Friday, September 27

Boston gets $38 million dollar loan from Knights of Columbus.
Killing of priests no longer seen as news in Columbia

The killing of priests in Colombia no longer makes big news in that country, says Mondo e Missione, the publication of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions. The latest killing was last Friday. Father José Luis Arroyave Restrepo, a mediator in the slum areas of Medellin, was shot while sitting in a van. Archbishop Isaías Duarte of Cali was murdered on March 16. On April 6, Father Juan Ramón Nuñez Palacios was murdered while distributing Communion in a church in La Argentina. Members of the Teofilo Forero sector of the rebel Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) were linked to that killing. The same day, guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) kidnapped Father Saulo Carreño and Father Luis Teodore Gonzáles, parish priests of Saravena and Arauquita, while they tried to obtain the release of some kidnapped politicians.

Document on deaconnesses nears final vote
Schismatic group in Cincinnati plans on building a rather striking church building.
Today is the feastday of St. Vincent de Paul who is, I think, Exhibit A in what contemporary catechesis is missing by selling out to secular styles of education - i.e. away from the story as the primary mode of communicating ideas to children:

In 1605, on a voyage by sea from Marseilles to Narbonne, he fell into the hands of African pirates and was carried as a slave to Tunis. His captivity lasted about two years, until Divine Providence enabled him to effect his escape. After a brief visit to Rome he returned to France, where he became preceptor in the family of Emmanuel de Gondy, Count of Goigny, and General of the galleys of France. In 1617, he began to preach missions, and in 1625, he lay the foundations of a congregation which afterward became the Congregation of the Mission or Lazarists, so named on account of the Prioryof St. Lazarus, which the Fathers began to occupy in 1633.

Of course, there's a lot more to his story, all of which makes great, memorable reading for children (and the rest of us).

A rather astonishing tale at Catholic Light today.
Well, this is a strange feeling.

The strangeness begins with last night. You may recall that on Monday night, Baby Joseph slept for a record six hours in a row, giving his mother all sorts of hope, hopes that were immediately dashed the next two nights by the same old routine of restlessness.

Last night - 7 hours. Almost 8, actually - from 8:30 to 4 am, at which point he woke up, needed some cuddling, then went back to sleep until 7:30. Dare I resurrect my hope?

And now, the strangeness continues as Michael, Joseph and Michael's friend Tony have headed off to Huntington for the morning. They're going to the might OSV offices, then to a couple of religious order houses - one sold to a Protestant church, the other a retirement home for sisters of the order (Victory Noll), and then to an orchard to pick some apples. They'll come back here in the early afternoon then Michael and Tony will head over Ohio way to meet up with friend Brian, who's coming in from Florida, and then the three of them will spend the week doing sports-related things, culminating in the Bengals-Bucs game on Sunday.

So - I had a good night's sleep. I'm alone. I'm astonished.

Pierre Toussaint and Rose Hawthorne Lathrop await, and I'll get to them soon enough. For now...quiet.

The NYTimes looks at Fr. Mychal Judge