Blog

Habemus Papam! ("We have a Pope!")

Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVII

(photo from Reuters)

Habemus Papam! Pope Benedict XVI (formerly Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger) has become the 266th Successor to Peter in the Roman Catholic Church. Read more about Pope Benedict XVI on EWTN's website (includes multimedia, biographical information, questions and answers, and more.

Watch a video of pilgrims greeting the Pope Benedict the first time (FOX News).

Please pray that Pope Benedict will be strengthened and guided by the Holy Spirit during this time in the Church's history.

Saints Alive! - Kudos to Dawn Eden of The Dawn Patrol

"I was firmly opposed to the idea of addressing prayers to saints, as I believed the dead had better things to do than pray for the living, and I particularly resented the standard, seemingly preprogrammed line that my Catholic friends gave me about it: "Think of it as though you were asking a friend to pray for you...."

I say to anyone who has a problem with the way Catholics deal with the Communion of Saints: read this post by Dawn Eden. She still struggles with the question a bit, but what she writes will help anyone—Catholic or not—better understand how important the Communion of Saints is.

Spending Your Time Wisely

Sometimes you may notice yourself get sucked into a news story. You might spend hours watching a TV news channel, and then you'll go online and read articles about the news story. You may talk to someone about the story, and you might write about it and discuss it with friends.

This is exactly what I have seen happen to some people during the Terri Schiavo crisis and Pope John Paul II's last hours and death. I would caution people who find themselves enthralled by a particular news story to take a step back and think about what they're doing.

Instead of constantly trying to find the latest breaking news, try saying a prayer. Try doing something worthwhile with a family or friend—without a pager, phone, or other electronic gadget that can get the news. Think of our how our ancestors received important news: even as little as one hundred years ago, people did not have CNN, MSNBC, EWTN, sattelite communication, the Internet, blogs, etc. for finding literally thousands of pieces of information concerning a particular story in an instant!