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(March 3, 2011) Atlanta, GA—Boston is no stranger to the challenges facing the world today: the fragile economy, high unemployment, rising cost of food and gas, and turmoil around the globe. In an effort to offer hope and peace to families during these troubled times in the world, the Archdiocese of Boston is turning to television, the Internet, and the power of God for the answers, by calling inactive Catholics home to the Church for Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season.“This Lent, we’ve made an outreach to inactive Catholics … launching several television commercials to invite our brothers...

PORTSMOUTH, VA. (Catholic Online) - Dear Dr Denton: As the Lenten season unfolds, can you tell me the effects of fasting on my body?Lent is my favorite spiritual time of the year. For me, it is a time of great joy. It cleanses my mind, body, and most importantly my soul. I have spent the past year building up toxins from the world I live in. Largely, it is the result of my own choices. I came off the holiday season and .presto, I was not quite as spry as I was in October when I was enjoying those little red...

Three young men have been arrested in connection with a Silver Springs Shores burglary last month in which the remains of a woman's father and the ashes of her two pet great Danes were stolen.

A British widow said she took her husband's ashes on the 60,000-mile world tour he always wanted in life but never had because of his fear of flying. Rita Munns, 63, of Exning, England, said her husband, Richard, had regretted not traveling more during his life but was prevented from flying more than twice in his lifetime because of his fear, the Daily Mail reported Friday. Munns said Richard died from cancer in 2007 and she set out to take his ashes on a three-year vacation to countries including China, Italy, Turkey, France, New Zealand and Israel. She said she...

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 "When you fast. . .": An Ash Wednesday Post   Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the traditional period of "Lent". "Lent" is an old English word for "Spring", but of course for Christians it is more than a recognition of the changing of seasons, it is a call for a change of heart. I recently did an hour-long radio interview on the practice of Lent on Catholic Answers radio, the podcast of which can be heard here. I'm not going to try to reproduce all I said there in this post. In addition, to...

Questions… questions… From The Catholic League: JOE BIDEN RIDICULED FOR WEARING ASHES Fox News analyst Bob Beckel today criticized Vice President Joe Biden for wearing ashes on TV; today is Ash Wednesday and Biden is Catholic. In the middle of a discussion on President Obama’s stimulus plan, Beckel gratuitously said, “Sorry about laughing, but I looked at Joe Biden’s forehead, and I know it is Ash Wednesday, but I’m not sure I would wear that ash on the air. Anyway….” Catholic League president Bill Donohue wasn’t amused:Bob Beckel’s admonishing remark, “I’m not sure I would wear that ash on the...

CHESAPEAKE "We couldn't be there when she died. But we can be there for her now." The priest's robes flutter in the frigid breeze as he moves quickly toward the Blessed Sacrament Chapel with the square-shaped urn. He holds the gold-colored box like a treasure he must protect, because for so long, no one did. Monsignor Michael McCarron calls her "Barbara." He knows only the sparest details of her life, mostly dates and addresses: She was born in Germany in 1897. She moved to the United States in 1955. She died in Tampa a decade ago at 103. They had...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senators are examining ways to fashion a climate control bill to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which might not include a cap-and-trade system, key senators said on Thursday. President Barack Obama called for a "comprehensive" bill during Wednesday's State of the Union address. In his speech, Obama did not specifically mention the need for a market-based emissions cap. Some interpreted the omission as signaling that he would not actively pursue wide-ranging climate control legislation this year. "Comprehensive climate change (legislation) means pricing carbon and setting a target for reduction," Senator John Kerry, a Democrat and one of three...

A powder sent to the American embassy in Rome during last week's G8 in Italy was the ashes of the sender's wife, it emerged today. Officials at the embassy went into overdrive when the envelope arrived last Wednesday, just hours before President Barack Obama arrived in the Italian capital for the summit. The post room of the building was sealed off and staff evacuated as police scientists in protective overalls arrived to take the powder away amid fears it could be an anthrax terror attack.

A true story: a few years ago, I was serving as a Eucharistic Minister on Ash Wednesday, and I stood over there during communion, holding the chalice filled with the Precious Blood. A man came up to me, and I was about to offer him the cup when he waved it away. “I just have a question,” he whispered. “Will you give out ashes after mass?” I looked at him, a little bewildered, and I nodded. “Uh, yeah,” I said. “But -- ?” “Okay,” he replied. “Great. Thanks.” And he went back to his seat. Further proof, if any were...

As we get ready for another Ash Wednesday, and another 40-day sojourn into the desert, the Arkansas Catholic has this intriguing item reminding us that Lent is not just a Catholic thing anymore: Beginning Ash Wednesday, Catholics enter the 40-day penitential season of Lent, but they are not the only Christians to do so. In fact, a growing number of Christian denominations are incorporating Lenten observances into their Christian experience. "In some denominations we are reclaiming a sense of history," Dr. Jane Harris, professor of American religion at Hendrix College in Conway, said. "We can still be Protestant yet claim...

Every car or truck carries in the glove compartment a maintenance schedule. Having your oil changed, your tires rotated and balanced, and the rest of the engine checked keeps your vehicle in excellent shape. This Wednesday, we begin one of the most practical times of the Catholic liturgical year. Lent provides us an opportunity to open our personal maintenance schedule and take a close look at ourselves as we journey towards eternal life. The spiritual life is not an easy endeavor because of our wounded human nature. True, Baptism washes away original sin, but we do not have complete control...

A ceremony arranged for his grandmother, whom he lost during the election process, may end up causing quite a headache for Barack Obama. In a ceremony held in Hawaii, Obama, teary-eyed, poured his grandmother's ashes into the sea from the sand-lined shore. Environmentalists were quick to stand up against the move. The reason behind the contention was the state's Department of Land and Natural Resources Protection Law, which prohibits ashes from being dropped into the ocean. According to the regulation in place, ashes must be poured at a distance of at least three nautical miles.

NEW ORLEANS - Even though he's only 37 and in good health, Nathan Davis has already made out his will. In it, he bequeaths money to the University of Alabama athletic department and his ashes to Bryant-Denny Stadium. Davis, whose heavily tattooed body is a living tribute to his beloved school, wants his remains to become an actual part of it. "I spell it out in my will," Davis said. "My first choice is to spread my ashes at the stadium, second is on the Walk of Champions, and third is on Bear Bryant's statue." Davis is one of an...

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The cardinal who administered ashes to Benedict XVI today says the exhortations that accompany the rite are not easy to say to a Pope.Cardinal Jozef Tomko, cardinal-priest of the Basilica of Santa Sabina where the Bishop of Rome celebrated this evening's Ash Wednesday Mass, has been the prelate who administers ashes to the Pontiff for the last 12 years. He receives this task because he was assigned the cardinal titular church where the Pontiff traditionally celebrates Mass for the beginning of Lent. Like all Catholics, the Holy Father receives the ashes while the one...

Roman Catholics grow up hearing the words on Ash Wednesday as they receive a sign of the cross in ashes on their foreheads:"For dust you are and to dust you will return."But Christians at many Protestant churches around the city will be hearing those words from Genesis 3:19 today as they, too, are marked by ashes on the first day of Lent, the 40-day somber season leading to Easter.Protestant churches in recent years have increasingly turned to the rite to increase spirituality and devotional preparation for Easter Sunday among their members."There is a trend ... toward more sacramental forms and...

Richards originally claimed he was misquoted, after his publicists attempted to quash the story. Richards, who last weekend claimed he would live to the age of 150, revealed that although he did snort his father, he did not mix his ashes with cocaine, as his previous NME.COM quote implied. "The cocaine bit was rubbish," he said. "I said I chopped him up like cocaine, not with. "I pulled the lid off [my father's urn] and out comes a bit of dad on the dining room table," Richards continued. "I'm going, 'I can't use the brush and dustpan for this'. "What...

ELMIRA, N.Y. — A New York state woman who was quick with the bargains at her rummage sale mistakenly accepted 50 cents for a ceramic turtle with the ashes of her husband's previous wife inside. Now, Anita Lewis is desperately searching for the buyer who said she planned to use the urn as a cookie jar. Ms. Lewis said she hauled items into her yard early Saturday while her husband slept.

Beaming him up was the easy part - the problem was transporting him back to Earth. A search team continues to look for a rocket carrying ashes of the actor James Doohan, who played Scotty on Star Trek, almost two weeks after it hurtled to the edge of space from New Mexico. Remains of the Canadian-born actor, who died two years ago at the age of 85, blasted off from a remote launch site on April 29 carrying a payload that included the ashes of astronaut Gordon Cooper and several experiments. A spokeswoman for Houston-based Space Services Inc, which organised...