Vatican News: Secretariat of State publishes full “Jews” series of historical archive online. “The Vatican Secretariat of State has completed its virtual reproduction of a collection of 170 volumes preserving the requests for help addressed to Pope Pius XII by Jews from all over Europe after the beginning of Nazi-Fascist persecution.”
Catholic News Agency: The ‘Random Catholic Dude’ behind the website chronicling the Catholic hierarchy. “He works a full-time computer support job, loves to travel, opens emails with ‘howdy,’ and belongs to the Church of the Holy Cross in Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City, Kansas. [David M.] Cheney is also the person behind the longest-running online database for information about the bishops and dioceses of the global Catholic Church.”
KUNR: Catholic Church ‘dumped’ abusive priests onto tribal communities, database shows. “Over the past 70 years, 96 priests of the Jesuits West Province of the Society of Jesus have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. Nearly half of them – 47 priests – spent time on tribal lands. That’s according to a database called ‘Desolate Country: Mapping Catholic Sex Abuse in Native America,’ which a pair of researchers built from the Catholic Church’s own list of “credible claims of sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult” by priests and brothers across much of the West dating back to 1950.”
College of the Holy Cross: College of the Holy Cross Receives $250,000 Grant to Digitize Portions of Deaf Catholic Archives. “The College of the Holy Cross Archives and Distinctive Collections has received a $250,000 grant to fund Digitizing the Deaf Catholic Archives, which is housed at the College The project, supported by a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), will open access to a collection of print and audio visual materials.The CLIR grant is funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.”
The Boston Pilot / Archdiocese of Boston: Online Collections Catalog Launches Aug. 1. “Because of the time and effort required to enter each collection, presently included are the most frequently used collections: bishops’ papers, the manuscript collection, reference books, school records, sacramental records, and the first several hundred of nearly 5,000 historic photographs. Adding new and updating existing records will be part of our daily workflow moving forward.”
Catholic News Agency: Records of Jews who sought Vatican help during Holocaust to go public. “Relatives of Holocaust survivors and victims can now look through the files of more than 2,700 Jews who sought help through Vatican channels to escape Nazi persecution before and during the Second World War. The archives have gone public on the internet at the request of Pope Francis.”
Religion News Service: RIP Catholic News Service — gone too soon and when we needed you most. “The U.S. Catholic bishops are killing off Catholic News Service, one of their most successful national programs. Founded in 1921, CNS is the AP of Catholic news, providing copy to Catholic publications across the country and around the world.”
Financial Times: The Franciscan monk helping the Vatican take on — and tame — AI. “Over the past three years, [Paolo] Benanti has become the AI whisperer to the highest echelon of the Holy See. The monk, who completed part of his PhD in the ethics of human enhancement technologies at Georgetown University in the US, briefs the 85-year-old Pope and senior counsellors on the potential applications of AI, which he describes as a general-purpose technology ‘like steel or electrical power’, and how it will change the way in which we all live. He also plays the role of matchmaker between what Stephen Jay Gould famously described as the non-overlapping magisteria, leaders of faith on the one hand and technology on the other.”
CBC: Oblates to open Rome archives next month for residential school records search. “The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) plans to begin a search as soon as next month in the archives of a Roman Catholic order that ran 48 residential schools in Canada, including the institution in Kamloops, B.C., where last year more than 200 unmarked graves were discovered. Raymond Frogner, head of archives for the NCTR, will be visiting the Rome archives of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate to review and digitize residential school-related records. It’s the first time any Canadian researcher has been granted access to the Oblate General Archives.”
Washington Post: Monks in New Mexico desert dedicated to hospitality reflect on two years without guests. “For more than 50 years, a small community of Benedictine monks has quietly lived, worked and worshiped here in a cluster of off-grid adobe buildings along the banks of northern New Mexico’s Chama River. Considered the most remote Catholic monastery in the hemisphere, it can be reached only by a 13-mile single-lane earthen road that winds through the canyon. Abiquiú, the closest village — population 151 — is 25 miles away. Groves of cottonwood and willows line the river where bald eagles hunt for rainbow trout. Black bears, coyotes and cougars prowl the pinyon- and sage-scented Santa Fe National Forest, which surrounds the monastery. Despite the difficult journey, outsiders have flocked to this serene abbey for decades in search of spiritual renewal.”
Reuters: Two close aides of Pope Francis test positive for COVID-19, Vatican says. “The second and third ranking Vatican officials under Pope Francis have tested positive for COVID-19, the Vatican said on Tuesday. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is secretary of state, had slight symptoms, and the deputy secretary of state, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, had no symptoms, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.”
New York Times: A Vatican Library Shortens the Distance Between Its Works and Its Scholars. “Some of the texts at the [library of the Pontifical Oriental Institute], which over the years swelled to some 200,000 works, have just been digitized, and will soon be at the fingertips of a global audience — no voyages or ladders needed. The first digitized versions will be available to the public in mid-2022, the product of a charitable initiative that connected the institute with technology companies in the United States and Germany.”
Associated Press: Leader of Washington’s Catholic Archdiocese has COVID-19. “The cardinal who leads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington has tested positive for the coronavirus. The archdiocese said in a statement Friday that Cardinal Wilton Gregory is canceling his appearances at this weekend’s services.”
Anglican Ink: Covid concerns prompt National Cathedral to cancel Christmas Day services — Christmas Eve services unchanged. “Like you, we are watching the spread of COVID-19 and the omicron variant with equal measures of fatigue and wariness. I imagine that you, too, are asking what this variant means for upcoming Christmas gatherings and what steps each of us can take to protect our friends and families. The health and safety of our extended Cathedral community is our highest priority. In these anxious times, nothing else is more important. However, nearly two years into this pandemic, we have the tools, practices and valuable experience that allow us to gather safely and responsibly.”
Radio Prague International: Some of Czechia’s rarest mediaeval manuscripts on display at new Saint Ludmila exhibition in Prague’s Klementinum . “A new two-month exhibition opened up in Prague’s Klementinum this week, which focuses on Saint Ludmila, the grandmother and tutor of the country’s patron saint, who was martyred exactly 1,100 years ago. Visitors are able to explore her life and saintly cult through a variety of literary exhibits, including some of the country’s most important medieval manuscripts. The exhibition is also available online, where visitors are encouraged to try out conducting their own research.”
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