Fr. Bill Wack, CSC, Pastor of St. Ignatius, Martyr, has been named as the sixth bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee.
About Brandon Kraft
Congrats Bishop-Elect Danny Garcia!
Fr. Danny Garcia, the vicar general of the Diocese of Austin and the former longtime pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in north Austin has been named by Pope Francis as the first auxiliary bishop of Austin! UPDATE: More about Bishop-Elect Garcia can be found in the Diocesan announcement. Bishop-Elect Garcia will be ordained… [Read More]
Impostor Syndrome and Faith
Do you feel like an impostor? Someone will realize you’re not as holy as you think they think you are? You’re not alone.
Liveblog: ACNM at SXSW 2013
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Epiphany Traditions
Yesterday was the Solemnity of the Epiphany, both the traditional date of January 6th and more recent “transferred date” of the Sunday between January 2nd and 8th, which is one of the marks used to end the traditional Christmas season. Growing up, all of our family traditions revolved around Christmas Day itself—opening presents, Christmas dinner and… [Read More]
Don’t Ignore Advent
I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining. I believe in Love even when I don’t feel it. I believe in God even when he is silent. We’re 15 days away from Christmas. We are in a time of preparation, both of the celebration of the birth of Jesus of many years ago… [Read More]
Stability of Heart
Oblates of the Order of St. Benedict are lay people who are formally associated to a monastery. They aren’t monks, but normal, everyday folks who strive to follow the guidance given by St. Benedict in his Rule in a way that is proper for life outside of a monastery. Oblates make three promises, the phrasing of the first… [Read More]
Whatever You Do: Just Do It
I love the month of October. Such a wide variety of important dates fall within the month, that we now have an annual “Kraftoberfiesta” to celebrate. This year, Vanessa and I celebrated our 4th anniversary on the 4th, I remembered my dad on what would have been his 69th birthday on the 9th. My mom… [Read More]
When Civility Is Lost
My mom, who lives in my hometown outside of the Diocese, called me last night with a church dilemma. Her dilemma is with the upcoming election, politics have become a common topic of conversation in the pews before Mass, in the parking lot after Mass, and before, during, or after almost all events. The topic… [Read More]
Our Church’s Curiosity
Curiosity landed early this morning on the surface of Mars. The robot, the size of a car, was launched on November 26th, 2011 with initial planning for the mission goes back at least to April 2004. This was a long time coming for engineers and scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. With no astronauts on board, no required quotations… [Read More]
Bring Joy to Others
Last week, Fr. Bob Scott, CSP passed away at the age of 90. A Paulist Father, Fr. Bob served in priestly ministry over 60 years. Most recently, he was active at both St. Austin’s and the University Catholic Center at The University of Texas until about a year ago. He recently served a little over… [Read More]
How I Fail At Summer
Summer! Finally! While kids haven’t been in class for awhile, my wife has had to report to work until the beginning of this month. She has a month where, while she is working, she doesn’t have to report to the office for work. It’s great! She’s home, our little girls get to spend more time… [Read More]
I Want To Speak Now
We have things to say. The Gospel of Christ is a powerful message that is transformative and needed to be proclaimed. The message needs to be heard, so that is can work with and in people to help them discover who they are and whose they are. Today’s social and political reality has plenty of people… [Read More]
Unliking Facebook
Friendster, MySpace, Facebook? While the numbers on usage continue to impress, is Facebook on the decline? Facebook used to be the cool social network. Not only did you need an .edu e-mail address to sign-up, initially, you had to wait until your school was cool enough to join the Facebook ranks. Then it opened to all… [Read More]
Be True To Yourself
A close friend of mine is getting married next month. He’s lived out in California for the past few years, so I haven’t seen him much nor do I know his future wife very well—just a couple of rather short conversations. He’s Catholic, she’s not Christian. While she isn’t interesting in becoming Catholic (anytime soon… [Read More]
When A Priest Leaves the Church
It happens. Our beloved priest. The priest that said Mass for us that one time. The priest that celebrated your niece’s First Communion. The priest that helped out at my neighbor’s kid’s school. Sometimes, priests leave the priesthood. Sometimes, it is a friendly departure. The priest’s discernment led him to understand his role within the… [Read More]
Is Your Software Catholic?
I’m a big geek. While some guys like to fix cars, build things with wood, or tinker with things like that, I tinker with the Internet. I like digging into the guts of computers, specifically, what makes the web work. One of the reasons the Internet works is open-source software. Open-source software, by definition, means… [Read More]
We Are Too Important
Rita wrote a beautiful post about the passing of Austin’s own Leslie and how, despite virtually everyone’s uneasiness when meeting him for the first time, he had some impact on many in Austin. My wife and I had a brief conversation with the priest who administered Leslie’s last rites and celebrated his funeral. On the… [Read More]
Have You Cheated Yet?
Alright folks. One week down. How is everyone doing? Been perfect so far? I admit, I already had a Lenten slip-up. This year, for better or worse, I didn’t mention what I was offering up for Lent on my personal site. In retrospect, I usually fail at it, which not only means I’m unintentionally bragging… [Read More]
HHS Mandate Revisited
When the Department of Health and Human Services announced the rules concerning the scope of the religious exemption for mandatory coverage of contraceptives, sterilizations and abortifacent drugs, there was an uproar. In response, on Friday afternoon, the President announced a compromise meant to allow Catholic organizations to stay true to their values and maintain the Administration’s… [Read More]
Open Combox: Your Take from Super Bowl XLVI
We’re trying something new for today at Austin Catholic New Media. The article will be on the shorter side, but with the open invite to continue the thread on the comment box below. Last night, the New England Patriots and the New York Giants played a rematch of Super Bowl XLII with the Giants winning… [Read More]
Conflict and Compromise
My wife and I are fundamentally different. My idea of “on-time” is arriving 10 minutes before needing to be somewhere and being able to take my time to get into position, ready to go when I’m supposed to be there. In college, I was the guy that would rather skip class than walk in after… [Read More]
The Internet Is Dark Today
There are two bills currently in Congress that could have a huge impact on Internet if made law. The first is known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate. I didn’t link to the Wikipedia entries on them (which I usually would do) and… [Read More]
Henry VIII is Rolling in His Grave
In addition to ringing in the new year, on January 1st, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter was created in the Catholic Church. It is basically a diocese for the entire United States for those people—lay and cleric, individually or corporately—who are formerly Anglican/Episcopal and have “swam the Tiber” to join the Catholic… [Read More]
All Sins Must Go!
I hope these final days of Advent are giving you a chance to slow down and make your final preparation—physically and spiritually—for Christmas. While receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation is not technically required during Advent (ref. Canon 988), it is a very laudable practice and a tangible way to prepare spiritually for the Christmas season…. [Read More]
The Required “Remember To Give Thanks” Post
We’re neck deep with family here at La Casa de Kraft. My mom is the sole representative of my family in for the holiday. My wife’s family includes her parents, her grandmother, a cousin in the military in San Antonio for training, an aunt, an uncle and a few more cousins. Virtually every room has… [Read More]
The Power of Positive
First, as a follow-up to my last post about how we get my two-year-old through Mass, I predicted that after a few months, our tactics wouldn’t work any longer and we’d be back to being “those parents” who can’t keep their kids under control. Well, I was wrong: Parenthood is about humility, eh? Moving… [Read More]
Mass and Children
Last month, I wrote about some ways to prepare for Mass, intellectually, in light of being distracted more because of the kiddos. But, how can we prepare to reduce those distractions? First, a disclaimer, we are no experts. I’m just a father of a two-year old and an eight-month old. These are some suggestions that… [Read More]
Children, The First Teachers of Faith?
Children get it. We can learn much about faith from listening to the words of toddlers. Last weekend, my mother-in-law was in town and went to Mass with us. During one of the readings, she whispered into my two-year-old Olivia’s ear, “I love you.” Olivia turned, put her mouth to my mother-in-law’s ear and went… [Read More]
Mass Starts Before You Walk In
Altar serving is one of those gigs that is virtually always reserved for youth and, sometimes, older, retired parishioners for funerals or daily Masses. I started serving as soon as I was a practicing Catholic at age 13 and it remains the venue of service by which I felt most fulfilled. I haven’t served since Easter Vigil… [Read More]
Don’t Forget About Your First Life
The Internet is awesome. I can meet people from across the world, chat with them far more often than I do with my next door neighbor about any topic under the sun. If I have any question about any project I’m working on, there is someone online who can and is willing to offer suggestions…. [Read More]
When Clocks Fly: My Three Resolutions
Olivia, our oldest kiddo, celebrated her second birthday yesterday. A world away, Rome Reports reports that the Pope is beginning his search for the next guy to take his old job–Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. What’s the relation? Time flies. I can’t believe Olivia is two years old. She’s my… [Read More]
Help Those Impacted by the Leander Fire
From this week’s diocesan newsletter, the E-Pistle: On Monday, Aug. 15, a brush fire destroyed 15 homes and damaged seven others off of Horseshoe Drive in Leander. It left dozens of people without homes, including 20 children. Several of the families who lost their homes attend St. Margaret Mary Parish in Cedar Park. Any parish… [Read More]
Daddy of the House
A stay-at-home dad. While there are about 5 million stay-at-home moms in the United States, there are only 154,000 stay-at-home dads. Well, now 154,001. Vanessa and I swapped roles beginning this month. She returned to full-time employment while I began the process of leaving mine. I’ll save the reasoning for my personal site, but in… [Read More]
9 Things To Do When Needing Direction
It happens to all of us. Life is moving along swimmingly until it hits. “It” might be something thrown at us from the outside—a layoff, your child’s crisis, or realizing that all of the graduate programs you’ve applied to waitlisted you—or it can be internal—realizing that you’re not happy in your job/career, finishing college without… [Read More]
Slow To Anger
Yesterday, my not-quite-2-year-old and I went to the post office to check my P.O. Box. As we were sorting the mail, a woman walked in 20 minutes after closing time, saw they were closed and was very upset. I’ll save all of the details, but picture language not appropriate to say in front of a… [Read More]
Sex Is Good
Catholics aren’t known for being knowledgeable about sex. The extreme stereotype says we’re ashamed of it, and our bodies. We have sex only because of marital duty and we shouldn’t enjoy it. The stereotype says that we acknowledge we need to do it, but almost as a necessary evil. Wow. I know aspects of this has existed in time… [Read More]
My Mexican Kids
Vanessa published a post yesterday on Busted Halo about her Mexican culture and some difficulties she is having in exposing the girls to it. This has been a well-discussed issue in our home, so Vanessa wrote nothing groundbreaking to me. One of the comments, though, I found quite interesting. “James” writes: Overall, I find this article offensively… [Read More]
The Holy Father’s Intentions for June
Each month, the Pope asks the Catholic world to join him in a common prayer. This month, we pray that priests, united to the Heart of Christ, may always be true witnesses of the caring and merciful love of God. For our missionaries, we pray that the Holy Spirit may bring forth from our communities… [Read More]
The Holy Father’s Intentions for May
Each month, the Pope asks the Catholic world to join him in a common prayer. This month, we pray that those who work in the media may always respect truth, solidarity and the dignity of each person. For our missionaries, we pray that the Lord may grant the Church in China the capacity to persevere… [Read More]
