Some web browsing........

A few items from around the web in the last few days which you might like to read;

• Silence: the music of Lent.
• During the week, the renovation of St Francis tomb in Assisi is almost complete.
• Ever wonder what is the difference between an annulment and a divorce?
• Pat Gohn makes the point that finally going to confession is a bit like finally going to get that haircut you've been putting off for too, too long; you feel so much better with the dullness washed away and the ragged ends made right - The Hairy Truth about getting to Confession
• Renowned preacher and poet, Father Paul Murray belongs to the Irish Province of the Order of Preachers. In the course of his life he’s addressed many an audience but in November his words reached an unusual group of listeners, the members of the House of Lords. To them he spoke not of politics but of contemplation as an essential ingredient in Christian tradition. The event organized by the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust,in conjunction with Sky Television that filmed it, marked an historic moment: never before had a Dominican friar delivered a talk in the House of Lords - Contemplation.
• Do you know the way that Irish people (and the English, Scots and Welsh) are obsessed about the weather?
• Heather King gives a very honest assessment of the need to Fast, Pray and Love during Lent.
• The uber-blogger Fr John Zuhlsdorf reminds us how the symbolism of the light in darkness is important to the meaning of the rites of the Easter Vigil and how important that the ceremony occurs during the night of Easter Saturday.
• Muslim women face choices as France's veil ban looms.
• In light of the reaction to the burning of the Koran in America, one commentator discusses how to properly dispose of unwanted Holy Books.
• One Dominican friar is continuing his order's tradition of going out into the market place to share the faith.
• Deacon Greg reminds us how beyond the water and the tears, the flashing cameras and ritual, the Rite of Baptism, like water itself, fills up the empty spaces and remains forever.
• Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in a blunt lecture on Monday at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., made an admission about the sexual abuse crisis in the church: With perhaps "two exceptions" he has "not encountered a real and unconditional admission of guilt and responsibility on the part of priest offenders" in his diocese.  That is, the abusive priests in his diocese, with only a few exceptions, do not seem remorseful.
• John Allen was in Ireland this week and gives his view on how things are at the moment.
• Jeffrey Small looks at how we can appreciate the beauty of Religion.
• The Orthodox churches are struggling mightily with whether to have a great church council (in the works since the 1970s), whether they need to be more coordinated or even centralized to speak with one voice in today’s world, how the Orthodox churches relate to each other, and in what order of precedence the various churches are commemorated liturgically in the diptychs. Read here.
• Ever wonder who are the prison chaplains? Meet the chaplain from Riker prison in New York.
• Examining the relationship between lay people and the families of religious orders. At the same time the Anchoress also looks at how living as a Benedictine Oblate has helped her grow in love of neighbour.
• A new blog which we have found in the last weeks or so from a group of Benedictine sisters called iBenedictines. They remind us how the simplicity and directness of places of prayer are a useful reminder that some of the things we fuss about — aesthetics, liturgy, vestments, whatever — are secondary to our own inner disposition.
• An interesting visit to a prison chapel by Fr Lawrene Freeman
• Archbishop Timothy Dolan also visited a prison in the last few weeks and reminded the prisoners that all of us are sinners.
• Religious sisters hold Wall St to account!