Patrick Madrid along with Father John
Zuhlsdorf will be conducting a
9 day Pilgrimage to Italy from Oct 31 to Nov 8 of this year.
Here is a PDF file with the details.
Patrick’s site is here.
Category:
News
Here is an article on former
Methodist minister and still talk show host Allen Hunt who came into
the Church earlier this year. I have listened to his show
over the last two years if I had happened to be driving when it was on
and had enjoyed it, though was quite surprised when he announced he was
becoming Catholic. It is always interesting to note in some
of these stories how earlier encounters and influences set the seeds
for their conversion.
In advance of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit
to New York City from April 15-20, SIRIUS Satellite Radio is launching
the Papal Archives Channel, devoted to comprehensive programming of
Papal history as well as live coverage. From the press release:
”The Papal Archives Channel will air Monday, April 14 through Sunday,
April 20 exclusively on SIRIUS channel 119, showcasing rare archival
recordings of Masses and speeches from historic Papal Visits — which
will include Pope John Paul II’s visits to the U.S. in 1979, 1987 and
1995 and Pope Paul VI’s visit to the U.S. in 1965. SIRIUS listeners
will also hear the earliest known audio of a Pope’s voice, an extremely
rare recording of Pope Leo XIII, the Holy Father from 1878-1903,
singing Ave Maria at the Vatican circa 1902.”
It is not exactly to my credit that I
found the Gobachev “secret Christian” story to be fishy, but …
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
made clear this past weekend that he is an atheist after European news
agencies last week claimed that he had confirmed his Christian faith
during a visit to the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi in Italy.
“Over the last few days some media have been disseminating fantasies �
I can’t use any other word � about my secret Catholicism, citing my
visit to the Sacro Convento friary, where the remains of St. Francis of
Assisi lie,” Gorbachev said, according to an Interfax article posted
Friday.
“To sum up and avoid any misunderstandings, let me say that I have been
and remain an atheist,� he stated.
There has been a lot of attention paid to
the Pope’s baptism of Magid Allam the deputy editor of the Corriere
della Sera newspaper who has converted to the Catholic Church.
I found this though quite interesting.
“Undoubtedly the most extraordinary and
significant encounter in the decision to convert was that with Pope
Benedict XVI,” Allam said. He said he admired the pope for his skill
in laying out the relationship “between faith and reason as the basis
of authentic religion and human civilization.”
Many news sources have called him a Muslim commentator in his role as
editor. Though by his own account he has never been a
practicing Muslim and was educated in Egypt at a Catholic boarding
school and later on attended the La Sapienza University of Rome.
I find his attended this university in light of recent
protests rather ironic considering his stated reason for his
conversion. His parents were both Muslims, but it seems a
stretch as so many headlines stated that a “prominent Muslim” came into
the Church.
There has also been a lot of commentary for the very public nature of his entering the Church. Some believe that the Pope is sending a message by doing so. Though it seems to me that the Holy Father is not the type to use a baptism in this manner.
Science Fiction writer John C. Wright will
be entering the Catholic Church this Easter. I have been
wondering where his religious leaning were since his defense of
Christianity sounded so grounded in Catholic thought. As a
former atheist I always rejoice when another former atheist joins the
Church (God is so good!).
Since Mark Shea first linked to one of
John C. Wright’s blog posts I have been a great fan of his blog from
such fun as the Space Princess movement, his posts on SF, and the ones
specifically addressing morality and Christianity. I have
read all of his books which I greatly enjoyed and look forward to his
new book which
I have pre-ordered.
0
For my Protestant friends, all I can do
is
assure you that that Church you broke away from in centuries past has
been reformed of the abuses you complained of at that time. The Pope no
longer sells indulgences. The theological differences are minor enough
that Christly love, if you imitate His love, will cover them. I was
raised Lutheran, and drank in anticatholicism with my mother’s milk, so
I assure you I am aware of most or all the objections, subtle and
obvious, which you consciences in good faith might raise. The shock
that came to me when I looked into Catholicism is that the Catholics do
not teach what my teachers told me they teach. In any case, Protestant
friends, I will be closer to you than I was when I was an atheist, so
please consider this progress.
For my pagan friends, rejoice! My Protestant friends tell me my
Catholic friends are pagans anyway! So I will be closer to you than I
am now. And there is certainly some truth in the idea that Catholicism
is a child of Jewish and Hellenic thought: the ancient civilization of
Europe is still alive in the Catholic Church. If you worship Brigit,
and I revere St. Brigit, this will be a common bond between us.
For the Atheist friends, give thanks! You may think of Catholicism as
the most backward and obscurantist of the Christian sects. Not so! Not
only does the Catholic Church acknowledge Darwinian evolution, the
approach of at least some of the writers (St. Aquinas, for example, or
St. Justin Martyr) is as rigorous and as rational as even the best of
atheist writers, and darn mile more clear and rational than the worst
of atheist writers (who are the only ones we hear about these days).
Catholicism, in many of its branches, is not given to the religious
enthusiasms of revivalism that so many atheists find disquieting.
(Whether this lack of revivalism is a good thing or not, I leave for
the reader to decide. Certainly more enthusiasm and crusading spirit
would not be a bad thing for this Church at this hour of history.)
Congratulations to:
The
New Liturgical Movement winner of Best Designed Catholic Blog
and Best Group Blog
Father
Z winner of Best Apologetic Blog, Best Overall Catholic Blog,
Most Informative and Insightful Catholic Blog, Smartest
Catholic Blog, Best Blog by Clergy/Religious/Seminarian, Best
Individual Catholic Blog, Most Spiritual Blog, and Best Written
Catholic Blog.
American Papist winner of Best Political/Social Commentary:.
Creative Minority Report winner of
Best New Catholic Blog.
And there is little ole me winner of Funniest Catholic Blog so don’t
tell me my negative campaign didn’t work out.
Congrats also to all the nominees this year and the blog awards site makes a
great page for checking out blogs you might not have been aware of.
Special thanks to Joshua LeBlanc of Cybercatholics.com who make the awards possible in the first place and of course all of the people who
take the time to nominate and vote for their favorite blogs.
We got to do something about the timing of the blog awards though.
Having it smack down in the middle of Holy Week just doesn’t work out
for me. I actually had to think humble thoughts and the size
of my head did not expand as much as in earlier years.
To Arthur C. Clarke who died today.
Thank you Mr. Clarke for
years of reading enjoyment.
Too bad the MSM as usual can’t get their
facts straight.
Clarke’s best-known novel, “2001: A
Space Odyssey,” became the basis of
the 1968 film of the same name, directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film
and the book elevated the plot’s mentally unbalanced computer, HAL
9000, into the pantheon of great fictional characters.
Sorry it was a short story and it was
called “The Sentinel.
Via Jeffrey Overstreet.
VATICAN CITYPope Benedict XVI on Saturday set the founder of the Knights of Columbus, one of the world’s largest lay Catholic groups, on the path to possible beatification and sainthood, the Vatican said.
The pope recognized the “heroic virtues” of the Rev. Michael J. McGivney, who in 1882 created a fraternal society for Catholic men who suffered discrimination because of their religion and immigrant origins.