Category Archives: News

News

Bold Undertaking

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Check out this entertaining article about some Benedictine monks who, to make ends meets in post-Katrina Louisiana, have gone into the business of using downed trees to manufacture simple, inexpensive caskets.

Some monks make brandy, others make coffee. Every religious community has to support itself somehow.

What makes the story interesting is that their new business led to the monks’ being threatened with jail time because of regulations that serve to protect a powerful industry cartel. So far, the monks have prevailed in the courts, but not without a fight. Read about it here.

News

Dominican Republic!

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This has been a banner week for the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.

On Monday, eighteen new novices received their religious habit and a new name. Yesterday, four sisters professed their final vows. And for good measure, seven sisters will profess their first vows on Thursday.

Later this month, the community will welcome sixteen new aspirants into the fold.

Some of you might recognize the young sister at the lower right-hand corner of the photo as my daughter, Mary Kate Suprenant. As of Monday, she is a Dominican novice, and her name is now Sr. Evangeline. God be praised!

News

More for Your Vocation

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Last week at Rome Reports there was an intriguing video highlighting the vocation efforts of the United States bishops, especially a new series of videos at the Bishops’ For Your Vocation website.

I just visited the For Your Vocation website, and on this occasion I visited their blog and several other pages. What struck my attention this time (I hadn’t noticed it previously) was this vocations quiz–a series of questions to help young people go deeper in their discernment. And of course the site provides information on the upcoming vocations fair at World Youth Day, including the schedule of events.

News

Worthy of Life

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From the current issue of the Brookings (SD) Register, check out the story of Sr. Janice Iverson, who this month celebrates her 50-year jubilee as a Benedictine sister. Hers has been a full life of service to Christ and His Church.

What my sons found especially interesting, though, were her athletic exploits, and to this day she still rides her bike in the morning and spends an hour on the treadmill in the evening.

Not unlike St. Paul, she summarizes her many years of Christian discipleship in athletic terms: “For every beginning there is an end. I have entered the race and finished. I live that I may be worthy of life.”

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U.S. Bishops to Hold Vocations Fair at WYD

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The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will host its first-ever Vocation Fair at a World Youth Day (WYD) on Wednesday, August 17. St. Francis Borgia Parish in Madrid will host the event. 

“This is a tremendous opportunity to invite our youth to open their hearts to Christ and respond to his call to the priesthood and the consecrated life,” said Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis, Missouri, chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations. 

Recent surveys of the newly ordained and those making their final religious profession indicate that at least 20 percent of them participated in a WYD one time or another. Continue reading U.S. Bishops to Hold Vocations Fair at WYD →

News

American Nun’s Cause Moving Forward

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Last May we noted in this blog that the relics of Blessed Marianne Cope were  being returned to Hawaii. Shortly before St. Damian of Molokai’s death, Mother Marianne and other Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse came to carry on St. Damien’s amazing work in the leper colony toward the end of the nineteenth century.

Now Catholic News Service reports that the alleged miracle in support of Mother Marianne’s canonization was approved by a Vatican medical board, an important step toward her becoming recognized as a saint. Read more about it here.

News

New Bishop in Evansville

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Bishop Thompson prior to his episcopal consecration

Most Reverend Charles C. Thompson, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to become the fifth Catholic bishop of Evansville, was ordained and installed Wednesday at Roberts Stadium, becoming the pastor of some 85,000 Catholics across 12 Southwestern Indiana counties.

The Evanville Courier & Press reported that Bishop Thompson is an energetic 50-year-old prelate with a heart for youth and  a keen interest in vocations and Catholic education. Our newest American bishop is certainly in our prayers.

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Global Communication Online

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Nearly two months ago, we reported on the meeting of Catholic bloggers that took place at the Vatican on May 2nd.

This past week, the L’Osservatore Romano, the official newspaper of the Vatican, published an interview with Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, the President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication, regarding his reflections on this historic meeting.

Archbishop Celli noted that “the Church has something to learn from bloggers,”  including “their way of freely expressing themselves in an up-to-date language.”

He cited the difficulty the young people have  in understanding “ecclesial language.” In that regard, he said that “blogs are sites of authenticity and, at the same time of provocation. They help us to grow, to take a look about us and to understand that in order to be heard we have to use language that can be understood.” Continue reading Global Communication Online →

News

Vatican Meeting Discusses Religious Life

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According to a Catholic Culture report citing Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli, Pope Benedict XVI called a meeting with the leaders of the Roman Curia earlier this week to discuss several concerns about the state of religious life.

According to the report, the discussion included “the importance of maintaining separation between men’s and women’s religious communities; the limits of lay leadership (especially over priests); and the pitfalls of excessive devotion to the founder of a religious congregation or to an apostolic movement.

“In discussing the excesses that should be avoided in religious communities, the dicastery leaders reportedly emphasized that the commitment to a religious congregation or movement should never work against the unity of the universal Church, the authority of the teaching Magisterium, or the conscience of the individual member.”

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New convent supports contemplative life of teaching sisters

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Last Sunday the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia (aka the “Nashville Dominicans“) opened a new convent in the Baltimore area. The event generated very favorable coverage in the Baltimore Sun.

The convent is adjacent to Mount de Sales Academy in Catonsville, which the sisters have helped staff for the past quarter of a century. Not surprisingly, the school has flourished under their watch:

“The academy’s student body is also expanding. Founded in 1852 by Visitation nuns in Georgetown, the school has seen its student population expand under the Dominican Sisters, a teaching order. It had 201 students in 1984, and will open its doors this fall to 507 girls.”