The Narthex
Bishop Walsh Leaves Jail
He was the last Western Christian missioner to leave China after the Communists took power - Part 8
By James Thunder | July 27th 2023 12:05 PMI call the imprisoned portion of Bishop Walsh’s life his contemplative ministry because of how he later described his activities in prison. He could not celebrate Mass and had neither breviary (the Church’s prayerbook) nor Bible, rosary, crucifix, or any image of Jesus or one of His saints. After he…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWalsh Goes to Prison
The Chinese Communists arrest him and give him a 20-year sentence - Part 7
By James Thunder | July 24th 2023 11:58 AMIn May 1949, Shanghai surrendered to the Communists. By the end of that year, the Communists imprisoned and tortured Chinese bishops, priests, brothers and sisters. The Communists started a church independent of the Pope. In response, Bishop Walsh and the Bureau distributed a pamphlet explaining the difference between the Catholic…
READ FULL BLOG POSTRandom Ruminations #2
Your Catholic SAT... Caesar and Christ... A Plea to Pastors and Organists... and more
By John M. Grondelski | July 21st 2023 12:30 PMYour Catholic SAT Although many colleges have moved away from standardized tests like the SAT, in the name of “equity” and abandonment of academic standards, I believe they have value. One of the components of the SAT used to be a reading comprehension test. It tests for how closely one…
READ FULL BLOG POSTDietary Preferences for World Youth Day
Does the Portugal WYD chief not want to make new Catholics?
By John M. Grondelski | July 12th 2023 3:18 PMJesus once asked His Apostles whether any of them would hand a stone to a child seeking bread (Mt 7:9). I’m worried some of their successors might hand the child neither stone nor bread. In a July 6 interview on Portuguese State Television, cardinal-designate Americo Aguiar, organizer of World Youth…
READ FULL BLOG POSTConfusion or Obfuscation?
The Church cannot bless two people specifically in relation to a disordered coupling
By James Hanink | July 11th 2023 3:49 PMEndless print and online controversy can be a bit much. News from inside the Vatican, for example, can yield TMI—too much information. Beware the perils of second-hand theological controversy. Still, there are times when one might offer a comment or three. Consider some recent remarks of the Argentine theologian and…
READ FULL BLOG POSTWalsh as Superior General
Bishop Walsh of Maryknoll, prisoner of Communist China - Part 5
By James Thunder | July 11th 2023 11:54 AMWhen the Maryknoll Superior General and co-founder died in 1936, the election for his successor was held in Hong Kong for the convenience of the many Maryknollers in China. Under Vatican rules, in order for a religious society of men to elect a bishop to be their superior, a supermajority…
READ FULL BLOG POSTA Successful China Mission
The story of Bishop Walsh of Maryknoll, prisoner of Communist China - Part 4
By James Thunder | June 29th 2023 11:54 AMJust a few days after James Walsh’s consecration as a bishop, Father Daniel McShane, the first man ordained by Maryknoll (in November 1914) died at age 39 of smallpox contracted when he picked up a baby abandoned on the roadside. During his seven years in Loting (Luodong), he had cared…
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Despite danger, Walsh and his priests built institutions and converted souls - Part 3
By James Thunder | June 27th 2023 11:47 AMThe year 1924 saw the Vatican give Maryknoll’s mission territory independent status, with Fr. James Walsh being its head with the rank of monsignor. Headquarters was at Kongmoon (now Jiangmen), a major seaport on the West River, 40 miles west of Macao, with a population of 100,000. In other towns,…
READ FULL BLOG POSTFive Years after McCarrick
The Church’s moral witness is muted because of the failure of bishops to clean house
By John M. Grondelski | June 21st 2023 1:58 PMFive years have passed since The New York Times broke the story that former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick had been found credibly guilty of sexual assault on a teenage altar boy in the sacristy of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, in connection with Christmas Midnight Mass. Read that sentence again. …
READ FULL BLOG POSTBishop Walsh's Ministry
The missionary endured treks across mountains, plus malaria and dengue fever - Part 2
By James Thunder | June 20th 2023 12:24 PMJames Walsh was ordained just three-plus years after joining Maryknoll at age 24 on December 7, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 1915. The initials after his name were initially A.F.M. for American Foreign Missioner. They later became M.M. for Maryknoll Missioner. Walsh’s first assignment, for two years, was headmaster…
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The dramatic story of a Maryknoll missionary - Part 1
By James Thunder | June 14th 2023 2:53 PMMost teens and young adults are in the process of deciding what to do with their lives: what education or training to pursue, what line of work to choose, who to marry -- decisions that mark the way to their eternal destiny. Such should be the subject of frequent and…
READ FULL BLOG POSTVandals and the Church's Material Culture
Catholics once upon a time recognized the need to devote the best to God
By John M. Grondelski | May 22nd 2023 11:57 AMAs undergraduates at St. Mary’s College in Orchard Lake, Michigan, we were required as part of our core curriculum to take a course in art and/or music, and “Introduction to Humanities” fulfilled the requirement. I’ll admit that, as a 19-year-old, I wasn’t excited about the class and it didn’t help…
READ FULL BLOG POSTA New Kind of Synod?
Manipulating the membership roster sets the agenda and determines the recommendations
By John M. Grondelski | May 2nd 2023 11:58 AMIn announcing that non-bishops would be able to vote in this fall’s Synod on Synodality, Rome tried simultaneously to hype and downplay the news. Channeling its inner Leslie Neilsen, the synodal website blandly headlined the change as “Some News for the October 2023 Assembly.” General Relator Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich gave…
READ FULL BLOG POSTAbp. Paglia and Questions about 'Accompaniment'
How does a priest accompany a suicide? Confession doesn't cover 'bless me Father, for I will sin'
By John M. Grondelski | April 27th 2023 11:46 AMAfter delivering a muddled set of remarks about assisted suicide which now the Pontifical Academy for Life claims do not mean what most people think they mean, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia wants us really to believe that he was merely engaging in a thought experiment about how Italian civil law should…
READ FULL BLOG POSTHow the Church Used to Welcome People
The early Church confidently proclaimed its teaching and offered it to inquirers to take or leave
By John M. Grondelski | April 19th 2023 12:18 PMThe Octave Day of Easter—the Sunday following Easter—has gone by several names, including Divine Mercy Sunday and the Second Sunday of Easter. One of its oldest names is Dominica in albis, “Sunday in white,” because this was the day that those newly baptized at the Easter Vigil historically took off…
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