A man I know said to me yesterday that I must be outraged about what Pope Francis is saying. I inwardly rolled my mind’s eye. Let me just tell you who this guy is. He’s a professed non-believer. A former Catholic. The worst kind, right? And he’s a bit in your face about it too, Read more
Tom Leopold is a very funny guy. He’s also a Catholic. He has been funny longer than he has been a Catholic. But being a Catholic doesn’t stop him from being funny. “I can’t go more than two lines without getting a laugh,” Leopold told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from New York. Read more
The resignations of two bishops on child sex abuse allegations in the past six weeks and the Vatican’s handling of these latest cases has again prompted questions on how the world’s oldest monarchy handles controversy: It ignores it. In both cases – a nuncio to the Dominican Republic and, most recently, an auxiliary bishop in Read more
As a practicing Catholic working in the media, perhaps the five most frightening words I hear are “Pope Francis gave an interview.” They aren’t scary because of anything Pope Francis actually says; the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio spent decades choosing his words carefully as an Argentine priest and then prelate of Buenos Aires, emphasizing the Read more
This is not a particularly successful season for converts to Christianity. Often more respect is shown to those who “dialogue” from outside of the Church than to those who embrace the Christian faith and ask for baptism. But it is also true that conversions to Catholicism are more numerous than one might think. Departing from Read more
The Catholic Church will “fall like a house of cards” unless its leaders are able to strike a “new balance” between their political activities and their spiritual mission, Pope Francis said in an unprecedented 10,000 word interview. The pope declared himself to be “a sinner” in the literal sense, adding that it is “the most Read more
New Friends and Old Sometime in August our staff Josephine and I attended a Boroko Rotary Club dinner and made a presentation on the work of WeCARe! It went over very well and the club is very interested in helping us. They have already given us a handsome donation which is very welcome, and told Read more
As it’s come to be understood in the 21st century, the papacy is really an impossible job. A pope is expected to be the CEO of a global religious organization, a political heavyweight, an intellectual giant, and a media rock star, not to mention a living saint. Any one of those things is a life’s Read more
Cardinal Timothy Dolan last week said the “sinful” behavior of some clergy and other high-ranking Church officials has caused some of the faithful to declare themselves former members of the Catholic Church. Dolan, former archbishop of Milwaukee, made the comments during his first appearance in the city since the archdiocese released the personnel files of Read more
The Catholic Church has become increasingly troubled by the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East, a Catholic news editor said. Father James Mulford, publisher of Zenit News Agency, told NewsMax that the violence in the Middle East has become “a major concern” for the Church. “It’s a major concern and Pope Francis and Read more