Throwback Thursday: Opening Day 2019
Today was supposed to be MLB’s Opening Day. The Parade would start at Noon, and the Cincinnati Reds hosting the St. Louis Cardinals at 4:10 p.m.. The Forecast for today is amazing, partly to mostly cloudy, temps in the low 70’s! Life has changed for all of us, so patience …
Catholic agencies: Move refugees from Greece to avoid pandemic disaster
IMAGE: CNS photo/Elias Marcou, Reuters By Jonathan Luxmoore OXFORD, England (CNS) — Catholic aid agencies have urged the evacuation of Syrian war refugees from camps in Greece to "avert a catastrophe" from the coronavirus. "More than 42,000 people are trapped in hopelessly overcrowded camps and horrific conditions — there is …
Catholic at Home: Let No Soul Fear to Draw Near to Me
For the past few weeks, Jesus has repeatedly placed His Divine Mercy into my path: Initially through a close friend, then in my Bible study, and still again through a priest’s homily. When devotions show up over and over, it’s time to say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” Christ’s …
Parishes step up their social media efforts by posting online Masses
IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — When U.S. dioceses first announced they were not offering public Masses in an effort to curb the coronavirus, many dioceses promoted TV Masses broadcast in their areas or arranged to tape their own Masses …
Religious find inventive techniques of caring for community in isolation
IMAGE: CNS photo/Zoey Maraist, Arlington Herald By Chaz Muth WASHINGTON (CNS) — As people throughout the U.S. self-isolate and retreat from daily life amid the COVID-19 pandemic, priests and women religious have become beacons of hope globally as they mobilize in unconventional ways. From church parking lots to hospitals, the …
Priests: Celebrating Mass online with no congregants ‘odd,’ ‘weird’
IMAGE: CNS photo/Dave Hrbacek, The Cath By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) — Here is the church, and here is the steeple; Father says Mass, but where are the people? Imagine if you gave a Mass and nobody came. That’s an emerging reality for priests as the phenomenon of livestreamed, YouTubed …
Catholic Charities of Tennessee balances tornado recovery, virus response
IMAGE: CNS photo/Harrison McClary, Reuters By Theresa Laurence NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) — As Catholic Charities of Tennessee executive director Judy Orr leads her agency’s response to the deadly March 3 tornado, every plan must be vetted to comply with the latest precautions against the coronavirus pandemic. One of the chief …
Complaining, inertia are seeds of the devil, pope says
IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Many Christians are caught in a trap of complaining about everything and doing nothing about it, Pope Francis said in his morning Mass. The sin of sloth, marked by careless indifference, apathy and self-pity, is a "poison, a fog …
Time: Lockdown’s unexpected gift
IMAGE: CNS photo/Joanna Kohorst By Joanna Kohorst ROME (CNS) — I was video chatting with my childhood friend yesterday. We haven’t talked in almost a year and we were organizing a virtual happy hour with our high school friends. Why hadn’t we thought about doing this before? I told my …
Pope: Personnel, priests caring for COVID-19 patients are heroes
IMAGE: Fotogramma/IPA/ABACA via Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — With the number of priests and religious dying from coronavirus-related illnesses rising, Pope Francis offered his prayers for those who died after being infected helping COVID-19 patients and their communities. At least 50 priests, four nuns and at least …