Jim’s Easterpreneur cartoon made me smile. For a split second I thought I knew what it meant, momentarily forgetting that no creative work about the crucifixion is likely to be that easily tamed. Hoping for inspiration I carried it around in my diary but the wretched thing just kept slipping out of my grasp. Sometimes Read more
Holy Week and Easter has just been observed right around the world. The Atlantic has posted a picture gallery of 38 images depicting the different ways Easter has been observed. “Families attended church services, hooded penitents took part in processions, and children hunted for Easter eggs. In Catholic passion plays, participants depicted Jesus’ trial and Read more
Thousands of police were deployed in Indoneisa to ensure a peaceful Easter. In Jakarta a total of 4,313 police were deployed to secure 1,262 churches, while West Java deployed more than 8,000 officers across the province over the Easter period. Thousands of people attended services at Jakarta Cathedral in Central Jakarta. Services were performed three Read more
More than 3,500 adults were received into the Catholic Church in England and Wales last week. They included 1,397 catechumens, who had prepared to be baptised, and 1,843 candidates, who had already baptised in another Christian tradition. The largest numbers were in the dioceses of Westminster (734), Southwark (481), Brentwood (333), Birmingham (255) and Portsmouth Read more
During the pope’s Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square, a chocolate company in Northern Italy gave him a 551-pound chocolate egg. The massive, beautiful egg is hand-decorated and reaches more than seven feet high. The detailed egg not only includes various designs and small pink flowers, but also features the papal coat of arms.
The pope decided to donate the egg to the children living at a Rome detention center, Casal del Marmo Prison for Minors.
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The Christian faith faces many challenges – but that is what it is for. Easter is a unique expression of hope, of regeneration and of the triumph of life over death. It is not necessary to be an active Christian to gain some measure of inspiration and reassurance from this great festival that, for two Read more
This year the New Zealand Department of Labour inspected 64 shops nationwide over Good Friday and Easter Sunday, 41 of which were open and now face possible prosecution. This was more 2 than the number of shops prosecuted for opening at Easter last year and three more than 2010. Under the Shop Trading Hours Act Read more
President Obama hosted his third annual Easter prayer breakfast at the White House on Wednesday (April 4), saying that Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice during Holy Week puts the travails of his own life in perspective.
His five-minute mini-sermon provoked sympathetic laughter from the audience of about 150 clergy and other guests when he talked of the burdens of the presidency.
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Evangelisation is one of Hong Kong Cardinal John Tong’s key pastoral concerns, and fruit of his initiative saw 3,500 adult catechumens baptised as Catholics the Hong Kong diocese on Easter Saturday night. In his Easter letter, Tong thanked all those involved in bringing these people to baptism. In particular, he highlighted the important role catechists. Read more
Perhaps no period of the year — not even when Christmas is reduced to XMAS — tells us better how impoverished are the sad, searching celebrations presented as stand-ins for Passover and Holy Week. Like a journeyman basketball player who lacks the magic of Michael Jordan in his prime, these events, sent in as subs, Read more