In April of 1819, right around the time that he began to suffer the first symptoms of tuberculosis — the disease that had already killed his mother and his beloved brother, Tom — the poet John Keats sat down and wrote, in a letter to his brother, George, the following question: “Do you not see how necessary a World of Pains and troubles is to school an Intelligence and make it a Soul?”
Brazilian priests have spoken directly to Pope Benedict XVI to ask him for a revision of the canonical law obliging celibacy for those carrying out priestly functions.
Former Cafe contributor Susan Daughtry Fawcett is featured in Sunday’s Washington Post. The subject is funerals. Yours.
The Gallup organization is reporting that Hillary Clinton enjoys a significant edge in support over Barack Obama among white Democrats who are highly religious. All in all, 57% of white, non-Hispanic Democratic voters who attend church support Clinton, while only 29% support Obama. Among those who attend church less frequently or never, Clinton’s support drops while Obama’s climbs.
There have been a number of reports in the last 24 hours that a new plan is being developed to manage the conflict within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. Bishop John Howe, in response to what he describes as “inaccurate” presentations of the details, has written a public letter laying out the details of plan as it now stands.
“I agonize because in this land of milk and honey, one of every five children grows up beneath the poverty line — and our pulpits are silent. I agonize because in this land of the free, blacks and Hispanics are still shackled as second-class citizens . . . and we preachers have nothing to say to their hungers.
The story of St. Matthias’ election as an apostle was one of the biblical stories that intrigued me the most when I was a child. I often asked myself why Jesus had chosen Judas in first place, knowing that he would hurt him so much some years later. If he had called Matthias in the beginning, there would have been no betrayal.
Ignatius, who is also called God-bearer, to Polycarp, bishop of the church of the Smyrnaeans—rather, the one who has God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as his bishop. Warmest greetings.