A new Church position has been found for the so-called Bishop of Bling from Germany Pope Francis will reportedly appoint Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst to a new position with the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation. There has been no official confirmation of the appointment, but it appears Bishop Tebartz-van Elst will Read more
Charged by Cardinal Francis George with the vague task of “jump-starting evangelism” in Chicago’s archdiocese nearly a decade ago, the Rev. Robert Barron accepted the mantle with gusto — and in the process, became one of the country’s best-known priests. This year, his Word on Fire ministry plans to complete the first six episodes of Read more
There are three kinds of Christians that outsiders to the faith respect: pilgrims, activists, and artists. The uncommitted will listen to them far sooner than to an evangelist or apologist. So says Philip Yancy in the HuffingtonPost. He says he decide to write his book Vanishing Grace: What Ever Happened to the Good News? after reading Read more
Australian Cardinal George Pell has laid out what he sees as the tasks for Catholics leading up to the 2015 synod on the family. They are explaining “the necessity of conversion, the nature of the Mass”, and “the purity of heart the Scriptures require of us to receive Holy Communion”. The cardinal wrote this in Read more
An Australian married couple has told Pope Francis and bishops at the synod on the family that Catholic parishes should welcome gay couples. Ron and Mavis Pirola, who have been married for more than 50 years, told the synod how friends of theirs welcomed their gay son and his partner one Christmas. “The Church constantly Read more
Pope Francis has warned bishops not to accept priests just because there is a shortage of them in a diocese. In an address to the Congregation for Clergy on October 3, Pope Francis asked bishops to think of the good of the people of God and to study the itinerary of vocations carefully. Vocations are Read more
The first woman to be appointed to a Vatican congregation sees the move as a realisation of Pope Francis’s wish for more women in official Church positions. Sr Luzia Premoli, superior general of the Combonian Missionary Sisters, was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples on September 13. She told the Read more
The Catholic Enquiry Centre is New Zealand’s first Catholic organisation to adopt the new .nz domain name. Until yesterday the Catholic Enquiry Centre’s virtual home was catholicenquiry.org.nz however from around 1:15pm yesterday the New Zealand Catholic Enquiry Centre can be reached at www.catholicenquiry.nz. “It’s a positive way to brand the Centre”, Catholic Enquiry Centre Director, Fr Allan Jones Read more
Priests in England and Wales have been told to put up with noisy children at Mass, as Church leaders encourage more families to go to church on Sundays. Bishop Kieran Conroy, who chairs the England and Wales bishops’ evangelisation committee, said he “strongly discouraged” priests from intervening to prevent children talking during Mass. Bishop Conry, the Read more
The Archbishop of Wellington, John Dew has been selected as a participant in the of the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. The Synod will examine the Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the context of Evangelisation. More than 250 participants, including 14 married couples from around the world, are expected to Read more