Is This the Holy Grail?
Legends have surrounded the Holy Grail, the chalice of the Last Supper. Now a researcher claims to have proven the Holy Chalice of Valencia as the true Holy Grail. Can this really be so,...
Category: Church History
Dioceses’ Spat Over Sheen’s Bones Ends
Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Illinois, announced “with great joy” that the New York Supreme Court ruled that the remains of Archbishop Fulton Sheen should be transferred from New York to his diocese. The...
Why Xhosa Christians are ‘Majakane’
My friend, a theology PhD student, recently asked me why the first black African Christians in our region, mostly Xhosa, were called “Majakane”. What she didn’t know is that this means “the people of...
The Catholic Heart of Panama City
In January, GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER visited Panama City to report on World Youth Day. Here he shares some impressions of the profoundly Catholic city. (All photos: Günther Simmermacher) Normal life will have returned to Panama City...
Pope Announces Access to Wartime Documents in Vatican Secret Archives
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service – Declaring that the Catholic Church is unafraid of history, Pope Francis announced that documents in the Vatican Secret Archives relating to the wartime pontificate of Pope Pius...
The Early Lives of Two Jo’burg Saints: The Domitila and Danny Hyams Story
Domitilla Rota Hyams was the saintly founder, with the help of husband Danny, of the Little Eden Society for intellectually disabled children in Gauteng. In the first of a series of four articles, Daluxolo...
‘Pretoria’s Catholic Mother Church’ Nears 100 years
By Daluxolo Moloantoa – In two years’ time Pretoria’s oldest black mission will turn 100, and this January the Most Holy Redeemer Mission church in Mmakau Village celebrated its 98 years by looking back at...
Why is the Church Absent in History Textbooks?
QX Nobin, Pietermaritzburg – The state has announced a review of the CAPS (Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements) history syllabuses of Grades 4 to 12. So far, these history syllabuses have made no mention...
The Worst-Ever Pope?
Pope Francis, the American Facebook commenter pronounced with a certainty that permitted no dissent, “is the worst pope of all time”. Obviously that person is not a fan of the Holy Father. Personally, I...
The Problem with Pope Pius XII
Peter Onesta, Johannesburg – What Patrick Dacey says of Popes Pius XI and XII in his letter “See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil”— concerning Church matters” is correct. At least Pius...
See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil”— Concerning Church Matters
Patrick Dacey, Johannesburg – Another watershed moment may be looming when heads of the world’s bishops’ conferences meet with Pope Francis in February next year. Pope John XXIII led the way with Vatican II,...
Trappist Martyrs to be Beatified in Algeria
After Islamic terrorists stormed the Algerian monastery he called home, Trappist Father Christian de Cherge — who with 18 others will be beatified on December 8 — felt compelled to put pen to paper and write down his testament.
