A different view of the Olympics

For a noncommercial take on the Winter Olympics, check out the Olympics blog of Clayton Imoo, director of the Youth Ministry Office for the Archdiocese of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Imoo creates videos documenting each day’s events. His low-key, humorous approach offsets his occasional lack of footage.  He peppers his videos with references to Lent, and he often includes his family. In his Feb. 14 video, the family goes to downtown Vancouver and has photos taken with a 1976 skiing gold medalist; Feb. 16 they investigate the sport of curling .

Be patient; sometimes the best footage is a minute or two in. My favorite: Feb. 17 he teaches viewers the actual words to the Olympic theme song.

Pope to canonize Mary MacKillop, Andre Bessette Oct. 17

(CNS/Nancy Wiechec)

UPDATE: Click here for full story.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI announced this morning that he would canonize Blessed Mary MacKillop of Australia and Blessed Andre Bessette of Canada, along with four others, at the Vatican Oct. 17.

The announcement came at the end of a “public ordinary consistory,” a very formal ceremony attended by cardinals present in Rome.

(CNS/St. Joseph's Oratory)

Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, read brief biographies of the soon-to-be saints in Latin. And, still in Latin, he asked the pope to formally inscribe the six in the “album of saints.”

The pope responded in Latin, asking for the consensus of the cardinals present. Then he proclaimed — still in Latin — that the canonization ceremony would be Oct. 17.