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John Allen reports on the pope’s visit to Switzerland, the Bush-Pope meeting, and some other matters. Switzerland is a microcosm of the “ecclesiastical winter” besetting much of Europe. The country has a rich Catholic past, centered especially on famous monastic foundations such as the Abbey of St. Gall and Einsiedeln. Despite the impact of the…

The NYTimes looks at the return of crucifixes to the classrooms of some Catholic colleges By 1997, a student group at Georgetown was demanding that crucifixes, by then hung only in historic classroom buildings and each room of the Georgetown University Hospital, be placed back in every classroom. By 1999, there they were, though with…

Haven’t heard from him in a while – Henry Hyde shares his views Describing as distinctly unfortunate the fact that abortion has become the litmus test for Democrats, Hyde said that prestigious Catholics who propound it seem to intimidate some bishops and other leading figures in the church. Not long ago he attended a gathering…

By William Clark, in today’s NYTimes He consistently opposed federal support for the destruction of innocent human life. After the charter expired for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare’s ethical advisory board — which in the 1970’s supported destructive research on human embryos — he began a de facto ban on federal financing of…

Also from the Tablet, a brief account of a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago Most pilgrims have at least one story like that to tell, and confidence in Divine Providence is one of the many fruits of the camino. I walked a while with 67-year-old Walter, who had had a heart bypass operation last…

A writer at the UK Tablet is searching for the text of the 1998 ICEL translation of the Mass on the ‘net.

Grand jury has been getting busy In other cities and counties, prosecutors have wrapped up grand jury investigations by issuing scathing reports that provided damaging information about how church higher-ups had protected abusive priests. In three cases, however, prosecutors went beyond that, extracting admissions from top church officials. In the most dramatic outcome, the archbishop…

An interesting roundup of three news stories, including Hans Kung’s reaction to the Pope’s Swiss visit, the response of some Canadian bishops their church’s affirmation of same-sex unions, and the withdrawal of a large United Church of Christ from its denomination (which has been very liberal since the 70’s….don’t know what took them so long.)

Nice mention of my book as a bestseller in a SC article about the popularity of spirituality-themed titles

Friars hitching their way On the sun-baked sidewalk near an Interstate 581 entrance ramp, two Franciscan friars prayed for a ride Thursday afternoon as they waited in their woolen robes, thumbs in the air. They were on their way to Nicaragua from Emmitsburg, Md., where they started their journey Wednesday – without money or food.…
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