Blog - August 2012 RSS Feed

Here is the prayer that I offered at the Republican National Convention: With firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, let us pray: Almighty God, father of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus, we beg your continued blessings on this sanctuary of freedom, and on all of those who proudly call America home.

A year-or-so-ago, on Pentecost Sunday , appropriately, I had one of those rare-but-dramatic moments of divine illumination. I had just finished celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation for about two-dozen of our special needs children.

This morning, the Archdiocese of New York released a statement to the press regarding next week’s Democratic National Convention. I would like to share the press release with you. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 28, 2012 STATEMENT OF JOSEPH ZWILLING REGARDING INVITATION TO PRAY AT DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION “Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, has accepted an invitation to deliver the closing prayer at next week’s Democratic National Convention.

Let me share with you my most recent column in Catholic New York . I wrote about my visit to the “upper counties” of the archdiocese. Here is an excerpt: My first stop was for Mass with the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate.

I would like to share with you the statement that the Archdiocese of New York released to the press today regarding next week’s Republican National Convention. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 23, 2012 STATEMENT OF JOSEPH ZWILLING REGARDING BENEDICTION INVITATION Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, has accepted an invitation to deliver the closing prayer at next week’s Republican National Convention.

I would like to ask you to please keep Francis Cardinal George, the Archbishop of Chicago, in your prayers in a special way these days. The Archdiocese of Chicago has announced that Cardinal George has been diagnosed with cancerous cells in his kidney and in a nodule that was removed from his liver.

FEAST OF ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE Last week I was out in Anaheim for the annual Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus . It was, as usual, a most uplifting and inspirational event. In his rousing address to the thousands of delegates, representing 1.8 million knights, Dr. Carl Anderson, the Supreme Knight, exhorted us to a renewed sense of faithful citizenship , encouraging us not to be shy about bringing the values of faith to the public square.

In this week’s Catholic New York  column , I wrote about the importance of being accountable to God and ourselves. I would like to share it with you. Here is an excerpt: The Church needs to be accountable.

While I was vacationing with my family, Cardinal George released this excellent blog post reflecting on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s statement about Chicago values. In case you haven’t seen it, here is an excerpt: Recent comments by those who administer our city seem to assume that the city government can decide for everyone what are the “values” that must be held by citizens of Chicago.

You probably know that I did my graduate studies in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States. You may also know that a sad fact of that history is that the Catholic community in the USA, from the start, has had to counter a deep and pervasive bigotry.

One part of the HHS mandate sadly goes into effect today. You probably know all about the mandate by now. It’s the decree from the Secretary of Health and Human Services that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires employer health care plans to include contraceptive services for women, including drugs called abortifacients.