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December 29, 2019
Fr. Pier Giorgio Di Cicco — Toronto’s former poet laureate, a writer and consultant on urban affairs, jazz trumpeter, ground-breaking literary critic and the author or editor of over 20 books — has died. He was 70.
Epiphany of the Lord, Jan. 5 (Year A) Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 32-3a, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12 Without hope people cannot survive. When we lose the will to live or fail to find any kind of beauty, purpose or blessing in life or the world around us, decline and disintegration will surely follow.
Earlier this month, I was reading about the fathers of three modern Irish literary geniuses — Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats and James Joyce — when I came upon a fascinating fact about Wilde’s mother.
December 30, 2019
WASHINGTON -- Two popes and multiple priests, cardinals and archbishops received part of $600,000 in financial gifts from former Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, who controlled a discretionary fund, according to a report published Dec. 27 by The Washington Post.
WASHINGTON -- Two Texas Catholic bishops offered words of condolence and prayers to the members and families of the victims of a church shooting in which two worshippers were killed.
WASHINGTON -- A host of voices from throughout the religious spectrum condemned the Dec. 28 knife attack at the suburban New York City home of a Hasidic rabbi that wounded five, one of them critically.
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis prayed that people all over the world would end 2019 "in peace, peace in their hearts," and that families would mark New Year's by "communicating with one another."
December 31, 2019
The crisis, the kairos moment, the crux of the matter, the hinge of history — none of these are easily discernible, usually. But for Catholics, this last decade has been unusual.
For sheer numbers, there has never been a decade like the 2010s for saint-making. That’s because Pope Francis canonized over 800 in one go when he declared St. Antonio Primaldo and his 812 companions (martyred in 1480 by an invading Ottoman army in Oranto, southern Italy) saints on May 12, 2013.
VATICAN CITY -- God sent his only begotten son into the world, where he continues to dwell in the hearts of men and women, "urging them to believe, to hope despite everything, and to love by working for the good of all," Pope Francis said.
LOS ANGELES -- An attorney who specializes in lawsuits for victims of clergy sexual abuse has announced plans to file 12 suits in nine California dioceses under California's new Child Victims Act, which takes effect Jan. 1, extending the state's statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse survivors.