Priests and their chalices: an intimate connection

Editor Roxanne King has launched a new series, as part of the celebration of the Year for Priests, in the Denver Catholic Register on priests and their chalices called, simply enough, “A priest’s chalice.”
Priests, of course, can celebrate the Eucharist with any liturgically appropriate cup. Often many Catholics are unaware of the intimate connection between a [...]

The Kennedy ethos: sharing joys and grief with strangers

It was totally in keeping with the family ethos that Sen. Ted Kennedy’s wife, Vicki, his son, Patrick (a member of Congress from Rhode Island), and other family members spent hours this week greeting those in line at the Kennedy presidential library to pay their respects to the family patriarch.
This continues to be a family with [...]

Sheen spotted on the subway

No, not Martin the actor, but the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen — on a book cover.
On Wednesday evening on the subway in Washington, I spotted a young man with shirt sleeves rolled up and tie loosened — obviously heading home from a long day at work.
He was plugged into his iPod and equipped with the [...]

Delegation finds human rights violations across Honduras

 
Hondurans participating in nonviolent demonstrations against the June 28 ouster of Manuel Zelaya as president of the poor Central American country are experiencing human rights violations — including intimidation, beatings and rape — by government security forces, a small delegation of Catholic religious leaders discovered during a recent fact-finding trip.
 ”We came away with a really [...]

‘Guitars and Adobes’ gives a glimpse at church life in New Mexico in the ’30s

Seventy-seven years after Fray Angelico Chavez’s serialized novel, “Guitars and Adobes,” appeared in the pages of St. Anthony Messenger magazine, it is now out in book form.
It has been described as a kind of Hispanic answer to Willa Cather’s “Death Comes for the Archbishop,” her classic novel based on the real French archbishop charged by the pope with leading the [...]

What else was happening when Woodstock was going on?

What else was going on in the nation and around the world when hippies, flower power and the Age of Aquarius were being celebrated at the musical festival held on Max Yasgur’s farm in upper New York state in August of 1969?
Now that the dust seems to have settled from the events and commentary marking the 40th [...]

Year for Priests: Longing to be comfortable

By Basilian Father Chris Valka
One in a series
This past week, I began my new assignment teaching at Detroit Catholic Central High School. Therefore, I have been reflecting recently on “all things new” — new city, new house, new confreres, new job, new friends and new students. Though I feel I should be used to the [...]

Catholic advocates get specific on health care reform

Town hall meetings across the U.S. have stirred the passions of protesters opposed to health care reform in general or opposed to certain aspects of bills currently before Congress. Here’s a story about Catholic efforts on the health reform issue, including the viewpoint of  Catholics voicing their support for universal health care.
The Catholic Courier, newspaper of [...]

New Italian book features then-Cardinal Ratzinger on liturgy

VATICAN CITY — Our Italian colleague, Andrea Tornielli, today published two texts written by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on the liturgy. The pieces — one a letter translated from German into Italian and another from a speech — are contained in a new book, “Davanti al Protagonista: Alla Radici della Liturgia” (“Before the Protagonist: At the Roots [...]

Milwaukee couple begins every day with wedding vows

OK, now here is a story about a married couple who show their devotion to their wedding vows – literally on a daily basis! 
The Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, has run an article about this couple who begins each day reciting their marriage vows and how that practice has strengthened their 20-year union.