Ross Douthat writes in the New York Times:. . . Continue Reading »
For the most up-to-date coverage of the papal visit to the UK, also be sure to check our First Thoughts blog.
Benedict Leaves More to Build On
Monday, September 20, 2010, 12:40 PM
A Pope for All Seasons
Monday, September 20, 2010, 12:38 PM
I saw the pope in Fatima this past spring. I wound up with a decent spot for Mass there, and couldn’t help but watch the Holy Father’s face throughout the Mass and subsequent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The man was being renewed there. He was taking energy from the crowd and the universality of the Church, as so many there gathered were. . . . Continue Reading »
Americans Owe Newman a Debt
Monday, September 20, 2010, 10:51 AM
Joseph Pearce offers a 101 appreciation oped today in the Miami Herald. . . . Continue Reading »
Benedict Busts Stereotypes
Monday, September 20, 2010, 10:50 AM
Leonie Caldecott is a Catholic writer living with her family in Oxford. She and her husband run the Centre for Faith and Culture and work with Thomas More College New Hampshire on a journal of faith and culture, Second Spring, as well as a regular summer school. . . . Continue Reading »
Benedict, Longtime JHN Fan
Monday, September 20, 2010, 10:43 AM
No papal anything is complete without reading John Allen. As the chattering class that cares complains about Benedict XVI making Newman in his own image, for some kind of political win, Allen points out that Benedict is no newcomer to Newman . . . Continue Reading »
The Real John Henry Newman
Monday, September 20, 2010, 10:29 AM
Those fortunate enough to have taken in Pope Benedict’s celebration of Cardinal Newman-at both Saturday’s prayer vigil, and the Mass and beatification early Sunday-were not disappointed. The solemnity of the occasion, the readings and beautiful hymns sung, the sacred processions and tributes, all hit a note of perfect synchronicity. It is difficult to see how the two-day event could have been any better. . . . Continue Reading »
Dusting Off the Blessed Cardinal
Monday, September 20, 2010, 10:03 AM
The Cardinal Newman Society in America is probably known best for protesting morally questionable speakers at Catholic colleges and universities. But they also serve as a support for orthodox educators and administrators and students. And they also are playing a role in the preservation of Cardinal Newman’s archives, to the potential academic and spiritual benefit of us all. Patrick Reilly, their president, is over in Birmingham, and chats a bit about the experience and the effort to protect what we have from Blessed Newman. . . . Continue Reading »
Last Day Reflections
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 9:35 PM
Reflecting on the last day of the State Visit, I indulge a couple of personal thoughts. First, the Rite of Beatification took place near Coventry which, as Pope Benedict mentioned in his homily, suffered from the blitz of November 14, 1940 (there were earlier raids in July and August of that year, as well as April 1941 and August 1942). . . . Continue Reading »
Newman’s Unusual Feast Day
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 9:29 PM
Fr. James Martin notes Newman’s unusual feast day, the anniversary not of Newman’s “entrance into Heaven,” but of his entrance into, as Newman himself put it, “the Church of Christ.” . . . Continue Reading »
Last Day Reflections
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 9:35 PM
Reflecting on the last day of the State Visit, I indulge a couple of personal thoughts. First, the Rite of Beatification took place near Coventry which, as Pope Benedict mentioned in his homily, suffered from the blitz of November 14, 1940 (there were earlier raids in July and August of that year, as well as April 1941 and August 1942). . . . Continue Reading »
Newman’s Unusual Feast Day
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 9:29 PM
Fr. James Martin notes Newman’s unusual feast day, the anniversary not of Newman’s “entrance into Heaven,” but of his entrance into, as Newman himself put it, “the Church of Christ.” . . . Continue Reading »
B16: Britain, Come Home
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 9:15 PM
This had to be annoying to more than a few people in the Church of England (again to the bishops). . . . Continue Reading »
How Do We Increase Vocations?
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 9:00 PM
We have the courage-we pray for the courage-to be Catholic, as our friend George Weigel might paraphrase it. More from the Holy Father today in his bishops’ meeting . . . Continue Reading »
An Always Timely Pope
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 7:30 PM
The pope really doesn’t miss a beat. In his meeting with the bishops Sunday he said . . . Continue Reading »
B16 in the U.K., In Sum
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 7:05 PM
Not to be too simplistic about it, but this trip can be can be summed up in three words from today, in my mind: “integrity, humility, and holiness.” These three things, lived in and through prayer, could change the face of the earth. Even Britain. . . . Continue Reading »
‘Through Him, With Him, and In Him’
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 7:04 PM
This seems like an appropriate highlight to pull out from the trip on a Sunday, from Friday’s homily at Westminster Cathedral. . . . Continue Reading »
Pope Benedict
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 7:02 PM
Doesn’t get enough credit for what an effective messenger he is. His words! If you have any interest in the Catholic Church, in Truth, in the synergy between faith and reason, he is someone to read regularly. . . . Continue Reading »
Peter’s Point
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 4:00 PM
This morning, before the beatification, the Archbishop of Canterbury told the pope: “You have encouraged us to draw closer to the rock upon which the Church is built.” . . . Continue Reading »
Sisters in the Act
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 3:30 PM
This was a nice surprise find on the BBC website. A British Dominican sisters writes about a visit her congregation had with Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome, in anticipation of seeing him during this visit . . . Continue Reading »
An American in Birmingham
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 2:38 PM
Father C. J McCloskey explains on the Washington Post’s website:
I hosted a series of programs on the life and works for EWTN on Cardinal Newman in the year 2000.
At the end of one of his programs, while interviewing Fr. Ian Ker, the renowned Newman biographer from Oxford, I put a message on the television screen that read: “If you receive any favours from Cardinal Newman, please contact the Birmingham Oratory in England.” This is where Newman had lived and died and where the postulator of his Cause of beatification, Fr Paul Chavasse, resided. . . Continue Reading »
Who Are We If You Are We?
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 2:30 PM
David Quinn of the Irish Catholic writes. . . Continue Reading »
Be Not Afraid, Again (And Again)
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 10:30 AM
While visiting the St. Peter’s residence for seniors yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI said: “Christians should not be afraid to share in the suffering of Christ, if God wills that we struggle with infirmity”. . . Continue Reading »
Ever Ancient Ever New
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 9:00 AM
On May 31 1906, King Alfonso XIII married Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (“Ena”) in the Royal Monastery of San Geronimo in Madrid. Ena, a granddaugher of Queen Victoria and niece of King Edward VII, had scandalized some of her family by becoming a Catholic before the marriage. When one of them asked her how she could possibly acknowledge the Pope as head of the Church. Ena replied, “If Uncle Eddie can be head of a Church, why can’t the Pope?” . . . Continue Reading »
The Papal Visit: Some Links
Sunday, September 19, 2010, 8:00 AM
I’ve been doing some tweeting about it here. I called the Saturday night Hyde Park prayer vigil “the ultimate peace rally.” . . . Continue Reading »
My Hyde Park John Lennon Moment
Saturday, September 18, 2010, 10:00 PM
Can you imagine what kind of world we’d live in if every Catholic started his day with this prayer, courtesy of Cardinal Newman? We might just radiate Christ! . . . Continue Reading »
‘To Sing for Jesus,’ Celebrating ‘The New Beatus’
Saturday, September 18, 2010, 9:31 PM
Leonie Caldecott, an English Catholic friend of mine, is singing tomorrow at Cardinal Newman’s beatification Mass. We e-mailed tonight about her thoughts the night before in anticipation. . . . Continue Reading »
Anglican Angst and Papal “Poaching”
Saturday, September 18, 2010, 8:03 PM
Pope Benedict’s visit with the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury yesterday, a warm and positive gesture, was an example of how much the two communions they lead have in common-and yet how far they remain apart. . . . Continue Reading »
The Whole Truth
Saturday, September 18, 2010, 7:46 PM
I’m not sure images get much more powerful than the image Saturday from London: Pope Benedict, in Hyde Park, on his knees in adoration of our Lord and Savior in the Blessed Sacrament. . . . Continue Reading »
The Close of the Day
Friday, September 17, 2010, 4:59 PM
View the Westminster Hall Speech via the Telegraph’s live blog. . . . Continue Reading »
Mission Accomplished at Westminster
Friday, September 17, 2010, 2:59 PM
The pope’s historic speech at Westminster Hall, the political centerpiece of his visit to Britain, was everything one could have hoped for. Principled, sincere and generous, Benedict thanked his hosts and praised those elements of British society in harmony with Catholic teaching. . . . Continue Reading »
The “London Street Sweeper” Terrorists are Not Algerian Methodists
Friday, September 17, 2010, 11:21 AM
Scotland Yard did its job in arresting five “terrorists.” The press has not been so alert. First reports spoke of “London street sweepers” as though they might have been from a chorus of My Fair Lady or Mary Poppins. Then they had to allow that they are Algerians. Very slowly has the word “Islamist” begun to appear in tiny print. . . . Continue Reading »
Benedict: “I Go Forward with Great Courage and Joy”
Friday, September 17, 2010, 11:16 AM
The news that five suspected terrorists have just been arrested over an alleged plot to kill the Pope during his visit to Britain reminds us once again that prayers are called for on every step of his journey. . . . Continue Reading »
Terror Plot Against the Pope?
Friday, September 17, 2010, 10:38 AM
Early this morning, London’s Metropolitan Police arrested five men in connection with a possible terror plot aimed at Pope Benedict XVI. . . . Continue Reading »
Paper Tiger Protestors?
Friday, September 17, 2010, 9:00 AM
The Los Angeles Times, not a paper outwardly friendly to the Church, has commented on the pope’s tour through Scotland: “More than 100,000 well-wishers greeted Benedict as he travelled the streets of Edinburgh in his specially designed Popemobile, with his shoulders wrapped in a green Tartan scarf. Scattered protests made hardly a dent in the larger din of cheers and applause.” . . . Continue Reading »
Who Are These People?
Friday, September 17, 2010, 8:00 AM
A Catholic friend in England remarked that she had to stop following news of the papal visit on Twitter: even in that truncated form of communication, the anti-Catholic rhetoric was too much. I know what she meant. Having spent the day reading blogs, and articles, and blogs, and more articles, and more blogs, and been unable, every single time, to stop myself from being sucked into the black vortex of the combox, I largely felt at the end of it that I wanted to take a bath, and then find a Mass to go to. . . . Continue Reading »
Beautiful and Stirring
Thursday, September 16, 2010, 2:21 PM
Pope Benedict’s extraordinary celebration at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow was one for the ages. The liturgy was beautiful and stirring, the people’s faith obviously heartfelt, and Benedict’s homily—recalling Scotland’s Christian heritage, and the true destiny of man—magnificent. . . . Continue Reading »
Live-Streaming the Papal Mass
Thursday, September 16, 2010, 12:14 PM
Here is live video feed from the official papal visit website.
A Graceful and Elegant Beginning
Thursday, September 16, 2010, 11:31 AM
The graceful and even elegant beginning of the state visit has only been made trying by the incessant banter of commentators who think themselves obliged to fill in every second of air time with streams of talk, occasionally informative, but mostly banal. “When I met the Holy Father . . . etc,” “I wonder if they will serve the Pope haggis . . .” “The Queen certainly wears interesting hats . . .” Continue Reading »
Modern Historians on Pope Benedict
Thursday, September 16, 2010, 11:22 AM
Eamon Duffy of Cambridge University is one of the church’s great historians. He is also, at times, one of its most disappointing. The problem with Professor Duffy—maddening, to those who admire his books—is that he has no feel for contemporary Catholicism. As long as he is writing about the Church and papacy before, say, the pontificate of Leo XIII, he shows a superb clarity which helps clear away many prejudices and mistaken views. But as soon as he steps into the twentieth century, and especially the twenty-first, his usual powers fail him. . . . Continue Reading »
A Running thread on Benedict in UK
Thursday, September 16, 2010, 10:37 AM
The Anticipation and Anxiety of Speculation
Wednesday, September 15, 2010, 4:44 PM
As the papal trip moves from theory to fact, and the mental clock begins to strike: it is about to happen. Up to now, all has been the anticipation and anxiety of speculation. The media have tried every possible way of dramatizing a man biting a dog. This has been less like reporting reality and more like confessing fantasies and, in that sense, the more neurotic voices in a confused culture have been doing a lot of primal scream therapy. . . . Continue Reading »
The Social Commentary of Ice Cream Ads
Wednesday, September 15, 2010, 3:14 PM
In defiance of a ruling by the British Advertising Standards Authority—doesn’t that ring quaintly on the ear: Advertising Standards Authority—an ice cream company has announced its intent to plaster the Pope’s route through London to Westminster Cathedral with images “continuing the theme” of a poster already banned by the ASA. . . . Continue Reading »
Judgment of the Nations
Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 2:12 PM
Edmund Adamus, director of Pastoral Affairs for the archdiocese of Westminster, recently “did not reflect the archbishop’s opinions.”
Fair enough. Let’s let Mr. Adamus speak for himself. In an interview with Zenit on the importance of Christian marriage, Adamus lamented the breakdown of societal morality, particularly in his own country . . . Continue Reading »
Ratzinger at Cambridge: A Preview of Benedict in the U.K.?
Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 8:30 AM
As Pope Benedict prepares for his visit to the United Kingdom, speculation abounds as to what he might say. Perhaps clues can be found in a previous speech he delivered, which has been surprisingly overlooked.
In 1988, the-then Cardinal Ratzinger, travelled to England to give the annual Fisher Lecture at the Catholic Chaplaincy at Cambridge University. The Times of London said it was one of the best-attended theological lectures ever in contemporary England, and for ample reason: it was classic Joseph Ratzinger–Ratzinger at his scintillating best. . . . Continue Reading »