New Advent

Pope's Wednesday audience: The Holy Spirit gives us unity and courage, but we must pray to Him

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In our catechesis on the Creed, we now pass from the article on the Holy Spirit to that on the Church, “one, holy, catholic and apostolic”. The Holy Spirit and the Church are in fact inseparable. The Spirit enlivens and guides the Church, and each of us within the Church, to carry out Christ’s mandate to make disciples of all peoples. He opens minds and hearts to the beauty and truth of the Gospel. The Spirit overcomes selfishness and division, creating unity, communion, reconciliation and love. The Spirit also instils the strength needed to bear courageous witness to the Risen Christ; he is the spirit of mission and evangelization. The fire of the Holy Spirit was sent down upon the Apostles at Pentecost in answer to their fervent prayer; ardent prayer in the Spirit must always be the soul of new evangelization and the heart of our lives as Christians. Let us renew each day our trust in the working of the Holy Spirit, open our hearts to his inspiration and gifts, and strive to be signs of unity and communion with God in the midst of our human family.

"The Coffinmaker": A powerful Memento Mori and winner of Vimeo's Staff Pick award

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Every year, Americans bury enough metal in the ground to rebuild the Golden Gate Bridge, says Vashon Island coffin maker Marcus Daly. His simple, handcrafted wooden coffins are an economical and environmentally friendly burial alternative. But Daly believes a coffin's most important feature is that it can be carried. Here's why.

The last days of Zach Sobiech (1995-2013)

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

Zach Sobiech is a 17 year old who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. With only months to live, Zach turned to music to say goodbye. Zach turned 18 years old on May 3. He died two weeks later and his funeral is scheduled for May 23 at the Church of St. Michael in Stillwater, Minnesota.

Help! My kids still aren't Catholic!

long@NULL.COM (Fr. Dwight Longenecker)

An earlier post this week with a similar title evoked the most passionate comments I’ve had on a post for a long time. I suggested that one of the reasons why Catholic kids leave the church is that our catechism and worship styles and preaching for the past fifty years did not prepare them for the rigors and demands of a fully Catholic life. I would like to add to that. There is another huge contributing factors to the hemorrhage from the Catholic Church.It is indifferentism, and the indifferentism has three aspects. First is the aspect that it doesn’t really matter what church you go to. You wouldn’t believe the number of potential convert clergy who are told by a Catholic priest to stay where they are in the Protestant denomination and “work for church unity.”

The fable of Can and Could

tras@NULL.COM (Stacy Trasancos)

This story won’t be new to anyone who has read the 1890 elementary textbook, Catholic National Reader, Book Four, but since that number of people may not be very great in 2013, I want to share a charming, poignant story about two people named Can and Could. I took some liberties for brevity. Could held himself in great esteem, and was always dreaming. “If I were rich, I could…” He felt blessed with a benevolent disposition, and in his imagination he thought of a great many projects for doing good on a grand scale. Can was a simple young woman, not great or so well-dressed. She went about her life neither sauntering nor scheming far into the future. She scarcely knew what a project was.

From the heart of the storm, God has no platitudes, but He offers His participation in the sufferings of the world

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Out on a wandering-wondering walk this mourning morning I was musing, pondering the ways of God in a broken, battered, and sin-bashed world. Where was God in the whirlwind? Why couldn’t the God of the thunder and storm stop the terrible tornado? Why did the Lord of Heaven not give a haven for children? Where was the Harrower of Hell and why did he not halt the hailstones and horror that has hit Oklahoma? No human has a heart if he has not asked these questions of God. Ever since Job challenged the Almighty, the human mind and heart have demanded an answer. Any merely human being must shake the fist and howl, “How can a loving and all powerful God allow such terrible suffering?”

Is your city on this list? Here are OSV's Top 10 Catholic Cities in the United States...

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Ready for some Catholic sightseeing? Based on culture, history, physical landscape and spirituality, the following list of Top 10 U.S. Catholic Cities — listed in no particular order — highlights American hubs with a Catholic pulse. Each location, whether it be large or small, east or west, contributes to the richness of Catholic life in America. Should these locations be next door, across the state or across the country, OSV Newsweekly hopes this list will prove useful and inspiring when it comes to incorporating the Faith into your travel plans this summer.

Pope makes fourth appeal for Oklahoma tornado victims

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As he hosted his weekly Wednesday audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis made his fourth appeal for prayer for the victims of the tornado that killed 24 people in Oklahoma. Before he greeted all of the English-speaking people at the May 22 general audience, Pope Francis invited everyone present to pray for those who were killed or injured by the May 20 tornado that ravaged the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore. The death toll was originally reported as 91 people, including 20 children, but subsequent counts showed that some casualties were counted twice in the chaos. According to the state’s chief medical officer Doctor Eric Pfeifer, the correct number of dead stands at 24, with nine of those being children.

Are men born to cheat?

held@NULL.COM (Brianna Heldt)

Of all the things I’ve seen around the interwebz recently, this video clip might just be the most troubling. Basically, a woman wrote to notorious evangelical Pat Robertson and expressed that she was struggling to forgive her husband for cheating on her. Then Pat essentially equivocated cheating with being a man, shared some semi-decent advice about attempting to fall in love with him all over again, and went on to say that “like it or not, men have a tendency to wander.” While there is obviously truth to the idea that pornography and temptation lurk most everywhere and that men, generally more visually stimulated than women, are particularly vulnerable to it, Pat’s words represent a worldview where men are nothing more than helpless and pitiable victims, while women are left to play the supporting and passive-aggressive role of making home a place from where men don’t want to wander.

The argument today isn’t about assimilation. The argument today is about who “gets” America...

weig@NULL.COM (George Weigel)

With his new book, American Church: The Remarkable Rise, Meteoric Fall, and Uncertain Future of Catholicism in America, mild-mannered Russell Shaw has become the bull in the china shop of U.S. Catholic history, knocking heroes off pedestals and overturning conventional story-lines—all in aid of trying to understand why the Church in America is in a precarious position today vis-à-vis the ambient public culture and the government. Shaw’s answer: We’re in deep trouble because of a longstanding U.S. Catholic determination to be more American than thou—to disprove ancient charges of Catholicism’s incompatibility with American democracy by assimilating so dramatically that there’s no discernible difference between Catholics (and their attitudes toward public policy) and an increasingly secularized, mainstream public opinion.

10 things you need to know today: May 22, 2013

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A Senate committee approves immigration reform, Anthony Weiner launches his political comeback bid, and more

"The Lord redeems all of us. Even the atheists..."

thav@NULL.COM (John Thavis)

One of the hallmarks of Pope Francis’ still-young pontificate is its emphasis on non-exclusivity. He seems convinced that the church, in what it says and does to promote the Gospel, must broaden its appeal and expand its dialogue with others. At this morning’s morning Mass in the Vatican guest house, the pope elaborated on that theme, saying that “doing good” is a principle that provides a meeting ground between Christians and non-Christians – even atheists.

Appeals court strikes down Arizona law banning abortions at 20 weeks

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

After a federal judge upheld an Arizona law that bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, one of the most liberal appeals courts in the nation has struck is down. In July 2012, a federal judge in Arizona issued a ruling upholding that state’s new law that goes into effect on Thursday and bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The ACLU sued to stop the law after legislators passed the bill to ban abortions after that period of time except in very rare cases of medical emergency. The bill also requires abortion facilities to allow women to have an ultrasound of their unborn baby at least 24 hours prior to having the abortion. In many cases women change their minds about a planned abortion after seeing the images of their developing child.

I was in legislative session at the Oklahoma state capitol when the sirens went off

hami@NULL.COM (Rebecca Hamilton)

We were in legislative session when the sirens went off. For the first time that day, the room fell silent. It was the kind of bottom-dropping out, free-fall silence that occurs when people face their omnipresent dread. Tornadoes are an omnipresent dread in Oklahoma. Their unpredictability, coupled with their potential for absolute deadliness are the source of our nightmares. I don’t personally know a single native-born Oklahoman who does not have tornado nightmares. Fear of these things is drilled into us from birth.

Man kills himself inside Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

A 78-year-old man has killed himself inside the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in the French capital, police say, causing its evacuation. The man pulled out a shot-gun and shot himself through the mouth beside the main altar shortly after 16:00 (14:00 GMT). He has been named as Dominique Venner, an award-winning far-right historian. Mr Venner had recently been involved in the campaign against the government's decision to legalise gay marriage.

The suicide of Dominique Venner

pets@NULL.COM (Edward Peters)

Suicide—whatever mental/emotional problems induce some to commit it and which might even mitigate its culpability—is objectively a gravely evil action (CCC 2280-2283) and may never be licitly chosen. When committed in a sacred place such as a church or shrine, suicide effects the “violation” of that space and divine worship (as opposed to personal prayers) may not be offered there until the place is rehabilitated in accord with canon and liturgical law (1983 CIC 1211, olim 1917 CIC 1172; see also 1983 CIC 1376).

It's ordination season all over the world. Here's what it looks like in the Archdiocese of Denver...

demo@NULL.COM (Seth DeMoor)

The exciting proposition of these seven men entering the priesthood is their future spiritual and apostolic impact throughout the Archdiocese. And how many young men will they inspire to discern, pray, and consider God’s vocation to the sacrament of Holy Orders? Through God’s grace, the fruits of World Youth Day 1993 will continue to pour forth through young men planting their standards in the ground for Christ and His Church.

The new “hookup feminists” have become the shallow, insincere, career-fixated, people-users that early feminists decried

scal@NULL.COM (Elizabeth Scalia)

The sexual revolution promise that women could “have it all” has always been oddly paradoxical: It encouraged women to find their best selves by aping men and conforming to traditionally male valuations of worth and relevance. Mistaking the word “equal” for the word “same,” these “hookup feminists” have become precisely the shallow, insincere, career-fixated, people-users that early feminists decried. From spare button-down shirt in the office, to meaningless sex, Don Draper has not disappeared; he has just changed his name to Donna. Women replace men, but the story—contra Schakowsky—stays the same.

"Someone was waiting for me, and something changed in me": On Pentecost, Francis offers a manifesto to the Church...

palm@NULL.COM (Rocco Palmo)

On the Vigil of Pentecost, before a crowd of more than 200,000 in St Peter's Square and halfway down the Via della Conciliazione, the 266th Pope gave the Church what, in essence, has proven to be his first encyclical. For close readers, a good number of the points are already well-familiar – Papa Francesco tends to recycle content far more eagerly and often than his predecessors, but does so that the message might be unmistakable and impossible to avoid. Still, in a 38-minute, mostly off-the-cuff response to several questions put to him – a nod to the teaching format in which his predecessor famously shone – starting from his own conversion story, Jorge Bergoglio laid out the full spread of his impressions on the state of the church, and his vision for the road ahead, tying together in the process the threads which have marked his two months on Peter's chair.

The air travel rights you aren't aware of (and how to get them)

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If you've ever sat in a plane on the tarmac only to have the flight cancelled, been bumped just before boarding, or landed at your destination only to be told your luggage will arrive sometime in the next 12 hours, you know how air travel can suck. In all of those cases, the airline owes you for your trouble. Sometimes it's good customer service, and other times it's the law. Here are some of the legal rights you may not know you have, and how to go about filing your claims or getting what's due to you if you've been wronged.

That’s one very, very poor headline about the Pope

matt@NULL.COM (Terry Mattingly)

As I have stressed many times here at GetReligion, it’s important for readers to understand that reporters rarely write the headlines that accompany their stories. Editors and specialists at copy desks write the headlines. It’s tough work, and I say that as someone who did that job for several years early in my career. A good headline can really help a story. A bad one can warp the framework in which the reader encounters the ideas and fact in the text. Alas, that’s just the way the business works.

14 simple ways to get considerably more done

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

We all do things that have more to do with ego than results. Maybe you serve on a committee because you like how it looks on your CV. Maybe you teach at a local college because you like the words “adjunct professor.” Or maybe, like me, you write a weekly column for your local newspaper mostly because you like when people recognize you at the grocery store. The things you do mostly for ego are mostly a waste of time. Think about something you do mainly because it makes you look important, smart, or cool. If it provides no other “value,” drop it. I’m dropping my weekly newspaper column.

The Sistine Chapel "has become a haven for pickpockets", tour guides warn

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Thefts in the 15th century chapel and in the adjoining Vatican Museums have led some tour guides to threaten to call a strike in protest, a month after a similar gesture by their counterparts at the Louvre. Thousands of tourists visit the chapel inside the Vatican each day but as they crane their necks upwards to marvel at Michelangelo's magnificent ceiling and frescoes by Botticelli and Pinturicchio, they make easy pickings for light-fingered thieves. Visitors mesmerised by the Renaissance master's depiction of God giving life to Adam and other Biblical scenes often pay little regard to their wallets, purses and bags.

Six questions to help you conquer crazy-think and make good decisions

fulw@NULL.COM (Jennifer Fulwiler)

I don’t do suffering well. Some generous people said that they thought I handled the pulmonary embolism thing gracefully, but they would have retracted all of that and slowly backed away in fear if they could have heard my inner dialogue, and sitting in a quiet hospital room and listening to my iPod didn’t exactly make me St. Josephine Bakhita. Also, it’s usually the little trials that throw me for a loop more than the big ones: I can kind of go with the flow when major medical procedures go awry, but getting interrupted 50 times when I thought I might actually get ten freaking minutes to write a blog post sends me into an abyss of despair that makes me angrily question whether there is anything good in the human experience.

Why we should be cautious about using the Big Bang argument

akin@NULL.COM (Jimmy Akin)

Since it was proposed by Fr. Georges Lematre,the Big Bang has been common in discussions of the existence of God. The reasons are obvious. The Big Bang looks like a plausible beginning for the physical universe. Things that begin need causes. The beginning of the physical universe would need a cause, which would seem to lie outside the physical universe. This coheres well with the Christian claim that God is a non-physical being who created the physical universe.

What do Catholics have to believe about Adam and Eve?

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

One of the interesting things about conducing a parish mission is how many people stay behind to ask really probing questions. Last evening here in Indianapolis a man named Frank asked me if it was wrong not to believe certain things the church teaches. He’s a scientist and he said he simply can’t accept the story of Adam and Eve. He asked if it was true that the church expects us to believe in a historical Adam and Eve. So I explained the difference between a doubt and a difficulty. A difficulty is when you are confronted with something seemingly incredible or impossible and you say, “How can that be?” You retain curiosity and open and enquiring mind. That’s OK. A doubt is when you are confronted with the incredible or impossible and you say, “That can’t be.” At that point you’ve closed your mind and cut off enquiry and possible solutions to the problem. Difficulties with the faith are not only permissible, they are to be encouraged because it is through facing the difficulties that we think through our faith and discover solutions. The mindset of “How can that be?” is full of wonder and trust and most of all–open mindedness. Doubt is negative, self righteous and closes down.

If more Catholic universities were Catholic, the earth would be ablaze with the truths of our faith

mccl@NULL.COM (Fr. C. John McCloskey)

In May comes graduation days. Commencement time offers a moment for reflection on the purpose of higher education — especially in our Catholic universities. And every year we watch the Catholic universities to see who the commencement speakers are, and we dissect the ways they honor or detract from a university’s mission. What a Catholic university’s mission should be is an oft-debated topic, but we needn’t look far to find a guide to measure our critique.

Vatican spokesman denies media reports, says Pope Francis did not conduct public exorcism on Pentecost

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

Pope Francis did not perform an exorcism when he prayed over a young disabled man in St. Peter’s Square on Pentecost Sunday, according to the Vatican’s spokesman. “The Pope had no intention of doing an exorcism, so it is absolutely false that this has been done. He simply prayed for the sick person,” Vatican press office director Father Federico Lombardi told CNA May 21.? The idea that Pope Francis performed an exorcism was fueled by a video posted online by channel TV2000, which is overseen by the Italian bishops’ conference.

Here's further proof that the Episcopal Church is bonkers

fish@NULL.COM (Simcha Fisher)

I'm not even kidding. If you read your bishop's sermon and a cold horror came creeping over your mind, please remember: the Catholic Church is here. We will always be here. We will always be waiting. We have a couple of insane bishops, too, but they hardly ever get interviewed by the New York Times, and many of them are actually decent scholars, and faithful and courageous guys. And I guarantee you, none of them sign their letters with "Shalom" because they think it means "community." I mean.

Did God send the tornado? The problem of natural evils...

mars@NULL.COM (Taylor Marshall)

When a person murders another person, there is outrage. Many ask, "How could God allow this?" Yet there remains an implicit understanding that humans have free will. When a murderer kills another human, we blame the murderer. But what about natural evils? Natural disasters? A tornado that kills children does not have free will. A tsunami does not have free will. A virus or cancer does not have free will. All these forces kill people. Why? Why would a good God allow this?

Pope Francis: "I am close to the families of all who died in the Oklahoma tornado, especially those who lost young children"

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

An EF-4 tornado (on the five-point Fujita scale) ripped through Moore, Okla., with winds up to 200 mph and a width of at least half-a-mile, reports CBS News. At least 51 people were killed, and the death toll is expected to rise. Among those are at least 20 children, and 50 of the 236 injured were also children. This is the fourth tornado to hit the Moore community of 41,000 since 1998. The tornado on Monday destroyed an elementary school, entire neighborhoods, the city hospital and many businesses.

"Help! My children aren't Catholic anymore"

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

I’m in Indianapolis Indiana leading a parish mission this week, and in the meet and greet session afterwards, the most common conversation I have is with middle aged women who say, “Father, what can I do, my children have stopped practicing the faith!” or they tell me how their children have married Mormons or Methodists or Baptists and left the Catholic Church.

See Mercury, Venus and Jupiter in the tightest night sky cluster until 2026

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

Cicadas aren’t the only scientific rarity expected this month. At the end of May three planets will be visible to the naked eye in one small area of the sky. The planets Mercury, Venus and Jupiter will form “the tightest gathering of three naked-eye planets that the world will see until 2026,” according to the venerable Sky & Telescope magazine. “Add the Earth under your feet, and you’re seeing half of the solar system’s planets at once,” Sky & Telescope senior editor Alan MacRobert said in a prepared statement.

15 wonderful hilltop towns and villages around the world

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

Hilltop towns and villages are picturesque settlements nestled into the hillsides or on top of hills. They often date from the Middle Ages, and the most common reason for such geographical position is the protection from the invaders. Fairy-tale look, medieval buildings, narrow winding streets and beautiful views of the surrounding valleys are just some of the reasons why these destinations are offered by many travel agencies.

Here is my prediction: Indiana's retreat from Common Core is the start of something big

NULL@NULL.COM (NAME)

Indiana has become the first state to retreat from the Common Core standards, as Governor Mike Pence has just signed a bill suspending their implementation. A great deal has been written and spoken about Common Core, but it is worth rehearsing the outlines again. Common Core is a set of math and English standards developed largely with Gates Foundation money and pushed by the Obama administration and the National Governors Association. The standards define what every schoolchild should learn each year, from first grade through twelfth, and the package includes teacher evaluations tied to federally funded tests designed to ensure that schools teach to Common Core.