Thursday, February 23, 2006

Indiana nun moves closer to sainthood

From the Journal Gazette :

The 19th century foundress of a community of nuns in western Indiana has edged closer to Roman Catholic sainthood with the Vatican’s approval of a second miracle – the reputed curing of a man’s damaged eyesight.

Mother Theodore Guerin, who founded the Sisters of Providence community near Terre Haute, is credited with helping restore the eyesight of Phil McCord, an employee at the order’s mother house, Sister Ann Margaret O’Hara, the community’s general superior, said Wednesday.

“The Sisters of Providence have received the joyous news from the Vatican that the way is now open for the canonization of our foundress,” O’Hara said at a news conference. Guerin started the order in 1840.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

New Cardinals Named by Pope Benedict

You may notice that my "source" was wrong...

"The List" from WBSB:


Pope Benedict XVI named 15 new cardinals on Wednesday, 12 of whom are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect his successor. Here are the names of the new cardinals who will be elevated at a Vatican ceremony March 24:


_Monsignor William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

_Monsignor Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for the Institutes for Consecrated Life.

_Monsignor Agostino Vallini, prefect of the Vatican's Supreme Tribunal for the Apostolic Signatura.

_Monsignor Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino, archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela.

_Monsignor Gaudencio B. Rosales, archbishop of Manila, Philippines.

_Monsignor Jean-Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux, France.

_Monsignor Antonio Canizares Llovera, archbishop of Toledo, Spain.

_Monsignor Nicolas Cheong-Jin-Suk, archbishop of Seoul, Korea.

_Monsignor Sean Patrick O'Malley, archbishop of Boston.

_Monsignor Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, Poland.

_Monsignor Carlo Caffarra, archbishop of Bologna, Italy.

_Monsignor Joseph Zen, bishop of Hong Kong.

The three cardinals who are over 80 are:

_Monsignor Andrea Cordero Lanza Di Montezemolo, archpriest of the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls, in Rome.

_Monsignor Peter Poreku Dery, archbishop emeritus of Tamale, Ghana.

_Rev. Albert Vanhoye, the former Jesuit rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute and secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Say "Cheese"

Help Build a Catholic Boarding School for Girls

in Kenya...see Because of Elizabeth and read how the death of a child has sparked a movement.

New Cardinals, What to Watch For

Tomorrow, Pope Benedict XVI is expected to name a list of new cardinals for a consistory to be held on March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation. Much speculation on who will be on this list and it may be a telling point as to where the pope is headed with reference to the curia.

What if no one on the curia is named a Cardinal?

The pope has shown that he is an enemy of careerism and this would be seen as a concrete way of taking away the carot from the center of careerism.

Expect to be surprised by this pope.

Update (2/21/06, 13:55): Hearing the only American will be Archbishop Levada, no for Boston.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Rachel Weeping for Her Children

The Joyful Mysteries of the rosary and the horrible experience of a bad marriage and an abortion detailed in the life of Jennifer here. Amy had blogged earlier last week a link to Jennifer's other experiences on her way back to her Catholic Faith.

Fr. Benedict with the Trappists

In Genesee, NY...

From the CFR Homepage:

I recently spent a beautiful week at Our Lady of the Genesee Abbey in Piffard, New York giving a retreat to the Trappist Community there. It was a beautiful experience. The chanting of the office, the silence of the monastery and the good cheer of the monks were all a shot in the arm, which I very much needed.



Of course this particular monastery was known for years for producing Monk’s bread. This used to be sold in the New York area, but the demand was so great in their own area that it’s no longer available in ours. One morning we were given a tour of the baking plant, which is clearly quite remarkable. It produces almost fifty thousand loaves of bread every week, all of them sealed in a beautiful plastic bag. There were complicated machines and huge caldrons of dough rising all over the place. Both the retired Abbott and the present Abbott could be seen working in the bakery. It is very encouraging to know that the Trappist life, which we all admire from a distance, is really going on and being lived in these difficult times. I asked the monks to pray fervently for the church, the bishops, the priests, deacons and seminarians and for religious orders. Some of the monks are on in years and are obviously great prayers. One of the monks, Father Thomas, is just approaching his hundredth year.


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