Many bloggers take it easy on Friday by offering lists of links, so who am I to argue? Here are some interesting Church-related things I’ve come across lately:

Here are a couple nice new video ads (one and two) by CatholicsComeHome.org, that I guess have been on TV somewhere. They’re emotionally powerful, but at the same time they make their case simply and clearly without being pushy. They say, “Here’s who we are and what we’re about, and we’d love to have you join us.” I think they’re very well done, and there are also some nice shots of traditional services in the first one. Check out their site if you want to see more.

Here’s a good article from the New York Times (believe it or not) about two women who went into business with a monastery. A quote:

“I was scared to death,” said Ms. Griffith, 50, a Web designer and divorced grandmother who is not Catholic. “I’ve been to Catholic weddings, but I don’t know anything about monks. Do they talk? What do I do when they pray? Do I sing this stuff? I don’t know Latin.”

Here’s an interesting (and long) article about the early history of the Church. I liked this bit:

Since The Da Vinci Code and other dubious best-sellers claim that early Christianity was anti-feminist, it’s worth recalling that large numbers of women during these centuries thought otherwise. The Church’s teachings about marriage and family, along with its strictures against divorce, abortion, and the exposure of newborn babies — all of which a pagan husband could force his wife to do, no questions asked — resonated with women who were treated like chattel under the old dispensation. In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke goes out of his way to mention female converts like Lydia and Damaris. Even at this early date, women played a key role in the Church’s evangelical mission. No world religion has ever given women a more important place than Roman Catholicism.

I just discovered G.K. Chesterton, thanks to the folks at St. John Fisher Bookstore who came to St. Rose for the business expo. That’s a little embarassing to admit, considering that Chesterton is one of the most prolific and important writers of the twentieth century. But hey, I was busy reading sci-fi and fantasy during my school years.

Anyway, Chesteron provided a ton of great quotes, so I’m sure I’ll be writing more about him in the future. Here’s one about Catholicism, written after he converted. (H/T Fallibleblogma.com)

“It is impossible to be just to the Catholic Church. The moment men cease to pull against it they feel a tug towards it. The moment they cease to shout it down they begin to listen to it with pleasure. The moment they try to be fair to it they begin to be fond of it. But when that affection has passed a certain point it begins to take on the tragic and menacing grandeur of a great love affair.”

We learned this week that our Bishop, George Lucas, has been promoted to Archbishop of the Omaha diocese. I don’t know a lot about him, except that he had a real mess to clean up when he came to Springfield, and that he was supportive of the Latin Mass as soon as the people here in Quincy approached him about it. I’ll always be thankful to him for that, and I wish him well in his new appointment.