Renaissance sculptor mixes secular, religious

Yesterday I ran into the first artwork I’ve seen from the Italian Renaissance that didn’t depict angels or Mary. Much of sculptor Tullio Lombardo’s work still remains in churches and shrines around Italy, but his pieces at the National Gallery of Art here in Washington leave the viewer wondering about characters’ identities and emotions.
The exhibit, opening [...]

What makes ‘a really great priest’?

A few weeks ago at Sunday Mass, our pastor told one of his frequent warm and humorous stories during the homily, and beneath the laughter that rippled through the crowded church, I heard the man sitting behind me say to his wife, “He’s such a good guy, a really great priest.”
I was a little startled [...]

‘The Catholic press loses a matriarch’

That was the headline on a blog item posted last night about a dear friend to many of us, Ethel Gintoft, the retired associate publisher and executive editor of the Catholic Herald in Milwaukee, who died last week. (See “Ethel M. Gintoft: Remembering a Catholic Herald legend.) The tribute was written by Sam Lucero, editor [...]

Papal encyclical out on July 7

VATICAN CITY — The speculation is finally over. Today the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI’s long-anticipated social encyclical will be released next Tuesday, July 7th.
Journalists accredited to the Vatican will be given a copy of the encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate” (Love in Truth), at 9 a.m. Tuesday with an embargo on the text until noon Rome [...]