Nate Tinner-Williams has the scoop at Black Catholic Messenger: Pope Francis has declared as venerable Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, the Cuban-born foundress of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first Black Catholic religious order in the United States. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, published decrees on Thursday morning affirming the “heroic...
The month of June in American Catholicism these days is always a hoot and a half. Engaged couples often schedule their weddings for late spring or early summer, families with young children have them suddenly at home for summer vacation, lots of people go on pilgrimages to religious sites in the US and...
Late last week, in response to Archbishop Christophe Pierre’s address to the US bishops during their Spring assembly, Pillar editor Ed Condon was compelled to write not one, but two articles expressing his frustration with the nuncio’s address. The first appeared in an “analysis” article that questioned whether “Pierre’s synodality” has a future...
Today I have found myself absorbed in reading two new documents from the Vatican. The first is a new Apostolic Letter by Pope Francis about Blaise Pascal, released yesterday on the 400th birthday of the French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. Entitled “THE GRANDEUR AND MISERY OF MAN“ (a title that Catholic musician Matt...
“They were men of genius, but they had no perception of what is just and lawful in music; raging like Bacchanals and possessed with inordinate delights-mingling lamentations with hymns, and paeans with dithyrambs; imitating the sounds of the flute on the lyre, and making one general confusion; ignorantly affirming that music has no...
A reflection on the Readings for June 18, 2023, the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time In the first reading today, God tells Moses, “You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagles’ wings and brought you here to myself.” It is one of two...
Let no one take from you the glory of that rectitude in doctrine and fidelity in obedience due to the Vicar of Christ; among your ranks, let there be no room for that “free examination” more fitting to the heterodox mentality than to the pride of the Christian, and according to which no...
This week, Dominic and I give an update on Pope Francis’s health and his audience and travel schedule. Next, we discuss the message that the US papal nuncio, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, delivered to the US bishops gathered in Orlando this week. Finally, we touch on some of the highlights of the recent...
In an emphatic speech to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) this morning in Orlando, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, implored US bishops to revisit their understanding of the synodal path and the role of the Eucharist in evangelization. Against the backdrop of the ongoing synodal process initiated...
Trigger/Content warning: discussion of sexual and spiritual abuse, sexual content Because of the strength of its communities where people with and without intellectual disabilities live together, L’Arche has long enjoyed a first-rate international reputation. Thus, after the death of founder Jean Vanier in 2019, the revelations about his abusive relationships with non-disabled adult...
The Gospel reading on Tuesday of this week, the Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, was from Matthew 5:13–16. In this reading, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord tells his hearers, “Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” This...
In our previous article in this series on Union and Communion, “One Hand Clapping,” we took a look at a phenomenon that is becoming more and more widespread in our American society: social and personal isolation. The breakup of the family, the acceptance of drug use, the increase in homelessness, all these indicate...
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