News this morning from Rome about a “shadow synod” that is already working on the outcome of the Synod on the Family before it even begins: Italian journalist Marco Tosatti reveals that A SECRET PARALLEL SYNOD has been established in Rome, a cabal composed almost exclusively by Jesuits, with the occasional Argentinian presence (easy to…
My daughter has been bugging me for the past two days to get her one of the Lemony Snicket books for the book club she’s in. I’m a notorious procrastinator, so I hadn’t gotten to it yet, and then I read this: American author Daniel Handler, popularly known by his pen name Lemony Snicket, tweeted…
In my other piece today, I said that the “image of a Rorschach papacy upon which one can project whatever ideological alignment one wills if they only squint hard enough has become impossible to dismiss.” Now see this, from the Public Religion Research Institute: I haven’t had time to go through the rest of…
When I decided to publish Maureen Mullarkey’s essay, Notes on a Road Show, I had no idea that First Things editor R.R. Reno would make the decision to kill off Maureen’s entire blog. The piece first appeared there, but was soon thereafter taken down on Reno’s orders. Over the past year, Maureen and I have struck up a friendly correspondence based in…
Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon made an urgent appeal for prayers today for the upcoming Synod on the Family in Rome. Using his Facebook page to post the below message to the faithful, His Excellency asked that all “pray that God’s will be done at this Synod and that all the powers of the…
The road show is over. The spectacle flamed up and subsided, a Roman candle of demonic sanctimony. Think of it as pre-game warm-up for the main event: the global climate summit in Paris, November 30 to December 11. The Vatican is partnering with the Obama administration, at the U.N. and later in Paris, in magnifying…
Voice of the Family has the latest on the Filial Appeal to Pope Francis: A Filial Appeal signed by 790, 190 Catholics, including 201 cardinals, archbishops and bishops, has been submitted today to Pope Francis. The appeal calls on the Holy Father to say “a clarifying word” to dissipate the “widespread confusion arising from the possibility that…
As much as we’d like to catch our breath after last week’s papal media blitz (which we’re still processing), the Synod begins in just five days. It’s impossible to know for certain how things will play out, but with the list of synod appointees who openly defy Church teaching on sexuality, we can count on trouble. We know…
I received an email yesterday evening from Fr. Joshua Caswell of St. John Cantius in Chicago: We thought you would be interested to know that the major relics of St. Maria Goretti are currently touring the United States for the first time. St. John Cantius Church is hosting the relics for 24 hours on October 12.…
The anger one feels at the open and flagrant contempt on display for the Catholic faith from the highest echelons of the Church is perhaps matched only by the astonishing naivete of those members of the faithful who refuse to admit there is a problem. From the tepidity of the Catholic message during the papal visit…
It’s been a long media week already, and a story that is being buried under the papal visit coverage is one that came out yesterday from veteran Vatican-watcher Ed Pentin: Further serious concerns are being raised about Cardinal Godfried Danneels, one of the papal delegates chosen to attend the upcoming Ordinary Synod on the Family, after…
