Viva il Papa! I’m relieved and happy to have a new Holy Father and especially to have one named for one of my favorite saints, St. Francis of Assisi, although because Pope Francis is a Jesuit I suppose it could be St. Francis Xavier. I was at work in the Pastoral Center when the white [...]
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Worlds Collide – Scot and Fr. Roderick in St. Peter’s Square
I can’t tell you how surreal it is to listen to Fr. Roderick’s Catholic Insider podcast and hear my boss, Scot Landry, talking to Father about how our Catholic Media office at the Archdiocese of Boston is covering the papal transition. Eight years ago, I was listening to this quirky podcast by this Dutch priest [...]
The Church should sell all her priceless art… Then what?
When I hear and read people write something like, “They should sell the paintings in the Sistine Chapel and give the money to the poor,” I wonder, Who are we supposed to sell them to? (Not to mention, they’re not paintings, but frescoes painted on the walls.) Nevermind that these were painted for the Glory [...]
Don’t miss the White Smoke
Now that the date for the conclave to begin has been set, next Tuesday, March 12, people are trying to figure out how they can be sure not to miss the black smoke/white smoke.[1] Even though this is the first social media conclave and the moment a puff of smoke appears out of the Sistine [...]
Sede Vacante
It was an historic day for the Church and for the whole world. The See of Peter has been voluntarily vacated only a handful of times in 2,000 years and rarely with such peace and universal goodwill toward the man who was Pope. The sight of Pope Benedict flying away in his helicopter and then [...]
An introvert’s embrace of the cross
From his last General Audience, Pope Benedict offers essentially a guide for all those introvert mothers, fathers, priests, religious and bishops, called to minister to others when all they really want is to retreat to a private place for prayer, for reading, for some blessed time alone. It is the Way of the Cross for [...]
Happy Memory
As we approach Pope Benedict XVI’s final day as Supreme Pontiff and Bishop of Rome, my attention was called back to the day he was elected, April 19, 2005, by Kelly Thatcher, who somehow resurrected what I wrote on that day. (Somehow, because in the transition to WordPress, that was one of the posts regrettably [...]
26 Years of World Youth Days
I traveled to World Youth Day Paris in 1997 and World Youth Day Rome in 2000. I have so many good memories of World Youth Day. This summer I will be going again as part of my job, traveling with the pilgrimage from the Archdiocese of Boston, covering the pilgrims through the new media, letting [...]
Pope asks bloggers to give the Internet a soul
Pope Benedict on Saturday, in an address to participants in a Vatican conference on new media, asked bloggers to give the Internet a soul. “Without fear we must set sail on the digital sea facing into the deep with the same passion that has governed the ship of the Church for two thousand years. Rather [...]
Goring someone else’s ox
So, according to the liberal media and various left-wing and Catholic-hostile punditry, if the Pope is supposed to excommunicate (or keep excommunicated) public figures who hold views that are antithetical to the Catholic faith (i.e. anti-Semitism), would those same journalists and pundits be consistent with others who hold views that are antithetical to the Catholic [...]
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