As your Bishop, I write to you concerning an alarming matter that negatively impacts the Catholic Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be “of, by, and for the people,” has just dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people—the Catholic population—and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful. More ... Thursday, January 26, 2012
The six women who were commissioned lay ecclesial ministers Jan. 18 may have chosen different paths along their faith journey, but they all share one important characteristic in their faith development. They have all accepted the call “to serve and not to be served” that Jesus speaks of in the Gospel of Mark.
Parishes across the diocese honored the memory of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jan. 16 with a day of service which encouraged parishioners to embrace Dr. King’s message that “everybody can be great because everybody can serve.”
Right now the memories Patrick Dolan and Matthew Gorman share of their trip to Rwanda run like an uncut film strip in their minds.
But when they talk about their week-long, November journey to this land of mountain and mist which is still recovering 17 years later from unspeakable genocide, the unedited version of the film they will soon make emerges in a compelling manner.
Cathedrals, money and the homeless; pets in heaven
Q To our delight, our 13-year-old daughter reads newspapers. Sometimes this prompts her to ask religious questions, and today’s was a tough one: “The paper says there is a lot of poverty and that the bishops are asking Catholics to help the poor.
Rules of conduct that are golden - and written!
Recently two mothers and their teenage daughters were asked to comment on a few chapters of “A Book of Courtesy.” The original handbook was written in 1910 by Sister Mary Mercedes, a Dominican nun who for 25 years was headmistress of one of the order’s schools in San Rafael, Calif. More ... Monday, January 23, 2012
HHS ABC RULE: ANBODY BUT CATHOLICS HAS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM Health and Human Services’ recent attacks on freedom of religion show it is deaf to religious sensibilities. Even the Administration’s resounding defeat on January 11—when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected the Administration’s reading of the First Amendment as “extreme,” “untenable,” and having “no merit”—couldn’t unplug its ears. More ... Tuesday, January 24, 2012
