The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog for CatholicReview.org did in the last two months of 2010, when it was formed. Thanks for your readership. Here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health: The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever. Crunchy numbers A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416...Read More

Cynthia Bowers of CBS’s ‘Sunday Morning’ has an inspiring piece on Roger Ebert, the famed film critic who lost his voice to cancer three years ago.  A snip: CBS Photo He’s been called America’s movie critic. For more than four decades, Roger Ebert has guided our choices at the box office. His syndicated newspaper column and...Read More

A Jesuit priest is turning the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s bestselling “The Gift of Peace” into a movie. Chicago Catholic News has the story: After sex abuse allegations were recanted against Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in the mid-1990s — and before the cancer that would claim his life was detected — he led a powerful retreat...Read More

Helen Nale, right, enjoys conversation with her daughter, Helen Valley. Nale believes she caught a glimpse of heaven after a near-death experience. (CR Staff/Owen Sweeney III) Everyone has seen stories on television about people who believe they died and went to heaven.  They often speak of “seeing light at the end of a tunnel,” being reunited with deceased...Read More

The Jan. 6 issue of The Catholic Review will feature a vocations story about an enrollment boom at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitburg. The nation’s second-oldest Catholic seminary is putting up some impressive numbers and producing priests known for their passion and commitment to the church. Look for the story next month. In the meantime, check...Read More

Catholic universities are not alone in their struggle to balance religious identity and academic freedom. The Dallas Morning News explores how Baylor University – the largest Baptist university in the country – is stepping up to the task under the leadership of its new president, former Whitewater prosecutor Ken Starr. It seems the Texas university is...Read More

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92txLzud5VI]?If I'm counting correctly, tonight's Midnight Mass at Our Lady of Hope in Dundalk will mark the 20th time I've had the honor of serving as organist for the joyful Christmas liturgy. People of all ages will crowd into the contemporary-styled church, which is usually dimmed slightly and illuminated with flickering candlesRead More

WASHINGTON – With the repeal of the policy that banned gays from serving openly in the armed forces, an auxiliary bishop of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services said Dec. 23 that “there are no changes” to the archdiocese’s ministry “and our response” to “don’t ask, don’t tell.”Read More