Who Was and Is and Is to Come...
Are football fans more devoted than Christian disciples?
I write to you in the midst of a semi-“religious” event: the Super Bowl. People have donned their sacred attire and are shouting praises. The game really lit up toward the end of the second half and again in the last quarter. I enjoy football, but see it a lot less since I am a priest and tend to be busy on Sundays! Yet...
Scandal triggered by U.S. nuncio just won't die...
You can often tell how upset someone is with a story by how many statements they put out denying it, and how detailed those statements are. By that standard, the Vatican seems mightily piqued indeed by the recent scandal surrounding Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò – which is one part about Viganò’s charges of financial corruption...
Sentire Cum Ecclesia, Pacific Edition...
Missing Rungs on the Economic Ladder...
When Blessed John Paul II visited the United States in 1999, he noted that the whole world looked to America as a land of hope, where people could, with little more than determination and a strong work ethic, discover their own dreams. However...
Join me in prayer for America...
I have a special and urgent request. Please join me in praying for the United States, especially the Obama Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services. We need the mercy of God now more than ever -- his mercy is a deluge waiting to cover the world and your prayers are floodgates through which his Living Waters flow onto a parched and dying land.
Michael Ramirez cartoon: "You may kiss my ring"...
Money and sex...
This week we have witnessed jubilation in pro life ranks about Komen's decision to withdraw funding from Planned Parenthood. Then jubilation turned to lamentation when Komen seemed to reverse their decision. Now there is recrimination, bitter and angry words being dished out towards Planned Parenthood and the liberals in the media and politics who seem to have pressured Komen to
New Advent is edited by Kevin Knight (webmaster
newadvent.org)
How Are Things At Work?
I’ve asked this question of friends countless times, usually with a sympathetic grin. It’s a question that acknowledges the fact that work is fraught with difficulties. Perhaps an ongoing disagreement with the boss or a coworker. Insufficient hours in the workday. Fear of being downsized. The tough part about work often isn’t the work itself.
Pecan Pie Protestantism...
My grandmother used to bake one pecan pie a year. Using her own pecans. From her own tree. Which she guarded with her very own rifle. She said she shot any crow that messed with her precious pecans and threatened that pie. Somebody might steal a scarecrow, so she figured she could do the job herself. Memommy was as tough as nails...
Jesus, Our Contemporary...
On the eve of the next consistory, Benedict VXI will gather around himself the entire college of cardinals, including the newly elect, for a day "of reflection and prayer." The encounter will be held on February 17, and its theme will be "The proclamation of the Gospel today, between 'missio ad gentes' and new evangelization."
Support for Sant'Egidio, and another plum for Archbishop Dolan...
Religious, Not Spiritual...
Recently, there was a curious kerfuffle on the Internet when somebody released a “new” video announcing that he loves Jesus but hates “religion.” It is a sentiment older than my great-grandfather’s beard, and yet it was received as a sudden and brilliant meteor of insight blazing across the skies of American religious consciousness and dazzling a moribund Christianity t...
Directions for disciples when dealing with difficulties...
Are Some Masses Better than Others?
As a Catholic, it is hard to travel much—attending Masses celebrated by priests you have never seen or heard, in churches you can’t find without GPS—before eventually facing the question: What makes one Mass better than another? Then comes another question on its heels: Is that first question even a question a Catholic should ask? Last weekend...
An insider's look at the life of Pope John Paul II...
From the L.A. Times, more background and details about the Komen/Planned Parenthood situation...
Indian nun threatened with arrest for "desecrating" Hindu idols...
Get this entire Catholic website on CD-ROM...
The full contents of the New Advent website are available on CD-ROM. It includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — and it's only $19, with free shipping worldwide...
This might seem a strange thing for a Catholic to say, but I often think that the Queen is the most impressive religious leader in Britain...
She says little in public about her Christianity, but what she does say – usually at the end of her Christmas Day broadcast – is powerful in its directness. Having discussed the celebrations, tragedies and anxieties of the past year, the Queen affirms, naturally but unflinchingly and with no attempt at religious relativism, her faith in Jesus Christ.
A brilliant reign: Queen Elizabeth II at 60 remarkable years on the throne...
At the Vatican, A White-Out...
On a brief lighter note, Rome's Mediterranean climate doesn't normally lend itself to a winter wonderland, but that came to pass over the weekend as the Eternal City experienced its first significant snowfall since 1986. Said to measure as much as 8 inches, the fallout of the Friday storm wrought havoc in the city...
Young and Pro-Life? What About Pro-Marriage?
Victor Bermudez, the president of Franciscan University of Steubenville’s pro-life group, accompanied 400 students from Steubenville, Ohio, to the nation’s capital for the March for Life Jan. 23. Back on campus, he directs a slew of activities, from prayer vigils at abortion businesses to baby showers for mothers in crisis pregnancies.
65 Eastern Orthodox bishops raise voices against Obama ruling...
The evolution of your favorite breakfast cereals...
The Komen Conflagration...
Much of the American media have been overtaken by a cancerous rhetoric in recent days: It has been suggested that the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the breast-cancer charity, should be no more. In the eyes of many, such as National Organization for Women president, Terry O’Neill...
The mystery of Fidel Castro’s excommunication...
In about a month’s time, Benedict XVI will embark on his visit to Mexico and Cuba, returning to the Caribbean island 14 years after John Paul II’s historic visit. But the President is no longer Fidel Castro, it is his brother Raul and he is making every effort to make it possible for Fidel to meet the Pope when he visits their residence...
Catholic Nuns to Battle Sex Trafficking at Super Bowl...
If Christ did not "open the womb" of his Mother, why was he presented in the Temple?
