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The royal warship Vasa is seen at the Vasamuseet museum in Stockholm on April 24, 2011. (Scanpix Sweden, Anders Wiklund/AP Photo) ================================================================= COPENHAGEN, Denmark—A U.S. military laboratory has helped Swedes confirm what was suspected for years: A woman was among those who died on a 17th-century warship that sank on its maiden voyage, the museum that displays the ship said Tuesday. The wreck of the royal warship Vasa was raised in 1961, and was remarkably well-preserved after more than 300 years underwater in the Stockholm harbor. It has since been place at the Vasa Museum, one of Stockholm’s top tourist...

Supporting the evil of abortion has “spiritual consequences,” Bishop Robert F. Vasa of the Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa warned. In a statement May 4, the California bishop joined a growing chorus of church leaders in urging Catholic politicians who support abortion to repent and “open their hearts to God’s converting grace.” Vasa issued the statement in support of San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone who published a strong pro-life pastoral letter, “Before I Formed You in the Womb I Knew You,” earlier this month. “I commend the Archbishop for offering encouragement to Catholics in public life who advocate for life,”...

The shipwreck was filmed by a remote-controlled submarine A near-intact shipwreck apparently dating from the 17th century has been found in the Baltic Sea, Swedish television has said.The discovery was made during filming for an under-water documentary series. Public service SVT television said the wreck could be from the same era as the famous Vasa warship, which sank on its maiden voyage in August 1628. The broadcaster said the Baltic's low oxygen content and low temperature had helped preserve the wreck. SVT said the origins of the ship were unclear but its features resembled the work of Dutch ship-builders...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Archeologists have found a shipwreck from the late 1300s buried in the mud of a bay in central Stockholm, officials said Thursday. They are now awaiting permission to excavate the wreckage — one of the oldest ever found in the Swedish capital — hoping it will shed light on shipbuilding techniques and trade in the 14th century. Experts say they might be able to bring the ship up on land, as was done with the 17th century warship Vasa, which is now housed in a museum that is one of Stockholm's main tourist attractions. Parts of the...

Every one experiences minor or major disasters in their life.  But some people's incompetence and stupidity is so great that their lives appear to be a series of shipwrecks. Hillary's legacy as Secretary of State is clearly one disaster after another: going to war against Syria, the TPP, the Iran deal, her gloating over the fall of Khadaffi in Libya only to be followed shortly thereafter by the Benghazi tragedy. So I collected three shipwreck images in tribute to Hillary's legacy.  The last shipwreck is an interesting one and I've elaborate on that one a bit... The Swedish warship...

Anders Franzén lived for shipwrecks. An engineer and expert on the naval warfare of the 16th and 17th centuries, he was especially obsessed with the old Swedish men-of-war that had once menaced the Baltic Sea. When he wasn’t busy at his day job with the Swedish Naval Administration, he’d spend hours combing through archives in search of maps and documents, hoping they might reveal the location of Sweden’s great sunken warships. And when he learned that one wreck might still be trapped, undiscovered, not far from his home in Stockholm, he was hungry to find it.

BEND — Last week I indicated that perhaps it would be good to pursue further the question of why even the suggestion of a change in the practice of receiving Holy Communion in the hand would be the cause or source of outrage and rebellion in the Church. It is certainly possible that such a proposal would be accepted with calm and grace but in my estimation such a response would not be highly probable. Such a proposal would much more likely be met with fierce opposition and anger. It needs to be made clear that I am neither offering...

From the Bishop of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon, in the most recent issue (Sept. 5, 2008) of The Catholic Sentinel: I certainly commend the public official for going to Saint Augustine, a great theologian and philosopher, for views on morality but Augustine’s views need to be read and adopted in context. It is highly disingenuous, deceptive and intellectually dishonest to take this ecclesial sound bite from 1,500 years ago and treat it as if it is the last definitive word on the subject. This is particularly true since Augustine himself “vigorously condemned the practice of induced abortion” despite the...

The Bend Bulletin of Oregon has an interesting article on Bishop Robert Vasa of the Diocese of Baker in eastern Oregon. It is too long an article to reproduce here, but it is well worth the read. I would like to just quote some of the more interesting excerpts and quotes. Bishop Vasa on his "controversial" orthodoxy: “I as a teacher have an obligation to say these are not opinion, they are our teachings and are part and parcel of the Catholic Church,” he said. “These are things which stem directly from God himself.”On the value of a Catholic education:“Children...

PORTLAND, OR, March 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "It is categorically impossible for the same person to state that he or she believes simultaneously both what the Catholic Church teaches and that abortion is just a choice," says Bishop Robert Vasa in a column released today by the Catholic Sentinel, the diocesan newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland and the Diocese of Baker. Although Vasa, the Bishop of Baker, did not mention her by name, he was referring in his column to Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi specifically, and to all politicians of a similar ilk in general. ...

We have yet another disturbing story about an apparent crackdown by some Catholic bishops on lay Catholic activities. . . . [snip] Does this mean I am unworthy to continue my lay ministry as a lector? . . . [snip] What does our new bishop think about Bishop Vasa's ultimatum?

Restructured Committee on Sexual Abuse Announced WASHINGTON (September 5, 2002) –- Belleville Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), announced today the restructuring of the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse (AHCSA) and its new membership. At their June 13-15 meeting in Dallas, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as part of their "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," voted that "the membership of the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse will be reconstituted to include representation" from each of the fourteen episcopal regions into which the nation's dioceses and...