In my corner of the Catholic Church–the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region generally, Brooklyn specifically–parish and church and monastery closings are practically part of our ritual. A big part of the problem is the vocations crisis, also the economic crunch, and to a degree church participation. But there is also the demographic shift–the United States has…

I’ve written about Anh (Joseph) Cao, the neophyte New Orleans Republican and former Jesuit seminarian who won a surprise victory over the once invincible but now disgraced (allegedly) Rep. Wiiliam Jefferson earlier this month in a storm-delayed Congressional election. Cao is an affecting mix of humility and politics, the latter informed but not dictated by…

Whether Maryknoll priest Fr. Roy Bourgeois has been excommunicated or not remains a mystery. As I wrote here, the Vatican told him to recant for supporting women’s ordination–and attending one last July–and at last word he had gone to Rome to plead his cause. Catholic World News and National Catholic Register think it’s a done…

The good news is that the Chicago-based publisher has offered “sincerest apologies” for the cover, which came out in the December edition, timed for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the Nativity–pretty much the Big Three for Mary. As Bruce Tomaso at the Dallas Morning News tells it: In its…

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