Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
This morning, we have the following rather stunning notice from the Vatican Press Office: Francis to meet Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in Cuba Vatican City, 5 February 2016 (VIS) – The Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow are pleased to announce that, by the grace of God, His Holiness Pope Francis and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and […]
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Pope Francis opened the Holy Doors at Saint Peter’s Basilica, officially beginning the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy on December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady. On December 13, the Third Sunday of Advent, Father Nicholas Wichert will open Tacoma’s Holy Doors. Perhaps I should explain. Normally for a Jubilee, the Holy Doors of all four […]
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Today, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, Pope Francis unsealed the Holy Doors at Saint Peter’s Basilica, officially beginning the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. On this coming Third Sunday of Advent, all across the world, cathedrals, basilicas, and shrines in every diocese will bless and open their own Holy Doors. Archbishop Sartain has designated a […]
» Read moreReleased today and, weirdly, also dated today, Pope Francis has published some instructions pursuant to the upcoming Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. Some highlights: How Indulgences are to be Granted: I wish that the Jubilee Indulgence may reach each one as a genuine experience of God’s mercy, which comes to meet each person in the Face of the Father who […]
» Read moreThis morning, we were privileged to meet the young lady in this photo. She served with us at the Saturday Mass on the Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori. Her name is Kara Jackson. She has Down syndrome. Kara is an Altar Server in her home parish in Ohio, and God has asked her to serve at the altar in all […]
» Read moreThe headline says it all. I cannot imagine better news on a Tuesday morning. I’m more than slightly stunned. He was only appointed Rector of Mundelein Seminary three years ago. At that time I wrote: As both of my long-time readers know, I am a fan of Fr. Robert Barron. His Catholicism Project is to religion what Carl Sagan’s Cosmos […]
» Read moreI’m still working my way through Laudato Si’, but in the meantime, here are some more great analyses: The Terrible Problem with Laudato Si’ The difficulty, the dreadful, unspeakable, shield-your-eyes difficulty with the Pope’s new encyclical on the environment comes down to one nasty problem: The man is right. For the popular press, hoping all this time that Pope Francis […]
» Read morePope Francis’ new encyclical on ecology and the environment was published this morning, and already my RSS feeds and inbox are filling up with those praising it, criticizing it, or just plain analyzing it. I will begin reading it at lunch, but I’ve no hope of finishing it for a while. You can download a copy from the Vatican web […]
» Read moreOn 24 March 1980, Archbishop Óscar Romero of San Salvador was gunned down while celebrating Mass. While it is generally recognized (and admitted by the government) that the assassins were members of a death squad sent by the government of El Salvador, to this day no one has been prosecuted for the crime. And what had the archbishop done to […]
» Read moreToday is the 88th birthday of Father Benedict, once Pope Benedict XVI. Happy birthday! I recently ran across an interesting article by Elizabeth Scalia (the Anchoress) about Benedict being an “anchor” for the Papacies of the men who proceeded and followed him. John Paul would not have been free to be John Paul — and all he became to the world […]
» Read moreToday, the Second Sunday in the Octave of Easter, is also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. Pope John Paul II proclaimed the Sunday after Easter as the Sunday of the Divine Mercy (Dominica II Paschæ seu de divina misericordia) in accord with the visions of the Divine Mercy received by
» Read moreNo. Really. Today Pope Francis issued a Papal Bull proclaiming the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. Misericordiae Vultus BULL OF INDICTION OF THE EXTRAORDINARY JUBILEE OF MERCY FRANCIS, BISHOP OF ROME, SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD TO ALL WHO READ THIS LETTER GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE 1. Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy. These words might […]
» Read morePope Francis has announced a Jubilee Year for 2016. Traditionally, these happen only every 25 years, the last being proclaimed by Saint John Paul II in 2000. VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis announced an extraordinary jubilee, a Holy Year of Mercy, to highlight the Catholic Church’s “mission to be a witness of mercy.” “No one can be excluded from […]
» Read moreYesterday, on the great feast of Christ the King, the Year of Faith drew to a close. Pope Benedict XVI established it as a time to re-dedicate ourselves to professing the faith, celebrating the faith, and witnessing to the faith. Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated as an experience […]
» Read moreWe Catholics have done a spectacularly poor job of teaching the faith over the last forty years. Part of the problem, of course, is media narratives – such as the one that paints one of the most profound teachers of the past century as an “inquisitor” or worse. I’m gratified that Pope Francis has managed to change the narrative. I […]
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