Just a reminder that My Cousin the Saint — in hard cover, paperback or e-book — makes a great gift for Christmas. It’s a timeless story about faith, family, and miracles. And much of the story is set in Italy! The prices in any format are really inexpensive these days. So order early and often!
A year ago, a reader wrote to congratulate me on being, as I accuse myself late in my book, “a mediocre Catholic.” I thought it a strange thing until he explained: if there were more people of mediocre faith, the world would be a much less violent place….Another example:
WASHINGTON, March 29 — Nine members of a Michigan-based Christian militia group have been indicted on sedition and weapons charges in connection with an alleged plot to murder law enforcement officers in hopes of setting off an anti-government uprising.
From today’s Times: “Archbishop Dolan, a church historian whose studies have focused on the contemporary American Catholic experience, made it clear on Wednesday that he understands he was chosen for his formidable skills at communications and public relations, and that he intends to use them.”
The whole story is here.
From the On Faith column in the Washington Post:
“The Bishop of Scranton threatened to cancel mass during Saturday’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, one of the largest in the country, if organizers honored “an abortion-rights supporter” — ostensibly Vice President and Scranton-native Joe Biden. They didn’t and he didn’t.
“But the controversy threatened to divorce the Church from politicians who enforce laws permitting abortions. Since Catholic officeholders are sworn to respect the constitution, the bishop’s decree would have effectively kept all those kind of law-abiding Irish-American Catholics out of the Church on St. Patrick’s Day. Its arguable whether the threat advanced the coming of God’s Kingdom. However, it goes against tradition.” The rest of the story is here.
VATICAN CITY — A 19th-century Belgian priest who ministered to leprosy patients in Hawaii, and died of the disease, will be declared a saint this year at a Vatican ceremony presided over by Pope Benedict XVI. Story here.
Kari Baumann, a Greensboro blogger, reviews My Cousin the Saint here.
I think it’s fair to say that you can learn a lot about saints and the canonization process by reading My Cousin the Saint. But this blog post is good, too. By the way, St. Gaetano Catanoso is the patron saint of parish priests.
Last night, at Head House Books on Second Street in a historic neighborhood in Philadelphia, easy walking distance from the South Philly neighborhood where my grandparents settled as new immigrants, I had the great pleasure to tell a bit of their story, and mine. It was a fun and memorable evening, made all the better by friends, old and new, who came out to listen, as well as Catanoso and Foti relatives from Philly and New Jersey. Thank you to Debbie Rech at the bookstore for the invitation, promotions and gracious hosting.
The Vatican’s leader of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Bishop Angelo Amato, shares his thoughts on the meaning and importance of saints in this letter.
An excerpt: “The Saints themselves are these ’seeds of newness,’ people who have fully realized the greatest projects, to live the perfection of love. The Saints are, therefore, precisely the ones who can enlighten the minds of the men and women of our age, who ran reignite in them the faith, who can sustain in them the prospective of the good, who can propose to them generous impulses which can overcome the paralysis of mediocrity, who can help them renew their interpersonal relationships in truth and justice, in such a way that no-one is left marginalised or overcome by despair and distress.”
I have a few book events coming up: on Thursday at 7 p.m., I’ll be speaking at Head House Books in Philadelphia, Pa. On Dec. 14, I’ll be signing books at the Barnes & Noble at Southpointe Mall in Durham, N.C., from 1-3 pm. And on Dec. 20, I’ll be signing books at the Barnes & Noble at Friendly Center in Greensboro, N.C., from 1-3 pm. Hope to see you there.
