Ex-Benedict

So he’s now the pope emeritus.

His papal reign lasted just a little shy of eight years. Joseph Ratzinger will be 86 in April.

Traditionalist Catholics are outraged. When you are elected pope, it is understood that you will die on the job. It is truly a romance till death us do part. For some the heartburn is a little reminiscent of the abdication of Edward VIII—bad form. It seems to show disrespect for the office. It had been 719 years since a pope had voluntarily abdicated, and that pope, Celestine V, was such a misfit that he lasted less than a year, had all his papal acts annulled by his successor, and was immediately put into prison after his abdication where he soon died.

I give Benedict XVI credit. If he had called for my advice, I’d have endorsed his plan. He was well past most people’s normal retirement age—78—when he was elected pope. Here are some reasons why I salute Benedict:

The Hidden Man of Christmas : Putting St. Joseph back in the picture.

By James Martin

As far as biblical figures go, St. Joseph—the man who married the mother of Jesus—often gets short shrift: his life isn’t prominently featured in the Gospels, and he’s rarely depicted on Christmas cards. Yet Joseph did fulfill an astonishingly important task: raising the son of God. James Martin explores what we do and don’t know St. Joseph’s identity in a 2008 article reprinted below. 

Christmas cards tend to fall into three categories: the family card (cheerful children in red and green sweaters), the secular card (snowmen, snowflakes, snowy villages), and the religious card. The religious card usually bears a portrait of the Virgin Mary gazing beatifically at the crib of her newborn son, Jesus. Behind her, the picture is just as some of the Gospels describe: shepherds, animals, maybe even the three wise men, though they actually were late on the scene.

But where's St. Joseph? Where is the man to whom, according to the Gospel of Matthew, an angel announced the birth of Jesus? Where is the guy who married Mary even though she was already "with child," the man who helped to raise Jesus, the carpenter who taught Jesus his craft?

Do Priests Masturbate?

And more importantly, sin or not, does their job allow them to?
By Stacey Grenrock Woods

Giorgio Fochesato/iStock

Do priests masturbate?

Pastor John Hagee Warns America About Obama Re-election

JENNIFER LECLAIRE

 

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Pastor John Hagee

Pastor John Hagee is raising his voice in an urgent call for prayer over the presidential election.

Hagee, senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, sent an e-mail addressed to all Christians and people of faith in America.

“First, I want to express my profound appreciation to President Barak Obama for doing what all of the Republican candidates have not been able to do for months: he unified the Bible-believing church in America in one week over the issue of abortion.

Priest who found love now searches for work

WILMINGTON, N.C. (RNS)    While burning through their savings looking for jobs, Gerry Murphy and Andrea Kanelopoulos-Murphy and their two young children were invited by a local businessman to stay in his condo this summer until they found a position.

Bernadette Murphy, 5, the Rev. Gerry Murphy, his wife Andrea Murphy and 3-year-old Maryn Murphy stayed in Wilmington, N.C. this summer while they looked for their next ministry job.
RNS FAVS photo by Rebekah McCune, courtesy of Andrea Murphy

With 10 percent unemployment in this corner of North Carolina, their story could be a common one. But the couple believe their unique marriage sometimes makes it harder to find the right workplace.

After three years in the priesthood serving a Catholic parish in Oakland, Calif., Murphy, an Irish-born Catholic, felt a tug in his heart. He wanted a family, but his vows of celibacy prevented that.“I got ordained at 37 in 2001, and I had been in a couple of relationships before that, so the whole celibacy issue was a question for me — even on the day of my ordination,” he said.