California Gov. Newsom’s scrapping of holiday traditions earns him ‘Ebenezer Award’ 

Gov. Gavin Newsom was awarded the 2023 “Ebenezer Award” after cancelling traditional holiday celebrations. / Credit: Becket Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 19, 2023 / 16:00 pm (CNA). California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom received this year’s “Ebenezer Award” for being “the year’s biggest Scrooge” after canceling the state’s annual Christmas tree lighting festival and choosing to […]

Irish Diocese to Rely on Laity to Preside Over Funerals Amid Shortage of Priests

JohnArmagh|Wikipedia St. Macartan’s Cathedral in the Diocese of Clogher, in Northern Ireland. Laypeople will soon preside over funerals in 12 parishes in the diocese due to a shortage of priests. Bishop Duffy said the lay ministers will continue to be trained over the coming months and be commissioned to preside over funerals in their parishes.

The Ember Days Begin Tomorrow: a Time for Fasting

Tomorrow (Wednesday, Dec. 20) is one of the Ember Days. The Ember Days are days traditionally set aside for prayer and fasting — on a Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. There’s one set of Ember Days for each of the four seasons in the northern hemisphere. In this episode of The Download, hosts Bradley Eli, Rodney […]

Who’s saying what about ‘Fiducia supplicans’?

Reactions are emerging around the world to Monday’s declaration from the Vatican’s doctrine office on “the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples.” The 5,000-word document Fiducia supplicans caused immediate controversy when it was issued Dec. 18 because it gave the green light, with caveats, to the “spontaneous” blessing of couples in […]

Papal Power and the Obedience of the Faithful [Must Read]…

For Niccolò Machiavelli, Pope Julius II was the model Renaissance prince. He was highly intelligent. He was skilled at diplomacy, politics, and war. And he was a visionary patron of the arts. Julius was also, according to those who served him, intensely vindictive. He was moody, humorless, and coarse, with a violent temper. He had […]