, so it already has a history of some duration. After growing quickly it went into a decline, for a lot of reasons. I expect what the writer of the headline is trying to say is that it is growing quickly again. They may also mean that it is growing outside of the Catholic Church and attracting Catholics, and that may well be true also...

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