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Last February, archaeologists unearthed a unique rock-carved underground church in Nevsehir, in the central Turkish region of Cappadocia. The church was decorated with never before seen frescoes depicting Jesus’ Ascension, the Final Judgement, Jesus feeding the multitudes, and portraits of saints and prophets.The discovery, made during excavations and cleaning operations in an underground city recently uncovered as part of an urban project in Nevsehir, is located within a castle that might date back to the fifth century. Authorities expect it will make Cappadocia an even more important pilgrimage center for Orthodox Christians. Semih İstanbulluoğlu, the archaeologist who heads the works for...

UPPER SANDUSKY — One or more vandals discharged a fire extinguisher inside Transfiguration of the Lord Catholic Church on Thursday night, the Upper Sandusky Police Department reported. A scheduled Mass was canceled because of the “massive cleanup” required, police said. The damage was discovered Friday morning by a parish employee. No arrests had been made by Friday night. The church, at 225 N. Eighth St., was previously known as St. Peter’s Catholic Church. A fire extinguisher, which hangs on a church

St. Anne's Catholic Church staff found disturbing signs of vandalism done to the statues outside of their building when they arrived to work this morning. The statues of St. Anne and St. Mary to the left of St. Anne church building and also an angel in front of the church were vandalized overnight. According to the Pastor of All Saints Perish, the statues were inappropriately painted red to symbolize blood, and one of the statues is also currently missing a hand. The staff quickly cleaned up the vandalism and by this afternoon, the paint was almost completely gone before many...

Justice and Mercy Are Alike for God Msgr. Charles Pope • May 10, 2016 • I recently prepared a talk to present to a group of lawyers on the relationship between justice and mercy. The following is a summary of the basic points: I. Distinctions – From our perspective as humans, we tend to distinguish sharply between justice and mercy.For us, justice is the rendering to each person what is due to him or her. There is a kind of “You did it, you get it” mentality (whether praise or rebuke, reward or punishment). For us, justice is about...

May 11, 2016 Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter Reading 1 Acts 20:28-38 At Miletus, Paul spoke to the presbyters of the Church of Ephesus:“Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flockof which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers,in which you tend the Church of Godthat he acquired with his own Blood.I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you,and they will not spare the flock.And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truthto draw the disciples away after them.So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and...

Rhode Island’s Roman Catholic bishop said he wants to smell holy incense, not cannabis, in Providence’s cathedral and warned state lawmakers against transporting young people to “the land of oblivion” by legalizing marijuana. Bishop Thomas Tobin shared his opinions in an essay titled “Nope to Dope.” The essay was published on a diocesan website Tuesday, just hours before a hearing on a bill to legalize pot. Tobin said he’s heard about “zombie-like” people who are “completely stoned” filling public places in Colorado, where marijuana is legal. He said young people already addicted to electronic devices and “attached to their virtual...

Sin Can Be Attractive Bait, but There’s Always a Hook Msgr. Charles Pope • May 9, 2016 • Satan, it would seem, does not act in an arbitrary manner when trying to tempt us. Rather, he is more a master hunter carefully setting traps, or a skilled fisherman studying behavior in order to choose the most effective bait. Satan is calculating and clever.Sadly, most of us are far less calculating and clever in seeking to avoid temptation and sin. We often engage in the wishful thinking that no trouble will befall us. Our strategy seems to depend more on...

May 10, 2016 Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter Reading 1 Acts 20:17-27 From Miletus Paul had the presbytersof the Church at Ephesus summoned. When they came to him, he addressed them,“You know how I lived among youthe whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia.I served the Lord with all humilityand with the tears and trials that came to mebecause of the plots of the Jews,and I did not at all shrink from telling youwhat was for your benefit,or from teaching you in public or in your homes.I earnestly bore witness for...

Your Love Is Lifting Me Higher, Than I’ve Ever Been Lifted Before! Msgr. Charles Pope • May 8, 2016 • I would like to develop something more concerning the Feast of the Ascension, which was celebrated on Thursday (or Sunday in some dioceses).I wonder if many of us have pondered the great glory of this feast for humanity. For indeed, as Jesus enters into the highest heavens and into the Holy of Holies, unto the very throne of God, He goes there just as God (which He had always done) but also as man. Mystically, we, as members of...

May 9, 2016 Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter Reading 1 Acts 19:1-8 While Apollos was in Corinth,Paul traveled through the interior of the countryand down to Ephesus where he found some disciples. He said to them,“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”They answered him,“We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”He said, “How were you baptized?”They replied, “With the baptism of John.”Paul then said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance,telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,that is, in Jesus.”When they heard this,they were...

What Does the Ascension Accomplish for Us? A Homily for the Feast of the Ascension Msgr. Charles Pope • May 7, 2016 • This marvelous feast is not merely about something that took place two thousand years ago. For although Christ our head has ascended, we the members of His body are ascending with Him. Because He ascended, we too have ascended. In my own life as a Christian, I am brought higher every year by the Lord, who is drawing me up with Him. This is not some mere slogan; it is something I am actually experiencing. An...

Remembering moms, dreams of motherhood lost Katie Scott | Catholic Herald Katie Scott | Catholic Herald Mary McCarthy Hines created a small shrine for her stillborn daughter, Virginia. Along with an ultrasound photo, angels and a porcelain shoe, a relic of St. Gerard once belonging to the Jesuit priest who baptized Hines remember the life of “Gigi.” Mother's Day can be painful for those who have lost their unborn babies — or their own moms. My son was born late last May, and this will be my first Mother’s Day with him outside the womb. Since my husband and I...

May 8, 2016 Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord Reading 1 Acts 1:1-11 In the first book, Theophilus,I dealt with all that Jesus did and taughtuntil the day he was taken up,after giving instructions through the Holy Spiritto the apostles whom he had chosen.He presented himself alive to themby many proofs after he had suffered,appearing to them during forty daysand speaking about the kingdom of God.While meeting with them,he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem,but to wait for “the promise of the Fatherabout which you have heard me speak;for John baptized with water,but in a few days...

The Passionist Nuns were founded in the 1700s in Italy by St. Paul of the Cross. In 1910, five of the sisters arrived in the U.S. and went to Pittsburg, PA, eventually spreading out to Erlanger, KY, in 1947. In this video, Sr. Mary Angela, a Passionist sister who lives with eight other women in the Erlanger community, introduces us to their ministry of making wafers for communion at Mass. She particularly addresses children who are making their first Holy Communion. Since May and June are two months when most children make their first communion, Sr. Mary Angela’s tour is a great tool for...

Here’s story about a church closure with a happy ending —and a church transformation that you don’t hear about very often: A Yonkers Roman Catholic church shuttered last year in a parish consolidation will celebrate its rebirth Saturday  as an Eastern Rite congregation.The Rev. Sunny Mathew, 43, the new congregation’s pastor, said the move to Yonkers realizes a longtime dream for his parishioners, who began their congregation in 1984 in New York City. Most Holy Trinity Church at 18 Trinity Plaza will be occupied by St. Mary’s Malankara Catholic Church, an Indian congregation that for 17 years worshiped in the chapel at Salesian High School in New Rochelle.“It...

Doubting Thomas Story of the apostle is not a validation for unbelief but a call to have faith in the risen Lord, his Church Msgr. Charles Pope 5/4/2016 Question: My father constantly holds up the example of St. Thomas the Apostle, who doubted that Jesus had risen even when the others said so. He says this is why it is OK that he should question everything — that doubt isn’t wrong even regarding the teachings of the Church.— Tom O’Neil, via email Answer: Yet the fact is, the Lord rebukes Thomas; he does not praise him for his stubbornness or...

May 7, 2016 Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter Reading 1 Acts 18:23-28 After staying in Antioch some time,Paul left and traveled in orderly sequencethrough the Galatian country and Phrygia,bringing strength to all the disciples. A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria,an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus.He was an authority on the Scriptures.He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and,with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus,although he knew only the baptism of John.He began to speak boldly in the synagogue;but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him,they took him asideand explained to him...

Some Thoughts on Privacy - God Is Watching (And so Are Many Others) Msgr. Charles Pope • May 5, 2016 • 0 Comments At the bottom of this post is a 2010 CBS news story reporting hat anything you’ve copied on a digital copier going back years is stored on a hard drive inside the copier. These drives are evidently so large that they can store more than 20,000 documents and hundreds of thousands of pages.Hence if you have ever photocopied personal materials (e.g., social security numbers, checking info, personal data) it is likely on that hard drive. The...

May 6, 2016 Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter Reading 1 Acts 18:9-18 One night while Paul was in Corinth, the Lord said to him in a vision,“Do not be afraid.Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you.No one will attack and harm you,for I have many people in this city.”He settled there for a year and a halfand taught the word of God among them. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia,the Jews rose up together against Pauland brought him to the tribunal, saying,“This man is inducing people to worship God contrary...

NEW YORK — To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of Priests for Life and to highlight its core mission of empowering clergy to be passionate advocates for the unborn, Father Frank Pavone, National Director, has released today his newest book, Proclaiming the Message of Life: Weekly Reflections from the Lectionary (Servant Books, 2016) The book guides clergy –and laity – through the pro-life themes found in the readings of every Sunday of all three liturgical years. Proclaiming the Message of Life provides an overview of the Scriptural, doctrinal and liturgical bases for preaching the pro-life message, presents homily...