Tag: stephen

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Bishop-elect Robert Barron

Stephen Colbert, J.R.R. Tolkien, John Henry Newman, and the providence of God

Recently, Stephen Colbert gave an interview in which the depth of his Catholic faith was on pretty clear display.

Discussing the trauma that he experienced as a young man — the deaths of his father and two of his brothers in a plane crash — he told the interviewer how, through the ministrations of his mother, he had learned not only to accept what had happened but actually to rejoice in it: “Boy, did I have a bomb when I was 10; that was quite an explosion . . . It’s that I love the thing that I wish most had not happened.”

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Kevin Wondrash

Retirement Mass and reception to be held for Fr. Stephen Umhoefer

JANESVILLE — Fr. Stephen Umhoefer will be retiring effective July 11 as pastor of Nativity of Mary Parish in Janesville.

A retirement Mass will take place on Sunday, May 31, at 2 p.m. at Nativity of Mary Church, 313 E. Wall St.

Several priests will be concelebrating with him. The Diocesan Choir will also be on hand, along with the parish’s Sanctuary and Loft Choirs, to sing for the Mass.

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Fr. Robert Barron

Fry, Job, and the cross of Jesus

The British writer, actor, and comedian Stephen Fry is featured in a YouTube video which has gone viral: over five million views.

Fry is, like his British counterparts Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, a fairly ferocious atheist and debunker of all things religious.

Fry’s rant

In the video, Fry articulates what he would say to God if, upon arriving at the pearly gates, he discovered he was mistaken in his atheism.

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Kevin Wondrash

A God-haunted film

The great British physicist Stephen Hawking has emerged in recent years as a poster boy for atheism, and his heroic struggles against the ravages of Lou Gehrig’s disease have made him something of a secular saint.

The new bio-pic A Theory of Everything does indeed engage in a fair amount of Hawking-hagiography, but it is also, curiously, a God-haunted movie.

Religion for atheists

In an opening scene, the young Hawking meets Jane, his future wife, in a bar and tells her that he is a cosmologist. “What’s cosmology?” she asks, and he responds, “Religion for intelligent atheists.”

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Pat Casucci, Catholic Herald Correspondent

St. Stephen Parish hosts benefit for Connor Gracyalny

CLINTON — Food, kids’ games, a silent auction, and fun in a family-friendly atmosphere will be featured at the Connor Gracyalny Benefit to be held on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 4 until 8 p.m. at the St. Stephen Parish Family Center. Parishioners and the public are especially invited to the event.

Ten-year-old Connor, son of Michelle and John Gracyalny, St. Stephen parishioners, has been undergoing treatment for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) for the past 10 months. He was diagnosed September 30, 2013, with the disease, which is a type of cancer of the white blood cells.

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