If you’re like me and you love to read books, when do you find the time?

Between the demands of my job, home responsibilities to my wife and four kids between the ages of 19 and 6, and watching the Red Sox go down the tubes yet again, the best time to crack open some brain food always seems to be between 11:30pm and 2am. Yes, that 7am alarm is often an uninvited guest.

Always perusing our bookshelves for the next piece of literature I can spend the next couple of weeks with, I embark on the new read, put that down (not because it’s not a good book but because you can pick it up again anytime, right?), grab another book, start it up, put it down for later, open another, and … before I know...READ MORE

UPDATE: MISSION COMPLETED

On Saturday, Sept. 4, Jesuit Father Matthew Ruhl and his 11 fellow cyclists finished their Cycling for Change 99-day odyssey across the United States when they reached the southernmost tip of our country in Key West, Fla.

To make it official, Father Ruhl touched his bike’s tire to the buoy marking the southernmost point in the continental U.S.

But their 5,025-mile journey to bring attention to Catholic Charities USA’s Campaign to Reduce Poverty didn’t end there. After a little celebration at the spot, they got back on their bikes and rode to the St. Francis and St. Bede homeless shelters in Key West, which are run by Catholic Charities of Miami.

“That was a...READ MORE

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign decided today that Kenneth Howell will be allowed to teach Catholicism courses again.

According to the Alliance Defense Fund, which has been representing Howell in the matter, “the University of Illinois Office of University Counsel admits no wrongdoing on the part of the university but states, ‘The School of Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics will be contacting Dr. Howell to offer him the opportunity to teach Religion 127, Introduction to Catholicism, on a visiting instructional appointment at the University of Illinois, for the fall 2010 semester. Dr. Howell will be appointed and paid by the university for this adjunct teaching...READ MORE

As we reported in “Register Exclusives” and in our Aug. 1 print edition, Priests for Life has hit the road for Freedom Rides for the Unborn.

And just like the first Freedom Rides for civil rights, this new effort is meeting obstacles, as this CNN iReport indicates.

As Bishop Robert Baker of Birmingham, Ala., said, “It’s important to do all humanly possible to underline the moral gravity of abortion and help women in distress to find alternatives. The Freedom Ride for life is a visible, peaceful expression of concern for the right to life for the unborn. It is in the tradition of Freedom Rides for civil rights in the past.”

Godspeed.

On Wednesday, Bishop Richard Malone of the Diocese of Portland, Maine, celebrated Mass at Portland’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in honor of the state’s first Catholic radio station, reported the diocese’s website.

Broadcasting at 106.7 FM in the Portland area, The Presence Radio Network is “a true example of the laity in action,” according to Bishop Malone.

“Today we celebrate the birth of ‘The Presence,’ a historic moment in launching Catholic radio in Maine, and our prayer, of course, is that God’s presence, the presence of his word, will come to more and more people in our wonderful state through this beautiful lay apostolate,” he said at the Mass.

Local programming will...READ MORE

One day after the Register published Rich Daly’s story “Panel Okays Military Abortions,” Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, speaking on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called the move “misguided,” and asked that the amendment be removed from the National Defense Authorization Act.

The release from the U.S. bishops follows in full:

WASHINGTON—A Senate committee amendment that would authorize the performance of elective abortions at military hospitals in this country and around the world is “misguided” and should be removed from the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 3454), said the Chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. In a June 29...READ MORE

After Pope Benedict XVI’s general audience today, he received 20,000 text messages.

The inspirational message influx was part of an initiative by “In His Image,” a television program on Italy’s RAI television network. The initiative was begun on May 16 to show support for the Pope.

The texts were printed for the Holy Father — 2,300 pages! — along with a reflection written by the president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco.

That’s a lot of support 4 BXVI!

Update: The number to send messages has been listed as (+39) 335-18-63-091.

A worldwide Rosary relay will be held on June 19, starting in Australia and finishing in Los Angeles. Involving 24 shrines dedicated to Our Lady, the Rosary prayer event is being held to mark the closing of the Year for Priests.

The Shrine of Our Lady Help of Christians in Brisbane, Australia, will begin the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary with “The Annunciation.”

The prayer will continue at other shrines across the globe to total 24 hours of continuous prayer. The two U.S. locations are the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in L.A., where “The Nativity” and “The Presentation” decades will be...READ MORE