Jeanie Hannaman

By Matthew McDonald, National Catholic Register - A retired NY bishop (Bishop Edward Scharfenberger) has filed for personal bankruptcy protection in federal court after a state jury verdict found him, along with other officials, personally liable for the collapse of a Catholic hospital pension fund that left about 1,100 retirees without the lifetime monthly payments they were expecting... Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, 77, who served as bishop of Albany from April 2014 until his retirement in October, is seeking protection from creditors for his assets valued at between $100,001 and $500,000, according to a filing Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York... he has between 100 and 199 creditors and debts totaling between $1,000,001 and $10 million.

By Rob Sexton, Catholic Exchange - We speak often of Mary’s Fiat, and rightly so. Her yes stands at the center of salvation history. But Scripture gives us another yes, one that is quieter and almost hidden in the background. It is the yes of a man who receives no annunciation from an angel in broad daylight, who hears God not through a message addressed to him by name but through a dream. Joseph wakes from that dream and obeys.

By Gayle Somers, Catholic Exchange - As our time of preparation and waiting in Advent draws to a close, we find ourselves listening to St. Matthew’s account of how Joseph became an important part of the first Advent. In some ways, the example of Joseph is the perfect pivot point as we move from anticipation to reality in the Incarnation, celebrated all through the liturgical season of Christmas. How?