If we want a pro-life message to be part of the conversation on environmental policy, then the Pope must speak.
Tag: pope francis
I’m speaking at the World Meeting of Families!
Good grief, I totally forgot to tell you!
Don’t ask me how, why, or how, but they asked me to give a presentation at one of the break-out sessions of the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in 2015. My fellow Catholic Patheosi Diana von Glahn and Greg Popcak will be there, too!
Look, I’m on the list and everything. Uhh, you may have to scroll down a bit, down to page fourteen, during the lunch hour on the last day, which is where they totally feature the crowd-grabbers. You’ll see it says that my topic is “Go Forth: Evangelization and the Global Community.” I think you’ll agree that this title, while certainly guaranteed to attract attention, sucks. I’m pretty sure that that’s not the title I submitted, but then again, I’m pretty sure I left my turkey sandwich on the kitchen counter, and where is it now, eh?
So, youse guys gotta help me come up with a better title. Remember, it has to do with families and evangelization, and it has to be about something that I can at least pretend to know about for about forty minutes, and the Pope is totally going to be there. Go!
Have you heard the latest about Cardinal Burke?
I haven’t, and I’ve made it a point not to know what’s going on.
Why not? Because it’s not important to me. Me, as a layman with a job and a family and a personal conscience that keeps me busy enough all by itself. And if you were honest, you’d admit that it really isn’t important to you, either — not unless you work directly for Burke, or are his personal friend and will miss him when he moves to sunny Malta, the lucky son of a gun. It only seems important if you are addicted to following all the ins and outs of a 24-hour religious news cycle that has about as much to do with the Gospel as the schematics for the HVAC system at the Metropolitan Opera House has to do with music.
At the Register: Why Does Francis Keep Kissing Hands?
Why would he do it? What message is he sending?
PIC prodigal son icon
At the Register: Doctrine doesn’t change over the phone
Ring-ring.
Hello?
Hi, it’s the Pope, and guess what? It’s OPPOSITE DAY!
From Conversations that didn’t, won’t, and wouldn’t happen, vol. 836
At the Register: Great New Children’s Book about the Papacy (updated with link this time!)
Our Holy Father, the Pope: The Papacy from Saint Peter to the Present would make a very good addition to the library of any Catholic child. Quick review here. This week or next, I’ll be doing a few more book reviews of some of the excellent children’s books coming out of Ignatius/Magnificat.
At the Register: Mother Church says, “Yes, you may.”
In which I remind us all that baptism is a beginning, not a trophy for winners; and in which I briefly long for an icon depicting Christ the Sneaker-Upper.
I wish I had worked this in, but do yourself a favor and read Max Lindenman’s short little jewel of an essay, “Catholics Do Not Throw People Away.”
At the Register: When it comes to building a community . . .
Prepare yourself . . .
for a lot of baleful head shaking over this story from Franciscophobes: Pope’s Sharp Words Make a Wealthy Donor Hesitate.
Because when people say, “Francis has made me interested in the Church again, and I’m thinking of going to Mass for the first time in twenty years!” then that’s proof that his kind of evangelization is shallow and meaningless. How do we know they’re the real deal? (After all, when Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes, and over 3,000 people were baptized that day, we know for sure that every last one those converts understood and were fully prepared to accept every tiny iota of the Gospel with no reservations and with complete and thorough fervor and sincerity.)
People returning to the sacraments? Pff. That’s the last thing we want. But we’re talking about losing money here, folks. MONEY. You see? You see how the corrosive influence of this hateful man is beginning to play out? Francis the Destroyer strikes again!!!!1!!
Pope calls sick traditionalist Catholic, says criticism “important”
From Rorate Caeli:
Mario Palmaro, the Italian traditional Catholic writer and journalist who has authored many books and articles together with his friend Alessandro Gnocchi … told Italian daily Libero about [the telephone call from the Pope]. In September and October, after a very critical article published in Il Foglio, Palmaro and Gnocchi were summarily fired by Catholic broadcaster Radio Maria after several years of work in the station.
Palmaro says:
“Pope Francis told me that he was very close to me, having learned of my health condition, of my grave illness, and I clearly noticed his deep empathy, the attention for a person as such, beyond ideas and opinions, while I live through a time of trial and suffering.”
“I was astonished, amazed, above all moved: for me, as a Catholic, that which I was experiencing was one of the most beautiful experiences in my life. But I felt the duty to remind the Pope that I, together with Gnocchi, had expressed specific criticisms regarding his work, while I renewed my total fidelity [to him] as a son of the Church. The Pope almost did not let me finish the sentence, saying that he had understood that those criticisms had been made with love, and how important it had been for him to receive them.” [These words] “comforted me greatly.”
Read the rest here.