So I woke up to find out that Pope Benedict, citing frail health, will resign the papacy at the end of the month. To be honest, people I know who have seen the pope in Rome, including our own Bishop here in Buffalo and our previous Bishop said that he looked a bit worn down …
Category Archive: Catholics and World Events
Jan
31
World Events That Changed Gen Xers: The Challenger Explosion
27 years ago the horror of seeing the Space Shuttle explode in mid-air, a shuttle with a teacher-civilian on it brought many of us to our knees. As a proud Gen Xer I remember this day unfortunately all too well. I was in high school and my trigonometry teacher broke the news to us. Some …
Jan
24
Can One Experience Change Us Forever?
Heather Mallick has a haunting article in the Toronto Star today that several colleagues have forwarded to me today. The mother of one of the children in the Newtown shooting insisted on an open casket. She hopes it will change people’s attitudes about gun violence. Noah Pozner, 6, was one of the 20 child victims …
Jan
07
Sandy in Long Island
I just returned from Long Island where 8 of us from St Joe’s took some time to help people effected by Superstorm Sandy. We were hosted by Fr. Ted Brown, the director of Campus Ministry at LIU Post and a LaSallette priest (His nameplate on his desk just reads Ted Brown, Friend) and he and …
Nov
07
Will Bishops Lose Their Tax Exempt Status for Pushing for Romney?
From the Religion News Service: A public watchdog group is charging the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops with openly politicking on behalf of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and it wants the Internal Revenue Service to explore revoking the hierarchy’s tax-exempt status. “In completely unqualified terms, the IRS should immediately tell the Conference of Catholic …
Nov
07
Re-Election: What Does It Mean For Catholics?
We (and I use that word purposely) re-elected President Obama for four more years. I use the collective “we” here because we now need to unite behind the President and lobby him on issues that we disagree with him on as Catholics. I’m a bit tired of all the gridlock that occurred in the President’s …
Nov
01
When Prayer is All That’s Left To Do
Deacon Greg reflects today on the hurricane after seeing his church in Queens filled to the rafters. I’m reminded of what we went through after 9/11, when churches were suddenly packed. Eventually, like all floods, that one ebbed. I wonder if we will see the same thing after Sandy. It’s possible. But this particular event …
Oct
11
Happy Birthday, Vatican II
On this 50th Anniversary of Vatican II, John O’Malley takes a critical look at one of the major, if not THE major religious event of the 20th Century in the New York Times. The bishops at Vatican II felt that more than a century of centralization needed to be tempered. But in their euphoria, they …
Sep
22
The Ministry of Physician
The NY Times has an interesting piece on Dr. Joseph Dutkowsky who sees his work as ministry and tries to bridge the gap between science and faith. Dr. Dutkowsky has made efforts to bridge the chasm between science and spirit. As president of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, he had the …
Sep
18
Joliet Priest Removed …Again
Last week sometime we reported about Fr. F. Lee Ryan who had been removed from ministry for allegedly abusing a 16 year old (although some say 14) and then was restored to ministry again after the CDF said that Canon Law didn’t require his removal. Bishop Conlon restored him to ministry, but exiled him to …
About the Blogger
Mike Hayes is an author, commentator, Campus Minister and Spiritual Director. He founded the award winning BustedHalo.com in 2001 and wrote the book Googling God with Paulist Press in 2007. Mike is currently a Campus Minister at The University at Buffalo where he serves on the staff of St Joseph University Church. He is available for speaking engagements, retreats and personal spiritual direction.
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