Hola, Comrade: Pope Benedict meets Fidel Castro...
Rocco Palmo
No explanation needed, here's your Shot of the Day. During their half-hour meeting at the Apostolic Nunciature in Havana, Fidel Castro reportedly urged B16 to canonize Blesseds John Paul II and Teresa of Calcutta, and apparently had some liturgical questions for the pontiff, according to the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi.
Kindness Can Kill if Love is Unwilling to Wound...
Msgr. Charles Pope
We live in a reductionist culture that has tended to reduce love to kindness. The results are often quite problematic as we shall see. Kindness is a very great thing and has an important place in our relationships. Kindness is evidenced by goodness and charitable behavior, a pleasantness, tenderness and concern for others.
Seminary is the first new Catholic building in Cuba since Castro's rise to power 53 years ago...
I was supposed to be in Cuba today, but the Communist government refused me a visa. My experience is only a tiny blip in the half-century of the Castro catastrophe...
Robert Royal
Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cuba Monday. I did not. I was scheduled to travel with a group from the Archdiocese of Miami. An archdiocesan employee called shortly before departure to say that the Cuban government refused me a visa. This is not the first time. In 1998, when John Paul II came...
Pope Benedict asks Raúl Castro to declare Good Friday a holiday in Cuba...
Is it back to nuns with rulers?
Fr. Dwight Longenecker
One of the things I have always found most delightful about the Catholic Church is nuns. Protestants have fearsome and holy women, but they don’t have nuns. There is something feisty and admirable about a nun. Especially a nun with a ruler. How the whining ex Catholics love to whimper about the hatchet faced nuns who rapped their knuckles with a ruler...
How can we be so sure that Jesus rose from the dead? Here's how...
Brandon Vogt
Is it true? Did the Bible get it right? Are there other plausible alternatives? Wading through Flannery O’Conner, myth-spinning fishermen, Homer’s Iliad, legendary body-snatchers, a crucified Judas, the Battle of Waterloo, and hallucinating ghost-whisperers, I’ll seek to convince you, before Holy Week..
7 movies for Holy Week and Easter...
Barbara Curtis
Once upon a time Hollywood chose biblical material, portrayed it fairly faithfully, and often won Academy Awards for doing so. Those days may be gone, but even as we plan to fill baskets and color eggs, we can bring these classics into our homes to create more meaningful traditions to share with our children and lead them to a deeper understanding of Easter.
Did you see the Pope's Sunday Mass in Mexico? Here's an interesting element that most people probably missed...
Showing posts with label Catholic blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catholic blogs. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Today's best from Catholic bloggers
Is nothing sacred? Apparently not. Reflecting on another absurdity in the news...
We live in a culture where, increasingly, any sense of the sacred is being lost. The thought that something could be sacred, special, holy, or somehow “off-limits” is bewildering to many. Indeed many secularists consider those who do see some things as sacred, to be stuffy and somehow arrogant.
Italian astronaut glimpsed God's beauty while in space
By David Kerr
The Italian astronaut who spoke to Pope Benedict XVI from space says that being in orbit inspires deep contemplation and raises the mind and heart to God. “It’s the beauty,” Roberto Vittori told CNA, “the beauty of the earth seen from space, the beauty of nature, the beauty of the blue planet,” which show “there must be something beyond science and technology.”
Christ our Lord is the hidden Savior. He is the opposite of a celebrity. He kept His ministry hidden. Even His public teaching is shrouded in parables. One might suppose that after His resurrection He would have gone to the Temple in Jerusalem and preached His inaugural sermon as the resurrected King of Glory. He did not.
This popped up over the weekend and is making the rounds of the interwebs. Take a couple minutes and watch — and then send it around. It comes from Americans United for Life.
We live in a culture where, increasingly, any sense of the sacred is being lost. The thought that something could be sacred, special, holy, or somehow “off-limits” is bewildering to many. Indeed many secularists consider those who do see some things as sacred, to be stuffy and somehow arrogant.
Italian astronaut glimpsed God's beauty while in space
By David Kerr
The Italian astronaut who spoke to Pope Benedict XVI from space says that being in orbit inspires deep contemplation and raises the mind and heart to God. “It’s the beauty,” Roberto Vittori told CNA, “the beauty of the earth seen from space, the beauty of nature, the beauty of the blue planet,” which show “there must be something beyond science and technology.”
This popped up over the weekend and is making the rounds of the interwebs. Take a couple minutes and watch — and then send it around. It comes from Americans United for Life.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The blessings of a Catholic blogger in Rome
Catholic Womanhood by Lisa M. Hendey
My month of May was filled was unexpected blessings as I made an impromptu trip to Rome for the first ever “Vatican Blogger Meeting.” The meeting was hosted by the Vatican’s Pontifical Councils forCulture and Social Communications. The councils anticipated that many bloggers would likely be in Rome for the Beatification of Blessed John Paul II. On very short notice, they organized a half-day conference for bloggers. Interest in the event was immediate and widespread, with writers from around the world making application to attend. At the end of the quick application period, 150 writers were randomly selected. I learned to my great surprise that my name was on the list, and quickly began organizing my first real trip to Italy.
As it turned out, the blogger meeting was only one of the amazing highlights of my trip to the Vatican. During the course of my five-day visit (planned on the spur of the moment and largely possible due to the support of my publisher Ave Maria Press and a private donor), I attended the Beatification Mass, the Mass of Thanksgiving, a private Mass in the Crypt at St. Peters, and the Wednesday audience with Pope Benedict XVI. Sleep was in short supply, the food was amazing, and I learned that my “cute” American shoes were not made for walking on cobblestones. With enough Italian to say “please,” “thank you,” and “gelato,” I set off for the spiritual adventure of a lifetime.
Certainly, for me, the highlight of my spur of the moment pilgrimage was standing in the thick of over a million fellow Catholics, crying for joy at the moment of the Beatification. Nestled between a group of Polish nuns and some pretty feisty Italian housewives, I sang and prayed and rejoiced with the rest of the crowd – each of us in our own native languages, but united as a one, holy, catholic and apostolic nation of believers whose lives had been touched by this incredible man. My mind flashed back upon the three days I’d spent on my couch when Pope John Paul II died – in those moments I would have done anything to be present for his funeral… I remember pondering the crazy thought of jumping on a plane and simply camping out in St. Peter’s with the rest of the mourners. And now, there I was, six years later, huddled with so many who owed the intensity of their faith to many of the teachings of “JPII”, the only Pope many of us had ever really known. I couldn’t see the altar from my vantage point that Sunday morning, but my heart felt “at home” with my fellow pilgrims.
Honestly, a few weeks after this amazing experience, I am still praying about and absorbing so much of what I learned and experienced in Rome. Our Vatican Blogger Meeting was another highlight – as much for the informal relationships and conversations that flourished though “in real life” interactions as for what was formally presented from the dais that day. I’m thrilled at the direction that the Vatican has planned to take with respect to implementing new media technologies in evangelization, communications and catechesis. Over the next several months, as we watch their initiatives being unveiled, Catholics will be able to take great pride in the fact that our faith leaders really “get” the importance of being on the cutting edge in communications, but more importantly holding fast to the true teachings of our Church. My fellow bloggers around the world are equally committed to using our keyboards and mobile devices to help share our passion for the Good News. On our blogs, our Facebook profiles, and our Twitter accounts – and with whatever new tools come along – we are each living out the great commission in our own ways.
This is an exciting time to be a Catholic blogger!
My month of May was filled was unexpected blessings as I made an impromptu trip to Rome for the first ever “Vatican Blogger Meeting.” The meeting was hosted by the Vatican’s Pontifical Councils forCulture and Social Communications. The councils anticipated that many bloggers would likely be in Rome for the Beatification of Blessed John Paul II. On very short notice, they organized a half-day conference for bloggers. Interest in the event was immediate and widespread, with writers from around the world making application to attend. At the end of the quick application period, 150 writers were randomly selected. I learned to my great surprise that my name was on the list, and quickly began organizing my first real trip to Italy.
As it turned out, the blogger meeting was only one of the amazing highlights of my trip to the Vatican. During the course of my five-day visit (planned on the spur of the moment and largely possible due to the support of my publisher Ave Maria Press and a private donor), I attended the Beatification Mass, the Mass of Thanksgiving, a private Mass in the Crypt at St. Peters, and the Wednesday audience with Pope Benedict XVI. Sleep was in short supply, the food was amazing, and I learned that my “cute” American shoes were not made for walking on cobblestones. With enough Italian to say “please,” “thank you,” and “gelato,” I set off for the spiritual adventure of a lifetime.
Certainly, for me, the highlight of my spur of the moment pilgrimage was standing in the thick of over a million fellow Catholics, crying for joy at the moment of the Beatification. Nestled between a group of Polish nuns and some pretty feisty Italian housewives, I sang and prayed and rejoiced with the rest of the crowd – each of us in our own native languages, but united as a one, holy, catholic and apostolic nation of believers whose lives had been touched by this incredible man. My mind flashed back upon the three days I’d spent on my couch when Pope John Paul II died – in those moments I would have done anything to be present for his funeral… I remember pondering the crazy thought of jumping on a plane and simply camping out in St. Peter’s with the rest of the mourners. And now, there I was, six years later, huddled with so many who owed the intensity of their faith to many of the teachings of “JPII”, the only Pope many of us had ever really known. I couldn’t see the altar from my vantage point that Sunday morning, but my heart felt “at home” with my fellow pilgrims.
Honestly, a few weeks after this amazing experience, I am still praying about and absorbing so much of what I learned and experienced in Rome. Our Vatican Blogger Meeting was another highlight – as much for the informal relationships and conversations that flourished though “in real life” interactions as for what was formally presented from the dais that day. I’m thrilled at the direction that the Vatican has planned to take with respect to implementing new media technologies in evangelization, communications and catechesis. Over the next several months, as we watch their initiatives being unveiled, Catholics will be able to take great pride in the fact that our faith leaders really “get” the importance of being on the cutting edge in communications, but more importantly holding fast to the true teachings of our Church. My fellow bloggers around the world are equally committed to using our keyboards and mobile devices to help share our passion for the Good News. On our blogs, our Facebook profiles, and our Twitter accounts – and with whatever new tools come along – we are each living out the great commission in our own ways.
This is an exciting time to be a Catholic blogger!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Vatican Bloggers Meeting: The priest in a digital world
OSV Online:
In his 2010 World Communications Day message, Pope Benedict XVI spoke specifically to priests. Titling his message "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World," the Pope encouraged his brother priests to be active online, to use new media, and not to dismiss the online world as just a mere fad.
Fr. Roderick Vonhogen is one media-savvy priest who has heeded this call, a perfect example of the "priest in a digital world." Though he's based out of the Netherlands, Fr. Vonhogen impacts people from around the globe through his many podcasts. The podcasting network he started, SQPN, is heard all over the world and reaches thousands of Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
Yet among his brother priests, his work hasn't been completely welcomed. Fr. Roderick explained that fellow priests claim, "You waste your time with that hobby. You should be preaching in the church!"
"But, if I preach in church," Fr. Roderick likes to respond, "I reach two hundred people--maybe. And I know them all. They come to church on Sunday, they're already Catholic, and I'm not even sure if they stay awake while I preach!" But online, Fr. Roderick points out, he can reach 20,000 people at a time, people who never darken the doors of a church yet are still interested in religious matters.
"I want to be shepherd for people who really need one, not for the people who already have one. Using new media is basically like building a parish, but one that is worldwide and one that reaches the lost sheep. I want to be a shepherd to the digital world."
With that desire and his podcasting success, Fr. Roderick has already answered the Pope's call. And, as a premier digital shepherd, he's given the Church a great example.
In his 2010 World Communications Day message, Pope Benedict XVI spoke specifically to priests. Titling his message "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World," the Pope encouraged his brother priests to be active online, to use new media, and not to dismiss the online world as just a mere fad.
Fr. Roderick Vonhogen is one media-savvy priest who has heeded this call, a perfect example of the "priest in a digital world." Though he's based out of the Netherlands, Fr. Vonhogen impacts people from around the globe through his many podcasts. The podcasting network he started, SQPN, is heard all over the world and reaches thousands of Catholics and non-Catholics alike.Yet among his brother priests, his work hasn't been completely welcomed. Fr. Roderick explained that fellow priests claim, "You waste your time with that hobby. You should be preaching in the church!"
"But, if I preach in church," Fr. Roderick likes to respond, "I reach two hundred people--maybe. And I know them all. They come to church on Sunday, they're already Catholic, and I'm not even sure if they stay awake while I preach!" But online, Fr. Roderick points out, he can reach 20,000 people at a time, people who never darken the doors of a church yet are still interested in religious matters.
"I want to be shepherd for people who really need one, not for the people who already have one. Using new media is basically like building a parish, but one that is worldwide and one that reaches the lost sheep. I want to be a shepherd to the digital world."
With that desire and his podcasting success, Fr. Roderick has already answered the Pope's call. And, as a premier digital shepherd, he's given the Church a great example.
Vatican welcomes Catholic bloggers
Catholic Culture:
Catholic bloggers from around the world met in Rome on May 2 for an unprecedented Vatican blogging "summit."
The 150 invited guests received encouragement from Vatican officials at the meeting, which was organized by the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
The meeting was designed as a get-acquainted session rather than an attempt to set standards for blogging. However, many speakers offered their own thoughts on the appropriate approach for Catholics engaged in blogging. Elizabeth Scalia, an American blogger, cited the need to guard against an "us and them" attitude, saying that Catholics "have not business fostering enemies." Father Roderick Vonhogen, a Dutch priest and blogger, said that print journalists should become accustomed to seeing bloggers use their news stories. "If they steal some of your content, as long as you put out quality, you will make it," he said.
Thomas Peters, another prominent American blogger, urged Vatican officials to ensure that bloggers receive advance copies of Vatican documents. Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, replied that his staff is working with bishops' conferences to ensure timely release of news.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Why I Am Catholic: "Because of Church History, Not In Spite of It"
by Pat McNamara
One of the first blogs I ever read was McNamara's Blog. I enjoy it because I enjoy history. And as a new Catholic, the amount of Church history I do know is tiny compared to what is available for me to learn. Pat McNamara, who also has a column over at Patheos, helps bring Church History to life for me.
This is the second time I have asked one of my blogging friends to write a post for me answering the phrase that headlines this space. Remember the first time? Each of us has a different reason, but as conversion is on-going (and not a "one and done event") each one of us must confront the reason as we make progress along the path of our individual pilgrimages.
So Pat, if I asked you to answer "Why I Am Catholic," what would you say?
Today, the question is asked with greater frequency, in a variety of places: Why Stay Catholic? People are leaving the Church for various reasons: celibacy, lack of leadership roles for women, abuse scandals, issues relating to sex and sexuality, and a sense that the leadership is out of touch with the people. At some point or another, every Catholic has to ask themselves: Why am I Catholic?
For me personally, history has a lot to do it. Catholics are literally surrounded by it. In our churches, we worship amid statues, paintings, mosaics and stained glass windows that depict past people and events. We sing hymns written long ago, sometimes centuries. While there have been many changes in the post-Vatican II Church, there are more continuities than we credit it for.
I’ve never had a head for philosophy or theology, and apologetics aren’t among my gifts. But from early on, Church history has been in my blood. Years ago, I found a quote that has become my favorite, from an English Protestant historian named Thomas Babington Macaulay. I love to use it when teaching the subject:
There is not and there never was on this earth, a work of human policy so well deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church… She saw the commencement of all the governments and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all. She was great and respected before the Saxon had set foot on Britain, before the Frank had passed the Rhine, when Grecian eloquence still flourished in Antioch, when idols were still worshipped in the temple of Mecca. And she may still exist in undiminished vigour when some traveler from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul’s.
As Macaulay says, there’s never been anything like it in world history. For better or for worse, you can’t talk about the last two millennia without referencing it.
For Catholics, Church history is the story of God’s People in a particular time and in a particular place. That is to say, the fallible People of God. Take the words of Jean Baptiste Lacordaire (1802-1865), the French Dominican priest who was probably the greatest Catholic preacher of his time:
God has indeed conferred upon His Church the prerogative of infallibility, but to none of her members has He granted immunity from sin. Peter was a sinner and a renegade, and God has been at pains to have that fact recorded in the Gospels.
Right from the night of the Last Supper, there have been low points in Church history. Often cited are the Crusades, the Inquisition, and Pope Pius XII’s “silence” during the Holocaust. But let’s take the Renaissance Papacy, now the subject of an HBO minseries. Historian Eamon Duffy writes of it:
The Renaissance papacy evokes images of a Hollywood spectacular, all decadence and drag. Contemporaries viewed Renaissance Rome as we now view Nixon’s Washington, a city of expense-account whores and political graft, where everything and everyone had a price, where nothing and nobody could be trusted. The popes themselves seemed to set the tone.
Yet despite scandal and schism, the next hundred years also saw some of history’s greatest saints: Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Francis De Sales, and Vincent De Paul, to name just a few. Blessed John Henry Newman considered this “one of the great arguments for Christianity.”
So there are high points and low points in Church history, but Catholics don’t see it as a meaningless cycle as the ancients did. In his City of God, St. Augustine explained the Christian understanding of history as linear, with a starting and ending point. As a Church, we have our ups and downs. We fall along the way. But we get up and move on toward our ultimate goal together. People create scandals, but God sends graces, and the people who respond to it we call saints.
History shows us, then, that we need not despair. There is hope. Father James Kent Stone, a 19th century American priest, wrote, “Yes, there have been scandals… if we look for them. But there have been saints and martyrs… of whom the world knows nothing. And there are saints still.” And though we are all fallible, from top to bottom, Jesus promised to remain with us until the end of time.
As people of faith, therefore, we have an obligation not to be discouraged, but to keep hope. For help is always in sight, and God’s grace is waiting for us to to respond. So for those of us who are discouraged by the current state of the Church, fear not. As Father Stone noted, the saints aren’t coming. They’re already here!
That’s why I am Catholic, and proud of it.
One of the first blogs I ever read was McNamara's Blog. I enjoy it because I enjoy history. And as a new Catholic, the amount of Church history I do know is tiny compared to what is available for me to learn. Pat McNamara, who also has a column over at Patheos, helps bring Church History to life for me.
This is the second time I have asked one of my blogging friends to write a post for me answering the phrase that headlines this space. Remember the first time? Each of us has a different reason, but as conversion is on-going (and not a "one and done event") each one of us must confront the reason as we make progress along the path of our individual pilgrimages.
So Pat, if I asked you to answer "Why I Am Catholic," what would you say?
 |
| Perugino's The Delivery of the Keys |
For me personally, history has a lot to do it. Catholics are literally surrounded by it. In our churches, we worship amid statues, paintings, mosaics and stained glass windows that depict past people and events. We sing hymns written long ago, sometimes centuries. While there have been many changes in the post-Vatican II Church, there are more continuities than we credit it for.
I’ve never had a head for philosophy or theology, and apologetics aren’t among my gifts. But from early on, Church history has been in my blood. Years ago, I found a quote that has become my favorite, from an English Protestant historian named Thomas Babington Macaulay. I love to use it when teaching the subject:
 |
| St. Peters Basilica, Rome |
As Macaulay says, there’s never been anything like it in world history. For better or for worse, you can’t talk about the last two millennia without referencing it.
For Catholics, Church history is the story of God’s People in a particular time and in a particular place. That is to say, the fallible People of God. Take the words of Jean Baptiste Lacordaire (1802-1865), the French Dominican priest who was probably the greatest Catholic preacher of his time:
 |
| Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris |
Right from the night of the Last Supper, there have been low points in Church history. Often cited are the Crusades, the Inquisition, and Pope Pius XII’s “silence” during the Holocaust. But let’s take the Renaissance Papacy, now the subject of an HBO minseries. Historian Eamon Duffy writes of it:
The Renaissance papacy evokes images of a Hollywood spectacular, all decadence and drag. Contemporaries viewed Renaissance Rome as we now view Nixon’s Washington, a city of expense-account whores and political graft, where everything and everyone had a price, where nothing and nobody could be trusted. The popes themselves seemed to set the tone.
 |
| Our Lady of Angels, Los Angeles Tapestries by John Nava |
So there are high points and low points in Church history, but Catholics don’t see it as a meaningless cycle as the ancients did. In his City of God, St. Augustine explained the Christian understanding of history as linear, with a starting and ending point. As a Church, we have our ups and downs. We fall along the way. But we get up and move on toward our ultimate goal together. People create scandals, but God sends graces, and the people who respond to it we call saints.
History shows us, then, that we need not despair. There is hope. Father James Kent Stone, a 19th century American priest, wrote, “Yes, there have been scandals… if we look for them. But there have been saints and martyrs… of whom the world knows nothing. And there are saints still.” And though we are all fallible, from top to bottom, Jesus promised to remain with us until the end of time.
As people of faith, therefore, we have an obligation not to be discouraged, but to keep hope. For help is always in sight, and God’s grace is waiting for us to to respond. So for those of us who are discouraged by the current state of the Church, fear not. As Father Stone noted, the saints aren’t coming. They’re already here!
That’s why I am Catholic, and proud of it.
 |
| Inside St. Peters Basilica |
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Top 200 Catholic Blogs
Catholic blogger Eric Sammons has compiled the Top 200 Catholic Blogs
Top 25 Most Popular Catholic Blogs by Google Reader Subscribers
(1) What Does the Prayer Really Say?: 6738
(2) Whispers in the Loggia: 6386
(3) Catholic and Enjoying It!: 5154
(4) The Curt Jester: 4858
(5) Charlotte Was Both: 4319
(6) Conversion Diary: 3195
(7) New Advent Blog: 2005
(8) Creative Minority Report: 1632
(9) Patrick Madrid: 1507
(10) Damian Thompson: 1486
(11) Standing on my Head: 1419
(12) The Hermeneutic of Continuity: 1345
(13) Rorate Caeli: 1125
(14) The New Liturgical Movement: 1093
(15) Ask Sister Mary Martha: 1043
(16) First Thoughts: 1035
(17) Mere Comments: 916
(18) Ignatius Insight Scoop: 915
(19) Catholic Cuisine: 836
(20) By Sun and Candlelight: 832
(21) Nadafarm: 828
(22) Testosterhome: 779
(23) The Crescat: 763
(24) Happy Catholic: 745
(25) La Bella Vita! Bella’s Beautiful Life: 740
(2) Whispers in the Loggia: 6386
(3) Catholic and Enjoying It!: 5154
(4) The Curt Jester: 4858
(5) Charlotte Was Both: 4319
(6) Conversion Diary: 3195
(7) New Advent Blog: 2005
(8) Creative Minority Report: 1632
(9) Patrick Madrid: 1507
(10) Damian Thompson: 1486
(11) Standing on my Head: 1419
(12) The Hermeneutic of Continuity: 1345
(13) Rorate Caeli: 1125
(14) The New Liturgical Movement: 1093
(15) Ask Sister Mary Martha: 1043
(16) First Thoughts: 1035
(17) Mere Comments: 916
(18) Ignatius Insight Scoop: 915
(19) Catholic Cuisine: 836
(20) By Sun and Candlelight: 832
(21) Nadafarm: 828
(22) Testosterhome: 779
(23) The Crescat: 763
(24) Happy Catholic: 745
(25) La Bella Vita! Bella’s Beautiful Life: 740
The updated Top 200 can be found at my main website.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)