Last Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, the new English translation of the prayers we pray in the Mass started being used in the United States. Interestingly, the prayers on which the translation is based are not new. They are essentially the same official prayers of the Latin Rite which we have had for decades. Go to the […]
Did you have a difficult childhood or do you know someone who had a difficult childhood? What difference does it make, anyway, to one’s adulthood, what kind of childhood is in the background? I think we can use the analogy of constructing and furnishing a house, for constructing and furnishing a “self.” A reasonably happy […]
Human beings have a desire to impose order on the universe. But much like a parent’s desire to impose order on their kids’ toys, it often goes unsatisfied. With the toys, at least we have a fighting chance (depending on the age of the kids and the volume of plastic flowing in from grandparents – […]
Advent is a time of joyful anticipation. For someone even bigger than Santa Claus is coming to town. The human race has been waiting a long time for his next and final visit. Actually, it waited a long time for the first visit. Things had gone awry quite early in the history of the human […]
Alert Sunday–First Sunday in Advent Alert Sunday. The greeter has smiles on his palms as he Opens the church doors. Welcome to Advent! A shorter version of Lent in December, he quips. A chorus of coughs and women’s high Heels parading across the floor tiles Help me stay awake for 8:00 a.m. Mass. I never […]
One of my pet peeves was brought to mind by World AIDS Day. Not that I oppose finding a cure for HIV. I was a social worker when AIDS emerged in the eighties. I helped a young man with HIV who was kicked out of the Greenwich Village loft that he had shared with his […]
Implementing the new translation of the Mass on the first Sunday of Advent is excellent timing. After all, Advent is an opportunity to consider the spiritual life and make improvements where necessary. The revisions of the Mass are useful starting points when pondering the state of our souls. Perhaps the change most relevant to spiritual […]
Countless times I have been warned about how miserable I will be when I discover that civilization has passed me by, while I sit, frothing from the mouth, beating my cane against my rocker, clinging to archaic notions about sexuality and marriage. So, for those inclined to issue the same warning again, or for those […]
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, […]
Yesterday the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a two-hour hearing investigating whether the Obama administration denied grant money to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops because of its religious objections to abortion. Under the Bush administration, the bishops received a five-year $19 million grant to help victims of human trafficking. The grant was first […]
I Saw a Baby I saw a baby at the stream, Perhaps or maybe not a dream, Who played with water, thrust his hand Into the pool, the golden sand And then scooped up a golden fish, This is my life, he said, to bless Or throw again into the pool, To swim from what […]
Our decadent society is, alas, now forcing us to look full in the face of yet another moral abomination, namely pedophilia. Child abuse, says Pope Benedict, “affects every level of society.” In a speech to a delegation of American Bishops on November 26th, the Pope addressed the issue of pedophilia, expressing his hope that the […]
Abstract: Due to clergy sex abuse scandals centered primarily in the Northern hemisphere, the moral authority of the Roman Catholic Church has been subjected to an opportunistic siege by prominent individuals and organizations who see the chance to advance their goals, including the ordination of women and the suspension of the requirement for priestly celibacy. […]
I rejoiced greatly to find some of our children walking in the truth just as we were commanded by the Father — 2 John 4. The English poet W.H. Auden (1907-1973) defined poetry as “memorable speech.” A poem depicts reality by using dense language constructed around vivid images in few words. In a word, poetry means thrift. […]
During the Sixties, dime stores sold baby painted turtles. The little green sea creatures were displayed in a big open tank just next to the tropical fish. Children could pick them up or just watch them climb all over one another. I loved those little turtles and still to this day, they evoke a nostalgic […]
Jamaica’s Prime Minister and his wife recently decided to homeschool their two sons after noticing that their youngest was falling behind. Critics were quick to complain that this suggests that the public and private schools are inadequate. The Prime Minister’s defense highlights the important role of parents. Andrew Holness became Prime Minister two months ago, […]
[wp_carousel]ID[/wp_carousel] For some people, the journey towards God begins through relationships with people. Mitch Albom, a Detroit Free Press sportswriter who wandered far from his Jewish roots, experienced God through two very different men: one a Jewish rabbi and the other an African American pastor of a poor, inner-city Detroit church. The story is dramatized […]
The southern Indian state of Kerala might be the next in a long line of governments attempting to destroy their own greatest resource: their people. According to on-the-ground reports obtained by PRI, elements in the Keralan government are attempting to pass what they innocuously call “The Women’s Code Bill.” This bill, if passed, would create […]
The Mule Purple, purple, Purple, pink, In evergreen The candles sink. Candle’s age? One thousand yeared, With four four-thousand ‘Fore He appeared. Each Sunday four In front of Yule When she arrived Upon a mule. A revolution Round the stall, Till suddenly On knees were all! Like priest incensing Hallowed altar To bear her Son […]
