Benedict’s Top 10?

I did a Vatican Letter today on 10 texts I think are fundamental for understanding Pope Benedict XVI and his approach to his ministry. For those who want to click and read, here are the links:
1. His inaugural sermon in 2005.
2. Part 1 of his first encyclical, “Deus Caritas Est.”
3. His 2005 talk to the Roman Curia [...]

A longtime friend urges help for Holy Land

TORONTO — U.S. Cardinal John P. Foley, a longtime friend of the Catholic press, spoke once again at the annual Catholic News Service breakfast at the Catholic Media Convention. This year, though, the cardinal, now grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, spoke of the challenges facing the dwindling Christian community in the [...]

Our Sunday Visitor interviews papal nuncio to U.S.

TORONTO — The blog “Whispers in the Loggia” beat us to this one, but it bears repeating: Our Sunday Visitor interviewed Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, on last month’s papal visit to the United States “now that the dust has settled.” OSV notes that Archbishop Sambi was one of the key figures [...]

Youth appeal

TORONTO — How do Catholic media reach young people — those in high school or young adults? A group of young Canadian journalists offered their insights on that at the 2008 Catholic Media Convention.
“If you don’t have a Web site, you don’t exist” in the eyes of young people, said Pedro Guevara-Mann, a producer with [...]

Text of Vatican spokesman’s address in Toronto

TORONTO — Jesuit Father Frederico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office and the head of Vatican Radio, spoke this morning at the Catholic Media Convention here on the topic “When the Pope Speaks to the World: Working With Modern Media.” It was a very thoughtful, well-received address, and we’re working on a story on it [...]

More on exploring the role of Catholic media

TORONTO — Plenty of things to talk about on Day 1 of the annual Catholic Media Convention.  In fact, too much (as is usually the case at these meetings).
The day got off to a flying start with a message from Pope Benedict, which may have been unprecedented. Some here thought that this was the first time [...]

Dem bones

VATICAN CITY — After a press conference unveiling the newly restored Mausoleum of the Valerii family in the Vatican necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica, journalists were taken on a private tour of the underground burial chambers.
A handful of American journalists was accompanied by our intrepid guide, U.S. Father Jay Mello. He was ordained to the priesthood last year, is finishing his fifth [...]

Exploring the role of Catholic media

TORONTO — Many of us Catholic media types are here in Toronto tonight for tomorrow’s opening of the Catholic Media Convention, which brings together the Catholic Press Association of the U.S. and Canada, the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals and the Association of Roman Catholic Communicators of Canada. Though some would say that we simply represent old-style, dead-tree [...]

Historic black parish celebrates anniversary

Here in Washington, St. Augustine Parish celebrated it’s 150th anniversary earlier this month. At first glance this might look like a local story, but it’s really a story that parallels the history of African-American Catholicism in the United States. Details are in the Washington Archdiocese’s Catholic Standard.

Rome’s changing religious landscape

ROME — I stopped in the other day at the Church of the Seven Dolors in Via Garibaldi, a hidden gem tucked into the side of Rome’s Janiculum Hill. Designed by the Baroque architect Francesco Borromini in the mid-1600s, it is flanked by a large convent of Augustinian sisters.
The sisters ran a nursery school there until a [...]