With so many things to complain about in our society, one thing about which I'm grateful (and hopeful!) is the fidelity and missionary zeal of young priests. Here's an example. A poster sent this in:

Father Chris acts as a simple catechist and gives a basic easy to understand background on the bible in the line of catholic tradition. Father Chris does not include heavy theology but he gives the reader a grasp on the bible by talking about the truth of the bible, the bible as necessary for salvation and the origins of the bible, he also gives sensible tips on someone beginning to read the bible.

Longer bio:

Father Walsh is the 5^th of 6 children born to John and Joan (Ramsey) Walsh. He worshipped and attended elementary school at St. Joseph Church, Downingtown. He graduated from Bishop Shanahan High School in West Chester in 1987. He studied at Temple University and received a B.A. in Sociology in 1991.< style=""> There he supervised a program for conduct disordered adolescent males and served on their Behavior Management Team. During this time he was actively involved with Youth Ministry at St. Joseph Church in Downingtown.

He entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in September of 1993 to begin studies for the Roman Catholic Priesthood. Throughout his years in the seminary he had a wide variety of pastoral internship experiences that included inner city and suburban parishes, an urban high school, a hospital chaplaincy, a residence for the physically disabled and extensive work with the Missionaries of Charity in the South Bronx of New York City. Father Chris was ordained by Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua on May 15, 1999.

Our Lady of Ransom Parish in Northeast Philadelphia was Father’s first parochial assignment. During his 5 years he worked extensively to develop the liturgical and devotional life of the parish. In addition, he devoted a great deal of time to Adult Faith Formation, seeking to implement the vision of the U.S. Bishops in their document Were not our Hearts Burning within Us. In June of 2004 Justin Cardinal Rigali assigned Father Walsh to serve as School Minister of Archbishop Wood Catholic High School and in June of 2008 named him the 8^th Pastor of St. Raymond of Penafort Parish in the Northwest section of Philadelphia.

Father Chris’ experience with retreats began early in his priesthood. In addition to a variety of days of recollection and weekend retreats at the parish level and regional level, Father has preached retreats to the IHM Sisters and the Missionaries of Charity throughout the Northeast of the United States. He received training in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola at the Jesuit Center at Wernerville

Get the first podcast on the brand-new blog here.

BTW, if any of you do website design, their parish website is in a bad way and I'm pretty sure they'd appreciate the support.