To be added to Tuesday morning:<\/p>\n
Has the tomb of Herod the Great been found?<\/a><\/p>\n The Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced Monday night that it has uncovered the grave and tomb of King Herod, who ruled Judea for the Roman empire from circa 37 BCE. <\/p>\n According to a press release from the Hebrew University, the news of the archeological find at Herodium was to be announced Tuesday morning at a special news conference, and was to be kept secret until then, but the discovery by Haaretz of the story had led to the premature announcement.<\/p>\n The tomb was discovered by Hebrew University Professor Ehud Netzer, who is considered one of the leading experts on King Herod. Netzer has conducted archeological digs at Herodium since 1972 in an attempt to locate the grave and tomb<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n More from pun-loving Mike Aquilina.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Fr. Jim Tucker on the state of the Church in Brazil and, by extension, other places:<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Another problem is that many of the sects promise faith healings, prodigious wonders, blessings to get rich by, and other sorts of amazing things that naturally appeal to the poor and ignorant. The Washington Post recently had a piece<\/a> on one of the more disreputable of these outfits, which has opened a "mission" in Washington, DC. If that’s the sort of thing that floats your boat, or if you’re just desperate, then old-fashioned Catholicism probably seems pretty dull by comparison. Granted, there is now a large Catholic charismatic movement in many of those regions, appealing to many of those same desires for enthusiastic wonders, but I personally have many misgivings about that sort of thing, even in an authentically Catholic context. <\/p>\n A third thing that contributes to the hemorrhages is the proportion of laymen to minister. In my own parish of 10,000+ parishioners, it’s physically impossible for the three priests here to have a meaningful, personal relationship with the vast majority of parishioners. One knows a couple hundred of the people by name, is involved on a more personal basis with a few dozen, and the rest are anonymous faces. Most of the sects’ congregations are much smaller (except for the mega-churches), the pastors are in readier supply due to fewer requirements and a much shorter formation period (if any at all), and so the congregant-to-minister ratio is much more manageable, allowing for a lot of personal interaction. If you go from a place where a nameless Padre is glimpsed for 50 minutes from the crowded pews once a week (if you go that often), to a little storefront place where the pastor and his assistant ministers know your name, your kids, your job, your address, and get involved in your life — well, quite apart from questions of doctrine, the human appeal is obvious. For a long time, I’ve thought that we should come up with a way to get sound, trustworthy lay leaders in our parishes, set up as sort of grass-roots "ministers" for groups of families who want a more personal connection to the Church.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n Sherry at Intentional Disciples notes:<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n I noticed that he (the Pope) <\/em>is scheduled to meet <\/span>with the representatives of other Christian confessions and religions<\/span> <\/strong>and give an address on May 10, 2007. (per the Vatican website)<\/span><\/p>\n It will be interesting to who attends that gathering (and who doesn’t) and what the Holy Father says.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n Terry Mattingly wonders about some nouns in press coverage of violence:<\/a> The post is inspired by this TNR article by Gregg Easterbrook. <\/a>The question is – why are murderers with guns called "shooters" or "gunmen" and not "killers" or "murderers?"<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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