Clarification on Anglicans and married priests

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has denied that the delay in publishing the apostolic constitution on Anglicans seeking admission to the Catholic Church has been caused by an internal Vatican debate over admitting married priests.
On Oct. 20, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI had established the new plan, which would establish “personal ordinariates” — [...]

‘Foul ball,’ writes Archbishop Dolan — and he’s not talking about baseball

In an Oct. 29 posting on his new blog, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan writes: “October is the month we relish the high point of our national pastime, especially when one of our own New York teams is in the World Series! Sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-Catholicism.”
The archbishop’s posting [...]

Priest goes country, writes bluegrass Mass

“There was some Catholic toe tapping to the strains of banjo and fiddle” as the first bluegrass Mass was celebrated recently “exactly where it belonged: the ’birthplace of country music,’ Bristol, Virginia,” according to a story written by Jean Denton in The Catholic Virginian, newspaper of the Diocese of Richmond, Va.
We learn how Father Edward Richard, a bluegrass [...]

Mother Teresa’s ‘dark night’ inspires Long Island Catholics

For all of you out there who were astonished by the revelation that Blessed Mother Teresa experienced periods of spiritual “darkness,” read what one professor of moral theology says about what that meant for the woman who founded the Missionaries of Charity. The article — written by Mary Gorry — appears in The Long Island Catholic, newspaper of the [...]

Outdoor Mass recalls 12 priests who arrived in Florida in 1539

Bishop Frank J. Dewane of the Diocese of Venice, Fla., combined a diocesan “Year of Celebration” and the international “Year for Priests” Oct. 22 in a Mass dedicated to all priests who have served in Florida, including the 12 priests and friars who accompanied the 1539 Hernado de Soto expedition to the area.
The Mass was concelebrated by [...]

Commander Cibin, rest in peace

VATICAN CITY — Commander Camillo Cibin, the man known as the pope’s “guardian angel” for more than 40 years, died yesterday at the age of 83.
The funeral Mass for the former head of Vatican security and chief papal bodyguard will be celebrated tomorrow evening in St. Peter’s Basilica by Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, head of the [...]

Even in tough economic times, people give

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul — whose members are quite familiar with the effects of the world financial crisis on the poor — has some good news to report. Its second annual Friends of the Poor Walk raised more than $1.2 million, a more than 50 percent increase over the inaugural year. More [...]

Catholic journalist is more than embedded

Neil McCabe, a reporter for The Pilot newspaper in the Archdiocese of Boston, is experiencing the war in Iraq from the inside. But he’s not just embedded as a journalist; he’s a soldier. You can read about what he’s found in Iraq, including the challenge of receiving the sacraments, here.

Don’t stop the presses yet, says columnist

Writing for our friends UCA News in Asia, Maryknoll Father William Grimm writes about the future of Catholic journalism. In an editorial titled “Don’t stop the presses — yet,” Father Grimm writes that the electronic age is upon us, and “every editor’s desk should have on it a picture of a tombstone with the name of [...]

Year for Priests: Rome as evangelization machine

By Paulist Father Tom Holahan
One in a series
ROME — The recent announcement that the Vatican will allow Anglicans to continue their “traditional spiritual practices” in the Catholic Church has started people thinking: Catholicism now has a formal way to accommodate a married priesthood for a very specific group of people. What more might unfold? Whatever [...]