Blair 'may become a Catholic deacon'

From The Daily Mail:
Tony Blair has discussed becoming a Roman Catholic deacon when he quits office.
The revelation comes as he prepares to meet the Pope amid speculation that he will use the audience in the Vatican to announce his conversion.
In his last foreign engagement, just days before he leaves Downing Street for the final time, the Prime Minister will visit Pope Benedict XVI in what officials say will be a "highly significant" personal mission.

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ

I have written a lot about the Mass--without ever really intending to do so. First, I wrote about the Mass in The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You--this book has done so well that I was asked to write a follow-up to it. That book How To Get The Most Out Of The Eucharist, probably should have been titled "How to Offer Your Sacrifice at Every Mass." Then this year, A Pocket Guide to the Mass, which is part of the "A Pocket Guide" series. Each book is different and offers a slightly different way to open oneself up to the riches that are being bestowed upon us by fulfilling the Lord's command to "Do this." Thanks to everyone who has read any of the three and offered very positive reviews of them.

President Bush Meets the Pope

From the Chicago Tribune:

Inside, the pope gave the visiting president a 17th Century lithograph of St. Peter's Square and a gold medallion, and the president gave the pope a walking stick that a homeless man in Dallas had inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The pope also was heard to inquire about the president's recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which they had discussed a defensive missile shield for Europe.
"Sometimes I'm not poetic enough to describe what it's like to be in the presence of the Holy Father,'' Bush, who had visited Pope John Paul II during the president's re-election campaign in 2004, said during an interview with European press before departing for this weeklong tour of Europe.
"It is a moving experience. And I have not been in the presence of this particular Holy Father. Obviously, three visits with the last great man, and I'm looking forward to this,'' Bush said of Benedict XVI. "I'm looking forward to hearing him. He's a good thinker and a smart man. I'll be in a listening mode.''

Peggy Noonan on the Sopranoes

The greatness of "The Sopranos."

Bush to Shine Spotlight on Sant 'Egidio Groups

From Pravda (of all places):

On the surface, a Bush meeting with Sant'Egidio seems implausible. The organization is at the forefront of the international anti-death penalty movement, working city by city to generate support for a worldwide moratorium on capital punishment.

Spokesman Mario Marazziti acknowledged there was an obvious clash of cultures regarding capital punishment. Bush allowed 152 executions while he was governor of Texas, the U.S. state that executes more inmates than any other.

But Marazziti said Saturday's encounter - which the White House requested - should still be constructive. Sant'Egidio's other social justice initiatives - such as running schools for the poor, soup kitchens for the hungry and home visitations for the elderly - are the type of faith-based programs that Bush often embraces.

"We will try not to be naive, to be respectful ... but at the same time sincere, to find all the ways in which poverty can be fought and human dignity can be supported," Marazziti said.

One area where the two find common ground is fighting AIDS in Africa, and that is expected to be a focus of Saturday's discussion, Marazziti said.

Corpus Christi in Rome

From Asia News Italy:

“The Eucharistic Mystery is the gift Jesus Christ makes of Himself, whereby he reveals God’s infinite love for every man,” Benedict XVI said during the mass at the beginning of the procession. “Hence Corpus Domini is a unique festivity that represents an important moment of faith and praise for each Christian community.” It is a celebration “that brings us back to the spiritual atmosphere of Holy Thursday, the day when on the eve of His Passion Jesus established the Holy Eucharist in the Cenacle.”

It is “a gift” that “the Apostles got from the Lord in the privacy of the Last Supper but which was meant for all, i.e. the entire world. Hence it must be proclaimed and openly displayed so that everyone can meet ‘Jesus walking by” as it was once possible in the streets of Galilee, Samaria and Judea. This way, as they receive it, His love can make each one whole and new again.”

The Pope quoted a passage from the Gospel of Luke about the loaves and the fish that ends with “They all ate and were satisfied” (cf Lk, 9:11b–17). “First of all,” he said, “I would like to emphasise ‘all’. The Lord wants everyone to eat the Eucharist because the Eucharist is for all” since “Christ sacrificed himself for the whole of humanity. With him in the streets and in between the houses of our City residents will be offered joy, immortal life, peace and love.”

San Antonio Nuns

Show their support:

From the Sun Sentinel:

Sister Rosalba Garcia, wearing a San Antonio Spurs jersey, center, Sister Angelina Gomez, holding a Spurs flag, and several other nuns of the Salesian Sister of Mary Immaculate Province gather for a photo in front of their San Antonio Spurs banner in San Antonio, Tuesday. Each Sister is praying for an individual player and had been throughout the NBA basketball play-offs.

The Plains of Niniveh, a Trap for Iraqi Christians!

From Asia News Italy:

On the eve of the meeting between the Pope and Bush, the Archbishop of Kirkuk analyses the risks of the project to assign Christians an autonomous region in the Plains of Niniveh, a solution already rejected by authoritative figures in the Vatican.

Christopher Hitchens Hates You and Wants to Make War with You

If you are a believer...and he thinks belief in God poisons everything...jeez I guess he is an example of what nonbelief does.

Heard him speak today at BEA...more about it when I'm home.

UPDATE: Since I've been so remiss in completing my take on this, I offer another person who was in attendance's summary:

Hitchens minced no words: "I hate religion, and I want there to be a war on it." Hitchens has been called an "atheist evangelist," Sheler said, and while rejecting the terminology, Hitchens said he was proud to join Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins, calling them "the three horsemen of the counter-apocalypse."

Man Tries to Jump in Popemobile

Pope unfazed by the incident...(Asia news had said it was a woman, must be the pink shirt that threw them)...here is the picture:

Video of the incident.

Man Tries to Jump in Popemobile

Pope unfazed by the incident...(Asia news had said it was a woman, must be the pink shirt that threw them)...here is the picture:

New Books You Will be Interested In

Should you read Harry Potter? Find out what a homeschooling mom has to say:



Want to meditate on the mystery of the Creed with a trusted spiritual advisor?



You've read Jesus of Nazareth, now read what the Pope has to say about the origins of the Catholic Church and the Apostles:



Want to reinvigorate your spiritual life by making a good confession?


Have a question about your spiritual life?


Want the perfect gift for that teen or young adult faced with the big questions of what life is all about anyway?

From a Year Ago

A Church for China

From Atlantic Online:

In 1577, the Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci left Italy on a mission to bring the Christian faith to Ming dynasty China. He was neither the first Christian, nor the first Catholic, to arrive in the Middle Kingdom. But his arrival marked the beginnings of a Jesuit presence that would survive erratically in China for nearly four centuries.

Everything changed in 1949 when the Communists came to power. Western religion—along with all else foreign—was unwelcome welcome in the PRC. Although Pope Pius XII had established an official independent hierarchy for China’s Church back in 1946 (making the China Jesuit Mission null and void), European bishops still retained control over more than 80 percent of the country’s dioceses. In 1951, the Communist Party expelled all missionaries and severed diplomatic relations with the Vatican. Chinese priests tried to convince the Communist government that the country’s Catholic Church could operate independently, but by 1955, Chinese Catholics had become targets as well, and over the course of two weeks that fall, more than 1,200 Catholic priests, nuns, and laypeople were arrested and detained.

Read the rest

Woman Jumps the Fence at Papal Audience

From Asia News Italy:

Before the beginning of the audience, while Benedict XVI was travelling the square in his open topped popemobile to greet the faithful, a woman climbed over the barriers in an attempt to near the Pope, but was stopped by security.

New Books Coming Out This Summer and Fall

Book Expo of America--People Spotted

The BEA (Book Expo of America) is widely attended by people in the publishing industry and you never quite know who you are going to run into, like this fellow (no introduction needed) ...



who of course is an avid reader and believer in God or this guy who doesn't believe in much including buttoning up his shirt (Christopher Hitchens)...



Sometimes you run into movie stars or a person who once played one on Gilligan's Island (Tina Louise who now writes children's books)...



A current day movie star (Juliann Moore)...



Or a famous New Yorker having a bite...

Franz Jagerstatter to be Declared a Martyr

Excellent, excellent, excellent!!!

I've used his story in some of my books and have always thought that his resistence is the example that needed to be praised publicly. Pope Benedict has authorized the promulgation of his cause. From Vatican Information Service:

- Servant of God Frank Jagerstatter , Austrian layman, born 1907 and killed in Berlin, Germany in 1943.

His story by Robert Royal at the Catholic Education:

Austrian Farmer Franz Jagerstatter ROBERT ROYAL

"That might (have been) our worst game of the year,"

...said Cubs manager Lou Piniella.

I once taught Lou's son Derek, and have met him a few times back then.

But I am a Florida Marlins fan and so I was happy to be at Wrigley Field to witness what Lou calls "their worst game of the year!"

There is no better place to watch a baseball game, then Wrigley. The fans are into baseball, there is electricity to the place. There is no video scoreboard or much of anything else to distract you from the game.

I sat a few seats away from where Bartman sat when he became the billy(scape) goat for the Cubs losing to the Marlins the last time that the Marlins ultimately won their second World Series Championship.

A pleasant visit if you are like me, one of the very few faithful Florida Marlin's fans!

Motu Proprio This Week?

I know we've heard this before, but this actually makes sense--to link it to the Letter to China as an outreach to the traditionalist church there...

Father Z has the goods:

Der Spiegel: Motu Proprio THIS WEEK