The Gospel passage for today Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Mark 7 24-30 deals with Jesus rsquo encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman whose Matthean parallel I blogged about on three different occasions last Lent here here and here In Mark rsquo s version as in Matthew rsquo

Lindsay Lohan the actress-cum-fashionista has posed provocatively on the cover of Purple a French fashion magazine to which--zut alors --my subscription just ran out as Jesus Christ nbsp H T to David Gibson at Politics Daily Sort of nbsp nbsp Ms Lohan is wearing a crown of thorns and nb

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes nbsp The first apparitions to St Bernadette Soubirous a poor girl living in Lourdes a small town in the High Pyrenees in Southern France began on this date 151 years ago nbsp

The current issue of The Tablet has an interesting article by Elena Curti about Pope Benedict rsquo s recent remarks to the Bishops of the United Kingdom regarding a proposed Equality Law The proposed law which is making its way through parliament would among other things remove the exemption r

The relationship of Jesus to the Torah the Law of Moses is a decidedly complex issue in general In the case of specifics such as the kosher or dietary laws it can be just as complex The Gospel reading for the Memorial of Saint Scholastica virgin February 10 Mark 7 14-23 is indeed complex

I resisted posting this for a few days nbsp It s absolutely brilliant but has some blue language up front nbsp So yesterday I consulted with two of our editors who said Are you kidding nbsp Post it nbsp Anyway nbsp cover your ears early on but enjoy this fantastic parody of the kind of

Former Governor Sarah Palin has become an object of criticism and ridicule for writing notes on the palm of her hand while giving a speech and interview in connection with the Tea Party convention Keith Olbermann on MSNBC went into paroxysms of laughter and hubris-filled disgust that made one quest

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp It will have blood they say blood will have blood nbsp nbsp nbsp nb

There s a nbsp lively discussion going on at Dotcommonweal on what the praise and critique of popes nbsp Initially the Rev Robert Imbelli professor of theology at Boston College and regular America book reviewer posted an excerpt from what nbsp Fr Imbelli nbsp found to be a nbsp moving tal

The Gospel reading for the Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Mark 7 1-13 nbsp raises the issue of tradition the theme of my last post on 1 Corinthians 15 1-13 but in this context it is raised in terms of condemnation At least a superficial or initial reading points to condemnation of

Here is Archbishop Rowan Williams in an extensive statement on religious freedom biblical literalism zealotry ordaining gays and lesbians and women the Christian concept of freedom and social rights as well as on nbsp divisions within the Anglican Communion nbsp This is from his presidentia

The last several years have been exceedingly unkind to Scientology In 2007 the Belgian State Prosecution Office announced that it thought the organization should be prosecuted for crime In late October 2009 a French court found Scientology France guilty of severe fraud in ldquo cheating rdquo

Hoy la traducci oacute n espa ntilde ola de My Life with the Saints llamada naturalmente Mi vida con los santos est aacute disponible Y cr eacute ame el espa ntilde ol en el libro es mucho mejor que el espa ntilde ol en este blogpost nbsp Espero que el libro pueda ayudar nbsp los muchos nbs

Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan is pushing back hard against the politicization of counter-terrorism efforts He especially objected to the recent controversy over the handling of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab the foreign national who tried to blow up a plane on Christmas Day as it landed

Took some last minute shuffling of flights owing to Washington winter storm wipeout and more is on its way but I have arrived at the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering The event brings together diocesan and parish-based directors and supporters of social justice and peace offices for some

Forgive the New York-centric nature of this post but the fate of St Vincent rsquo s Hospital has ramifications far beyond the isle of Manhattan Founded by the Sisters of Charity St Vincent rsquo s is the last Catholic hospital in the city and is now in danger of closing A local health care con

nbsp Hindsight isn rsquo t always 20-20 but often it is Now that the Democrats have lost their shot at a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate which is all it ever was really given the two independents and the pack of Blue Dogs they must be flagellating themselves over the obvious Before

Our latest video a modest proposal from Father Jim Martin on what to do with Wall Street bonuses is now up on our home page Have nbsp a look nbsp nbsp To subscribe to our videos visit our YouTube page Tim Reidy

The best part of last night rsquo s Super Bowl was the game But the ads and the ceremonies that peppered the televised spectacle were more instructive about the state of our culture and the verdict they rendered was decidedly mixed I am generally a fan of President Obama But I don rsquo t want

I caught just the tail end of this much-talked-about ad last night on the Superbowl nbsp It s simple and effective nbsp And I wonder How could anyone object to this nbsp Actually I would have preferred for it to have been even stronger on the pro-life message but maybe understatemen