Presenting Josiah Francis

Happy 4th Anniversary to My Beloved Bride

"Her children rise up and call her happy;

    her husband too, and he praises her." 

- Proverbs 31:28

Saint Benedict Press Promotions

This coming August 13th will be the four year anniversary of the establishment of the Catholic Bibles Blog.  It truly has been a labor of love on my part.  Most notably, this blog has allowed me to interact with so many fellow Catholic Bible lovers from all over the world.  I thank all of you for stopping by and contributing to the various discussions we have had concerning all things Catholic Bibles. 

Now some of my favorite Catholic blogs, from time to time, will ask for donations to keep their sites going or for some other reason.  I have never done that, nor do I ever plan to do it.  However, perhaps you have noticed that on the right side-bar there are two new special links to Saint Benedict Press.  One of them concerns their new Catholic Courses program, while the other is a simple link to their site.  If, in the future, you decide to purchase an item directly from Saint Benedict Press, like one of their many editions of the Douay-Rheims, RSV-CE, or NABRE, please consider entering their site through one of these links.  If you happen to purchase something from them, I will receive a small commission.  Over the next few months, I hope to be able to provide some additional links to the Saint Benedict Press site which will include promotions and discount coupons. 

Thank you for your consideration and God bless!

Happy to Announce the Birth of.....

My son Judah

Born yesterday, 7 lbs 12 ounces

I Really Enjoy Listening to This Concert....

Often when I am doing work at a cafe I'll listen to music that is either downloaded on my computer or on Pandora. However, I will often just let this concert play in background while I am working. Call me crazy, but I really like listening to it.

Musically, I find that I tend to like both the older traditional hymns and modern contemporary Christian music. The stuff that is in the middle really doesn't appeal to me, in either a concert or liturgical setting. Perhaps that is because I grew up in a parish that played that type of '70s-'90s Catholic church music all the time.

I tend to be most comfortable in a Novus Ordo Mass, both in the vernacular but especially in Latin. However, I am equally as comfortable in Charismatic prayer groups or at a Third Day concert surrounded by predominantly our Protestant brothers and sisters.  Perhaps that explains why I enjoy the above concert.

Presenting the Newest Member of My Clan....

Judah Ganen

(His due date is in late July)

Habemus Episcopi!

I am happy to relay the news that the Holy Father has named two new auxiliary bishops here in the Archdiocese of Detroit. The press release, from the Archdiocese of Detroit, states:

"Pope Benedict XVI has named two local priests, Monsignor Donald Hanchon and Father Michael Byrnes, to be auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Detroit. Bishop-designates Hanchon and Byrnes will be ordained as the archdiocese's 26th and 27th auxiliary bishops, respectively, on May 5 at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit. Auxiliary bishops aid the archbishop in the pastoral care of the archdiocese."

More on this, see the article by the Michigan Catholic.

100,000 Visits

Just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who have visited this blog over the past two years. As of yesterday, it has received over 100,000 visits from readers throughout the world. I am honored and appreciative that all of you have taken the time to stop by. Thank you, as well, to all who have commented on this blog and have contributed guest reviews or posts. You have certainly enhanced the quality of this blog by your wisdom. As I mentioned in an post a year or so ago, I started this blog back in 2009 because I couldn't find anything else on the Internet that was specifically focused on Catholic Bible releases, editions, and study tools. I spent a lot of time reading some other wonderful, though primarily Protestant, Bible blogs. In many ways, they were a major reason why Catholic Bibles got started. I hope, over the past two years, this blog has helped alleviate that need. I am looking forward to the next 100,000 and more! May God the Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth, bless all of you!

Some Bible-related Christmas Gifts

Merry Christmas to you all! Hope all is well wherever you are. Know that my prayers are with all of you during this Christmas season. I just thought I would check in to let you know of a few Bible-related goodies I received from my family over Christmas. First off is the Amazon Kindle (wifi version). I was on the fence about whether to get this product, but thought about how useful it would be in leading Bible studies. Needless to say, it is a pretty neat product, particularly because of its portability and long-lasting battery. The first things I downloaded onto the Kindle were the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament, Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth, and some popular works from Chesterton and Lewis. A good start I think. Secondly, I received NT Wright's Small Faith, Great God which is a reprint of an earlier publication dating back to the late 70's. I have already begun to read some of the chapters and perhaps will make some comments on it in the future. Finally, I also received Gary Burge's Encounters with Jesus. I had read his previous two entries in the series, Jesus the Middle-Eastern Storyteller and The Bible and the Land, which provided some interesting insights which I had not considered. Even though this series of books comes from a Protestant perspective, I think there is much to be considered for a Catholic reader. These books are not all that long, but are lavishly illustrated in order to set the context and environment of the Biblical narrative.

Again, have a blessed Christmas and happy New Year!

Proud to Present My Daughter

I am very delighted to announce the birth of my first child, Gianna Maria. She was born on Friday at 1:38PM. We named her after one of our favorite saints, St. Gianna Molla.

As my wife went into labor on Friday morning, one piece of Scripture immediately entered my mind and has remained with me over the past few days. Although my wife did all the heavy lifting, we both found great comfort in these words of our Lord:

"When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you."

-John 16:21-22 (NRSV)

Ciao for now!

As I have hinted at in some previous posts, I am getting married at the end of this week. In many ways, this has been a blessed year so far, and the real high point will be celebrating the Sacrament of Marriage on Friday. After the wedding, my wife and I will be spending the following 2 weeks in the Eternal City, minus a weekend in Fiorenza.

So, needless to say, I will not be blogging at all starting tomorrow until early October. However, I do want to take the time to thank all of you who have stopped by over the past year. I have certainly appreciated the many comments and suggestions which you have contributed to this blog since it's inception in September 2008. My hope has always been that this blog would provide Catholics, and other Christians, information about the various Catholic Bible editions and versions that are on the market today. Perhaps in a very small way, this blog can continue to provide Catholic and secular Bible publishers some ideas as to what Catholics would like to see in future Bible editions. Fortunately, there seems to be a steady flow of news concerning Catholic Bible translations and editions these days, most notably the upcoming NAB revision, continued publications of the NRSV by HarperCollins, the NJB/"Bible in Traditions" project, as well as others. So, I look forward to blogging again in early October and continuing our discussion of the future of Catholic Bibles.

May God Bless all of you and thanks again for stopping by!

Prayer to the Holy Trinity

Glory be to the Father, Who by His almighty power and love created me, making me in the image and likeness of God.

Glory be to the Son, Who by His Precious Blood delivered me from hell, and opened for me the gates of heaven.

Glory be to the Holy Spirit, Who has sanctified me in the sacrament of Baptism, and continues to sanctify me by the graces I receive daily from His bounty.

Glory be to the Three adorable Persons of the Holy Trinity, now and forever.

Amen.

Some Changes

As I have hinted at in some recent posts, I will be leaving my position in campus/young adult ministry for the Archdiocese of Detroit at the end of this week. I am truly grateful for the past five years at my current position, as well as the prior two years doing campus ministry in Pennsylvania. I have met some wonderful people over these past years, including my future wife! The Lord has provided me many opportunities to do ministry with young adults, and at the same time being ministered to by others. It is funny how the Lord works! I have also been blessed and nourished by the wisdom of many devout ministry people, both lay and religious, both Catholic and Protestant. If I am any better a follower of Christ, it is only because of His grace and the people he has brought into my life.

So, what am I going to be doing in the future? Well, in many ways this has been a year of milestones for me. First off, I completed the S.T.B. degree at Sacred Heart Major Seminary back in May. Secondly, I will be getting married in September. And finally I will be starting a new position as campus minister/freshman scripture teacher at a local Catholic high school. So, as you can see, there is plenty to keep me occupied.

However, I do plan to continue blogging as well! Although I am still working out how to be a "professional" biblioblogger, I have come to enjoy reporting on Catholic Bible releases and all things related to it. There are not many of us on the web who are concerned with quality Catholic bibles, so I hope at the very least, this site continues to provide a place for people to express their likes and dislikes in the Catholic Biblical world. Heck, every once in a while you might get someone like Fr. Fessio to stop by and comment.

So, I thank all of you who have stopped by over the past year. I look forward to discussing with you all the latest news, like the revised NAB, future NRSV releases (perhaps even with cross-references), and the eventual publication of the complete Ignatius Catholic Study Bible.

Praise be Jesus Christ!