The Big Keasey

Big win today for the fighting Irish against Michigan State.  I was really happy about that one.  It's the first time they've beaten Michigan State at home since 1993, so it was about time they won.  It ended up being a really close, exciting game.  Tons of fun to watch.

The Roman Catholic church wants you to come "home."

With roughly 66 percent of Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago considered "lapse" or "non-practicing" because they don't attend mass regularly, the Church will be taking to the airwaves with a television campaign blitz during the holiday season, according to a report out Wednesday on ChicagoCatholicNews.com.

The time is right for this type of evangelization effort because "we see a larger number of people inactive in their faith," a spokeswoman for the campaign, Nancy Polacek, is quoted as saying.
 

A similar campaign last year in Arizona and Texas yielded a 12 percent increase in Catholics "coming home," according to Ryan Hanning, the coordinator of adult evangelization for the Diocese of Phoenix.

The Chicago Archdiocese hopes for similar results among its 2.3 million members.

"This is not about money or numbers, it's about souls," said Penny Wiegert of the Rockford diocese, which is pairing with the dioceses of Chicago and Joliet in the ad campaign.

The campaign -- called Catholics Come Home -- will include television commercials produced by a non-profit of the same name.

 

A source close to the situation confirmed to ESPN.com Friday that Army and Notre Dame will play the first football game at the new Yankee Stadium in 2010.

Army issued a release Friday afternoon touting a "major college football announcement" Monday at the stadium. The announcement will be a game against the Fighting Irish, said the source, renewing a once-vibrant New York City tradition.

Notre Dame senior associate athletic director John Heisler could not confirm that the game is a go but did not dispute it, either.

 

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A suburban Catholic school football team near Chicago that won seven consecutive state football titles won't win another - but it won't be because of anything that has happened on the field.

Driscoll Catholic High School in Addison, Ill., is closing its doors, the Christian Brothers of the Midwest announced Thursday, because of falling enrollment and finances. The school, which opened in 1966, had seen its enrollment drop from 465 students in 2003-04 to 303 this year. A student body of 270 was projected for next year.

The Christian Brothers of the Midwest is a religious order with schools around the world. Brother Kevin Convey, director of education, characterized the decision as "very, very difficult," particularly given the school's success on the field.

The Highlanders won seven consecutive Class 4A state championships under two different coaches before losing Nov. 15 in the quarterfinals to undefeated Aurora Christian, which lost in the state final. Driscoll finished 9-3 this season after going 92-6 during its seven-year run.

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A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.

Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.

"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said.
 

( Read more... )

 

 

Staying inside to keep warm and, more importantly, watch the Notre Dame game.  They're playing Boston College, which is always exciting, but losing 17-0 right now.  Still plenty of time to rally, but so far they haven't been able to get anything going.

Good, enjoyable, relaxing day today.  I watched Notre Dame beat Michigan, which is a pretty big deal.  Neither program has been up to par the last couple years, but that doesn't really matter when the two teams match up.  It wasn't a great game, technically speaking.  Both teams had way too many turnovers, but things turned out well for the Fighting Irish in the end.  It was all good.  Hopefully they show the Notre Dame game next week, too.  They're playing Michigan State, and will hopefully win.

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