There goes the neighborhood, Ha.  Sicily was the first country in the world to have a feast day for the “Immaculate Conception.”

ROME (RNS) More than 500 years after the Jews were expelled from Sicily, a tiny Jewish community will open its first synagogue in the island’s capital city of Palermo.

At an official ceremony to be held on Thursday (Jan. 12), the Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo will transfer to the Jewish community a chapel, the Oratory of Santa Maria al Sabato, which was built above the ruins of the Great Synagogue that once stood in the center of Palermo. MORE

Again, with the election of President Donald Trump, the demise of Isis, end of the Syrian war and a more harmonious relation ship with Russia, the stage is set for the possible fusion of the Russian Orthodox Church with Rome’s inter-faith ecumenism Gospel.

If the Russian Orthodox Church joins up with Rome, does this mean or implies that Russia has been converted and, if true, then there is no need for the consecration of Russia, right? Continue reading →

They sent roughly 350 billion gallons of water pouring into California’s biggest reservoirs — boosting their storage to levels not seen in years, forcing dam operators to release water to reduce flood risks and all but ending the five-year drought across much of Northern California, even though it remains in the south, experts said Monday. MORE

Meryl Streep stole the show at the 2017 Golden Globes when she used her Cecil B. DeMille Award acceptance speech to lob a protest against President Elect Donald Trump. While most of the Hollywood establishment seemed to be firmly on board with her message of anti-bigotry, viewers at home noticed that two conservative faces in the crowd were a bit…perplexed? bored? MORE

Funny: I don’t think we are related. I took my grandson Jonathan to see “The Game Plan,” starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson years ago. I didn’t know that Jon Saraceno was one of the reporters in the movie until the credits came up at the end and I saw his name. I exclaimed to Jny look Jonathan your name is on the credits, Ha.. I’ll have to look him up when I’m visiting St. Joseph’s  in Las Vegas next time I go there.

Former USA Today columnist Jon Saraceno has joined the Review-Journal sports department.

If this is true (and who are we to argue with science) the military might be the most honest place on Earth.

As if we needed even more evidence that the military is an incubator for all that is good and righteous in the human soul, a new study has concluded that people who swear more are more likely to be honest. MORE

Donald Trump has enlisted a larger, more diverse lineup of clergy than usual to pray him into office at his upcoming inauguration ceremony.

The group—bigger than any president’s since Ronald Reagan—reflects his politics, pragmatism, and personality. It includes evangelical leaders Franklin Graham and Samuel Rodriguez, as well as spiritual advisor Paula White, the Florida televangelist credited with his rumored recent Christian conversion, and a Detroit prosperity preacher, Wayne T. Jackson. MORE

Yesterday also saw indications that localized protests by workers may be developing into a broader strike movement. Fourteen thousand bus, truck and taxi drivers in the oil-producing state of Veracruz announced a statewide strike of indefinite length, with many leaving their trucks, cabs, and buses parked on the street. MORE

A long but great story about the first (Irish) Catholic archbishop of New York.

e are not the first generation of New Yorkers puzzled by what to do about the underclass. A hundred years ago and more, Manhattan’s tens of thousands of Irish seemed a lost community, mired in poverty and ignorance, destroying themselves through drink, idleness, violence, criminality, and illegitimacy. What made the Irish such miscreants? Their neighbors weren’t sure: perhaps because they were an inferior race, many suggested; you could see it in the shape of their heads, writers and cartoonists often emphasized. In any event, they were surely incorrigible. MORE

I have a blog called The Okie Traditionalist. I had reported about your decision to not establish the Doloran Fathers, and recently the Daughters of Mary, two religious communities founded by Bishop Slattery with devotion for the Traditional Latin Mass.

Many people are asking why you are doing this, as a new bishop? To these priests, sisters, and to the work of Bishop Slattery? Many local Catholics are concerned that you personally disapprove of the Latin Mass and Catholics attached to it, and intend to continue similar actions to priests, religious, and laity in your diocese, who are attached to the traditional liturgy. MORE

Politics,Yea, Hope more get on the band wagon…

A small business owner in Oregon has a message for CNN, ignorant liberals and Bruce Springsteen: “We’ve had it with you idiots.”

Kevin Kerwin is the proprietor of Kevin the Geek Computer Repair store in Lake Oswego. He’s also one of the few conservatives around town. MORE

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Snow and sleet pounded a large swath of the East Coast on Saturday, coating roads with ice and causing hundreds of crashes. Thousands of people lost power and forecasters warned of blizzard-like conditions from Virginia to parts of the Northeast. MORE