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NEW YORK — Franciscan Father Benedict Joseph Groeschel, well-known preacher and a founder of the Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, died on Friday at age 81, after an extended illness. “We are deeply saddened by the death of Father Benedict. He was an example to us all,” said Father John-Paul Ouellette, community servant of the Friars of the Renewal, in a statement. “His fidelity and service to the Church and commitment to our Franciscan way of life will have a tremendous impact for generations to come.” Father Groeschel was a founder, author, teacher, preacher and retreat master....

The Catholic Church and the Franciscan family lost a giant today. This moment is one that finds the Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFR) with mixed emotions, as we are deeply saddened by the loss of Fr. Benedict but also relieved that God has set him free from the physical and mental suffering he has experienced over the past decade. The world knew Father Benedict as a priest, teacher, evangelist, retreat master, and a steadfast defender of and advocate for the Catholic Church that he loved so much. The members of his religious family saw all these...

The recent comments regarding clerical sexual abuse of minors made by Father Benedict Groeschel to a news editor of the National Catholic Register should never have been published. In no way do those comments reflect the views of the Register or EWTN. It should have been obvious to the editor that Father Benedict's physical condition and mental clarity have deteriorated and that the comments were completely inconsistent with his life's work and witness. We apologize that these remarks were published and ask for forgiveness for this error. To regular viewers of EWTN, it has been evident for some time that...

New York - A prominent Catholic priest says he believes “youngsters” are often to blame for sexual abuse by priests and that priests who are first time offenders should not be jailed for their crime. Father Benedict Groeschel, founder of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, is well known as the host of Sunday Night Prime with Father Benedict Groeschel, a weekly show on Catholic television network EWTN. It was not what he said on his television show that has sparked controversy however, it is comments he made in an interview with the National Catholic Register that has outraged many. According...

The Diocese of Paterson is now placing some of the blame for an alleged serial abuser on a spiritual counselor who said he was fit to return to ministry. The Rev. Benedict Groeschel, a prominent New York Franciscan friar and psychologist, treated James T. Hanley, during the 1980s, after Hanley allegedly abused more than 15 boys in a Mendham parish. Groeschel said at the time that Hanley's problem was alcoholism, not a tendency to abuse minors, according to Marianna Thompson, the diocesan spokeswoman. The diocese removed Hanley from ministry in 1986, 10 months after Mendham parishioner Mark Serrano revealed that...

STEUBENVILLE, OH—Franciscan University of Steubenville awarded its 2011 Poverello Medal to Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR, for his lifetime of service to the materially and spiritually poor. The medal, which is the highest, non-academic honor the University can bestow, was presented to Father Groeschel on Thursday, November 17, 2011, in New York City. The awards ceremony began with Mass, attended by Franciscan University friends and alumni, as well as members of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, the order that Father Groeschel helped found in 1987. The Mass was held at the Church of the Guardian Angel in Chelsea. Father...

Twelve years ago at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, a 17-year-old speedskating prodigy named Kirstin Holum was tapped for future greatness. (snip) The peaceful surrounds of the convent is where Holum, now known as Sister Catherine, devotes her life to religious service as a Franciscan nun. That calling had begun on a trip to Our Lady of Fatima, a holy site in Portugal famed for a series of religious visions that appeared nearly a century ago. It was outside the Fatima basilica where Holum decided that a path of religious dedication, not frozen skating lanes, would be her destiny. (snip)...

Yesterday I came across pieces of news about three different priests, all three of them fairly well known. Consider this a little "Let's give thanks for good priests" post during this Year of the Priest. • Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., celebrated fifty years of priesthood on June 20, 2009. From an article (with lots of great photos, such as the one shown on the right) on the website of the Franciscan Friars of Renewal: It was the summer of 1959. Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the third year of his second term as President of the United States. The...

Schedule June 28 Fr. Joseph T. Lienhard, SJ, Prof. of Theology, Fordham University

Father Groeschel speaks last October during EWTN's Family Celebration at Northern Illinois University. (CNS) Father Benedict Groeschel, whose whole life has been spent preaching the Gospel, suffered a minor stroke in mid-March, leaving him with some speech difficulties. Father Benedict made the news public on his regular Sunday evening talk show March 29 on the Eternal Word Television Network, “Sunday Night Life with Father Benedict Groeschel.” Appearing before a life audience, the 75-year-old Franciscan Friar of the Renewal noted that he had missed the show the previous Sunday because he had suffered a stroke overnight March 20-21. Another member of...

Michael had been writing a column for the Diocesan newspaper called “Some Seed Fell” and posting them after publication on his blog. His sweet secretary Allison just sent me the last column he wrote, being published this week, that he wrote Monday night. While in Washington, D.C. several weeks ago, I ran into an old friend, Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR, with whom I have collaborated on several books. We met after a Mass for pro-life leaders at Trinity College. It was exactly five years and 10 days from that night in Orlando, FL when Father Benedict nearly lost his...

By Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR from First Things Magazine (June/July 2007) It was a truism—universally accepted until the last decades of the twentieth century—that, wherever the Catholic Church was present, there would be representatives of the religious life: communities of vowed men and women living a frugal common life, praying and working together in Christian service, and offering a witness to the kingdom of God. They belonged to congregations that explicitly took on the responsibility of answering the gospel’s call to leave family, lands, and ownership to follow Jesus Christ. Similar religious communities existed in smaller numbers in the...

What Went Wrong at EWTN? Hoping to avoid a takeover by the American bishops, Mother Angelica resigned from the board of directors of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) in March of 2000. She relinquished all control over the network she had founded in 1981. With the departure of that feisty and combative nun, EWTN underwent a change for the worse. This sure-to-be-controversial book contends that since the departure of its foundress, EWTN has been purveying to millions of Catholics a strange brew of the orthodox and the heterodox, the sacred and the profane. The anti-liberal Popes before the Second...

Father Benedict Groeschel talks election issues to Catholics on EWTN now.

Father Glenn Sudano, speaking on behalf of a friary in New York, has issued an extensive report on the injuries suffered by nationally-known priest Father Benedict Groeschel Sunday night while he was near the Orlando International Airport [see previous story]:"The Lord give you peace. On behalf of Fr. Benedict and all the friars & sisters of the Renewal, I want to express to you our thanks for your concern and support during these most difficult days. Since Father's accident so many have contacted us hoping to hear some news. I am sorry the notice, critical but stable" and "no calls!"...

The rumors and initial reports flew with fury Monday as word spread that a nationally-known priest, Father Benedict Groeschel, author of numerous books and director of spiritual development for the Diocese of New York, had been hit by a car after arriving at Orlando International Airport in Florida Sunday. Police tell Spirit Daily the incident occurred at 9:43 p.m. as Father Groeschel was leaving a Chili's Restaurant with a carry-out bag. The accident was at the corner of Semoran Boulevard and Hazeltine National Drive about a mile north of the airport. The priest was "barely conscious" when police arrived, according...

EWTNews- Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, well known to EWTN viewers for his numerous series and appearances on the network, is in critical but stable condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center after being struck by a car near Orlando International Airport in Florida. The incident occurred Sunday evening. Details are sketchy but sources say the priest was walking to a restaurant for a meal when he was hit. EWTNews will keep you informed of this situation as it develops. Please keep Fr. Groeschel in your prayers.

Says New Mysteries Will Encourage Reading of GospelsNEW YORK, JUNE 10, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Inspired by John Paul II's declaration of the Year of the Rosary, a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, Father Benedict Groeschel, has written a book of meditations on all 20 mysteries of the rosary. Father Groeschel, director of the office of spiritual development for the Archdiocese of New York, recently spoke with ZENIT about "The Rosary: Chain of Hope" (Ignatius), which was written during his personal recitations of the rosary. Q: What have the five new luminous mysteries added to the spirituality of the rosary? Father Groeschel:...

RODIMER: PSYCHOLOGIST GAVE ME BAD ADVICE Tuesday, March 4, 2003 By Maya KremenHerald News The Diocese of Paterson is now placing some of the blame for an alleged serial abuser on a spiritual counselor who said he was fit to return to ministry.The Rev. Benedict Groeschel, a prominent New York Franciscan friar and psychologist, treated James T. Hanley, during the 1980s, after Hanley allegedly abused more than 15 boys in a Mendham parish. Groeschel said at the time that Hanley's problem was alcoholism, not a tendency to abuse minors, according to Marianna Thompson, the diocesan spokeswoman.The diocese removed Hanley...

I witnessed something extraordinary at last month’s Theology on Tap. Picture it if you can – a jam-packed upstairs room at the Temple Bar in Stamford, Connecticut. Nighttime. Loud rock music from the Thursday night bar scene down below is drifting in through the closed door at the top of the stairs. The Upper Room Inside the room where we are, though, a different atmosphere prevails. Fr. Benedict Groeschel, a worn-out jacket over his Franciscan robe, is bowed over a microphone in prayer at a makeshift podium, invoking the Holy Spirit upon our assembly. There must be close to 250...