Forty-five years ago, I wrote a parody of a then-popular Catholic hymn. The same parody works today: Be not ordained Priesthood is for men only Don’t follow me, for they will give you grief. We laughed then, but decades later, it is not very funny. In fact, it is rather tragic. What is tragic is Read more
We’ve just turned the page on the month of June, traditionally in some parts of the world, the time for priestly ordinations in many parts of the Catholic world. According to figures from the national bishops’ conference, the Church in France was ordained 122 new priests this summer – 77 diocesan and 45 from religious Read more
Pope Francis will ordain nine deacons to the priesthood at St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, 25 April. Among those who are to be ordained are Samuel Piermarini, who gave up a promising football career and Riccardo Cendamo, a former film director. Read more
Fr Matthew Hood of the Archdiocese of Detroit recently discovered that his baptism as an infant had been invalid when he watched a family video that showed Deacon Mark Springer saying, “We baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The Congregation for the Doctrine of Read more
The validity of some Dearborn, Michigan, parishoners’ sacraments has been called into question after one of its own priests invalid baptism! Father Matthew Hood learned that he was not a baptised Catholic earlier this month after watching a family video of his baptism and where some words were changed. The words used at his baptism Read more
An ordination to the priesthood and to the diaconate according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite will take place at St Benedict’s church in Newton, Auckland, in early October. NZ Catholic understands that Bishop Denis Browne, Emeritus Bishop of Hamilton, will ordain Deacon Roger Gilbride, FSSP, to the priesthood and Mr Brendan Boyce, Read more
Peter Trung Nguyen was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal John Dew at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Palmerston North last Saturday. The event had been postponed from April because of COVID-19 restrictions. And because COVID-19 Alert level remains at 2, numbers were still restricted. Nguyen said that while he was happy to Read more
About a quarter of all new Catholic priests in Europe are Polish, according to data from the Polish Institute for Catholic Church Statistics. Furthermore, since 2000 the statistics show a decline in the number of new priests in Poland, as well as a rise in the number of those leaving the priesthood. Around 350 new Read more
Six ordinations in a twelve-month period signals a positive new energy and life for the Catholic community of Westland, Canterbury and the Chatham Islands says the vocations director of the Christchurch diocese. On his website Food For Faith Fr John O’Connor was commenting on a feature in the Press about the recent ordinations in Christchurch. But Read more
The 175th Anniversary of the Catholic Church in Tonga was celebrated with a mass led by Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi at Pangaimotu Island. At this site a white cross that marks the place where the first mass celebrated in Tonga took place on 2 July 1842. Pangaimotu is a small island in the Tongatapu Read more