Memorial Day and the freedom ‘for’ which we fought, one nation under God...
The real experience of the desire for the infinite and the transcendent is because God has placed his own image within every human in order to give us hope. That image is only finally realized by being brought into greater participation and likeness to God. Likeness to God begins by elevating and integrating all human desires into intelligence, truthfulness and love...
Embracing Pope Francis’ encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ means rejecting gender theory...
This week marks eight years since Pope Francis promulgated his first encyclical, Laudato Si. It’s been a time to reflect upon the prophetic insights of this teaching document, and to consider what more needs to be done to implement its call to greater care for our common home. Screenings of “The Letter,” a documentary that connects the Pope’s teaching to environmental activists carrying aspects of it out in different parts of the world...
This Sunday, Into Our Church He Commits His Spirit...
In the Gospel for Pentecost Sunday Year A, Jesus breathes on the Apostles in the upper room and says “receive the Holy Spirit.” Think of what that means in that room at that time. The last reference the Gospels made to his breath and his spirit was on the cross where, “crying with a loud voice, he said, ‘Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!’ and having said this he breathed his last.”
Beer drinkers and soccer moms – changes in boycott ‘woke’ corporations wars...
In the summer of 1997, the Southern Baptist Convention called for a boycott of the Walt Disney Company, acting in response to some early power mouse gay-rights decisions. Eight years later, the leaders of America’s largest non-Catholic flock quietly called off the boycott, which was a bit of a dud. The news coverage was, well, joyfully muted. Why did this boycott fail?
Are you close enough with God to sit in silence with Him?
It was a great moment for me when, as a young and very ill-trained Christian — in many ways, a model of ignorance — I saw that God was my friend. I understood him as creator, and as judge, and as the savior who gave his own life for me, who’d be with me through everything, good and bad. I knew he wanted the best for me. That I understood. That had all been part of Christianity’s sales pitch...
Trial for Father James Jackson’s Child Pornography Case Set to Begin on June 20...
Everyone is a believer. We cannot avoid believing something. It all depends on who believes what...
Jesus draws all of us to Himself through the Cross and Resurrection. He returns to the Father in His glorious Ascension and brings our humanity with Him. He completes His sacred mission of the Word as prophesized by Isaiah (cf. Is. 55:11). Heaven is the destiny of those who follow Him. We believe in heaven (but without daring to judge any soul) we also believe in hell for those who live evil lives and reject the commandments of Jesus.
Vatican Official Arrives in Bolivia as Abuse Allegations Against Jesuits Escalate...
Martyrs, bishops, and keeping our souls...
Twenty-seven years ago this week — on May 21, 1996 — seven Trappist monks were martyred in Algeria, after spending two months in the captivity of the terrorist Armed Islamic Group. The kidnappers had come to the Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas on March 27 of that year, kidnapping the monks in the middle of the night. The captors demanded the release of Abdelhak Layada, one of their group's leaders, who was in prison and awaiting the execution of a death sentence.
LA Dodgers strike out in honoring anti-Catholic activists...
Pondering a Forgotten Virtue: Vengeance...
NYC Hunter College professor curses out students handing out pro-life literature at school...
Ascension: a Bittersweet Christian Mystery...
Vatican experts uncovering gilded glory of Hercules statue struck by lightning...
Friendship is the remnant of paradise...
The Woman Caught in Adultery...
The two longest passages in the New Testament that have questionable origins are the longer ending of Mark (16:9-20) and the section on the adulteress in John’s Gospel (7:53-8:11). Interestingly, both passages are twelve verses long. We’ve already discussed the longer ending of Mark, and here we take up the story of the adulteress.
Quiet fire, the problem with good ideas, and never sometimes...
Happy Friday, friends, and a blessed Pentecost for the days to come. It is a feast I hold dear every year. And as I think about those men on fire, I’m always struck by the inherent dynamic tension of the event. The disciples begin the day huddled in a locked room, paralyzed by fear. They end it rushing out into the street, animated by the Holy Spirit. What changes in between is their reception of the gift Christ promised at his ascension.
Pope Francis Cancels Friday Schedule Because of ‘Feverish Condition,’ Vatican Spokesman Confirms...
Pope Francis canceled meetings on Friday morning due to a fever, a Vatican spokesman confirmed. Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, told CNA that “due to a feverish condition, Pope Francis did not receive [anyone] in audience this morning.” As of Friday afternoon, the pope does not have any public appointments scheduled for May 27, according to the Vatican calendar...
Death Dynasty: Who were the Herods, and what do we know about them?
Fort Worth Nun Forced to Use Bishop-Appointed Canon Lawyer Amid Dispute With Diocese...
How to encourage your pastor toward Eucharistic revival...
While many readers enjoyed my suggestions in A simpler program for Eucharistic revival, one friendly reader pointed out that something was missing from my list: an exhortation to parishioners “to keep encouraging their pastors.” Good point. If your pastor shares your desire to increase reverence for the Eucharist...
The Holy Eucharist feeds the heart what it most needs...
Even earthly bread, if received with thanksgiving, is food for the heart. It joins us in fellowship and sustains not just our bodies, but something of our spirits too because of the love that it expresses. Yes – bread reveals the love of the one who provided it. This love is more important than the nutrients it contains. If this is true of earthly gifts, how much more heavenly bread?
Have the first shots been fired in a coming war over Humanae Vitae?
German bishops’ leader: Lay homilies still on the agenda...
The chairman of Germany’s bishops’ conference insisted Monday that the Vatican’s objection to a “synodal way” resolution calling for lay preaching at Masses is not the final word on the matter. Bishop Georg Bätzing suggested in a May 22 interview that a letter he received in March from Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, did not represent a definitive Vatican rejection of homilies by laymen and women in German dioceses.
LA Dodgers Reverse Course, Will Honor Anti-Catholic Drag Group at Pride Night Game...
Can Catholicism be passed on without Catholic culture?
Mary’s visitation to St. Elizabeth was just the first of many she has made...
“Meditations on Mary” (New York: Alba House, 1993), which has an Introduction from Franciscan Father Benedict J. Groeschel, (1933-2014), has a series of conferences that the then-Msgr. Cooke, who was secretary to the famous Cardinal Francis Spellman, gave at Lourdes, France, in 1958 on the 100th anniversary of those cherished apparitions of Our Blessed Lady to Bernadette Soubirous.
Pope’s Sunday Regina Coeli: ‘Jesus leads the way to heaven with His Ascension’...
The consequence of Our Lord’s words about His Ascension are enormous...
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