Here’s a review of posts of interest from other blogs:

• Exegetically - 2.1 Roman Catholic traditions; 2.2 Protestant traditions. 3 Judaism. 3.1 Midrash; 3.2 Mikra. 4 Indian philosophy; 5 Islam; 6 Exegesis in a secular context; 7 Bibliography. 7.1 Old Testament Introductions; 7.2 New Testament Introductions …
• Union of Catholic Asian News » News Archive » Church Stages … - He expected the performance to help the children appreciate local Catholic traditions. The drama, Rajathun Kattuwa (three kings), is based on the biblical story of the Three Kings, or Magi, who offered gold, …
• Should Ontario Expand or Abolish Public Funding for Religious Schools? - With the Ontario election campaign beginning to show signs of life, the long-debated issue of faith-based education has once again re-surfaced. And once again, the issue is polarized along partisan lines. On the one hand, …

Technorati Tags: review

“Remember, man, that you are dust and unto dust you shall return”.

These are the words the priest recites to each and every person who receives ashes on Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday is the official first day of Lent and starts 46 days of preparation for the passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter.  On this first day, Catholic faithful confess and repent for their sins and receive the sign of the cross upon their foreheads as a symbol of penance and mourning.  The priest places the sign of the cross using a mixture of blessed ashes and holy water.

These ashes are made by burning leftover palm plants from the previous year’s Palm Sunday and mixed with water and incense.  The receiving of ashes on Ash Wednesday dates back to the 900’s AD.

Tradition has it that once these ashes are placed on the forehead they are not washed off until after sundown.  This is a profession of faith to others.

The day is also observed by fasting or abstaining from meat.  In 2009, Ash Wednesday will be celebrated on February 25th.

Technorati Tags: ash wednesday

Like many boys growing up in the sixties, I was a scout; a cub scout and a boy scout.  One of the awards we strove to achieve was the Parvuli Dei Award.

Parvuli Dei means “Children of God” and is an award established by the National Catholic Committee on Scouting to foster family and church values in young Catholic boys.

The award was first conceived by the Rev Gerard A McWilliams, a priest at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Bethesda, Maryland.  The first recipient was cub scout Patrick Bell of Pack 300 on February 8, 1953.  The idea spread rapidly to other parishes and it officially became a National Award in 1956.

The program to achieve the award has been appropriately updated throughout the years and is now organized around the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church.

Nearly half a million Cub Scouts have earned the Parvuli Dei emblem since it was made available.

Technorati Tags: catholic scouting award, cub scouts, parvuli dei

This video from YouTube and reposted here on Catholic Symbols:

The late Pope John Paul II was one of Poland’s most famous exports.

In fact, Polish Catholic priests used to go on missions all over the world.

But the church in Poland is reporting a decline in the number of people turning to priesthood, as Nadim Baba reports now from Krakow.

Technorati Tags: catholic priests, pope john paul

This week in review:

• Maitland Art Center - The education begins when the 25 students ranging in age from 8 to 14 gather in a small outdoor theatre adorned with Hispanic carvings of various catholic symbols. The speaker is Nancy Rosado, a local aspiring artist who was born in …
• Spain: Nativity Scene Removed « International Religious Freedom News - There is a continued debate over secularism in Spain, where Catholic symbols remain prominent in public life 30 years after the end of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco who had established Catholicism as a “state religion. …