Category: Featured

New in Theaters: <em>Operation Finale</em>
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New in Theaters: Operation Finale

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Operation Finale, brings to life one of the most daring covert operations in modern history. Starring Academy Award winner Sir Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Schindler’s List) and Golden Globe winner Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, X-Men: Apocalypse), the film vividly captures the ingenious and brilliantly executed mission to capture Adolf Eichmann, one of the […]

Reflections for Sunday, August 26, 2018: 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Reflections for Sunday, August 26, 2018: 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18 2nd Reading: Ephesians 5:21-32 Responsorial: Psalm 34:2-3, 16-21 Gospel: John 6:60-69 Master, to whom shall we go? (John 6:68) Preparing the Israelites to recommit themselves to their covenant with God, Joshua recounted the many ways God had delivered them from […]

Exploring the Mystery of Mary’s Queenship within the Domestic Church
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Exploring the Mystery of Mary’s Queenship within the Domestic Church

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O God, who made the Mother of your Son to be our Mother and our Queen, graciously grant that, sustained by her intercession, we may attain in the heavenly Kingdom the glory promised to your children. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy […]

Men Just Need to be Men
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Men Just Need to be Men

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The culture has been hard on men for decades, but many are rising up against that tide. It’s something that both men and women should get behind. God made us male and female to complement one another, so when men grow stronger, women and families do too. Here are some of my favorite examples below. […]

Reflections for Sunday, August 19, 2018: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Reflections for Sunday, August 19, 2018: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading Proverbs 9:1-6 Responsorial: Psalm 34:2-7 2nd Reading: Ephesians 5:15-20 Gospel: John 6: 51-58 Be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18) Today is exam day. And to make it a little easier, we have reprinted today’s second reading: 15Watch carefully how you live, not […]

Open Letter to Priests
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Open Letter to Priests

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Dear Wounded Fathers, Of course on this brokenhearted day your minds should turn to Ars, that small and despairing French town. The response to this swallowing red-tide of Church evil can be found in there. There, in the secret of its wavy countryside, your comeback lay. Every answer to this omnibus of hierarchical and priestly […]

Reflections for Sunday, August 12, 2018: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Reflections for Sunday, August 12, 2018: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: 1 Kings 19:4-8 Responsorial: Psalm 34:2-9 2nd Reading: Ephesians 4:30–5:2 Gospel: John 6:41-51 Get up and eat! (1 Kings 19:5) Elijah was downcast. Queen Jezebel had just ordered his death. Just a few days earlier, Elijah had found himself in a moment of […]

Your Friendly Reminder: Go To Confession!
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Your Friendly Reminder: Go To Confession!

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I had one of those terrible moments the other night. You know, the ones where you crush the spirit of your child and know it. It’s awful. I had just sat down with my husband to pray Night Prayer after a long, harrowing day. I was exhausted from the previous night’s insomnia, stressed about our house […]

Transfiguration - Just a Stretch of the Legs
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Transfiguration – Just a Stretch of the Legs

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Praying the Rosary on the way to work, something new regarding the Transfiguration jumped out at me. You remember the event: While Jesus was at prayer on a mountaintop, Peter, James, and John witnessed Him become “more brilliant than the sun.” Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus, and the disciples could hear them discussing His […]

Reflections for Sunday, August 5, 2018: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Reflections for Sunday, August 5, 2018: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 Responsorial: Psalm 78:3-4, 23-25, 54 2nd Reading: Ephesians 4:17, 20-24 Gospel: John 6:24-35 Be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self. (Ephesians 4:23-24) There are usually two sections to an epistle by St. Paul. […]

Blessed Maria of the Divine Heart and the Consecration of the World to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
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Blessed Maria of the Divine Heart and the Consecration of the World to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

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When we think of saints who have promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we often call to mind the Visitation sister St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and her confessor St. Claude de la Colombière, S.J. And that is for good reason. Although, prior to her, there had been a long history of devotion to […]

Reflections for Sunday, July 29, 2018: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Reflections for Sunday, July 29, 2018: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: 2 Kings 4:42-44 2nd Reading: Ephesians 4:1-6 Responsorial: Psalm 145:10-11, 15-18 Gospel: John 6:1-15 A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing. (John 6:2) If you want a key to understanding the Gospel of John, you could probably […]

A Gift for My Grandmother and Saint Anne’s Gift to Me
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A Gift for My Grandmother and Saint Anne’s Gift to Me

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The summer of 2008 was a summer of opportunity for me.  I was able to attend the International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City, Canada with other young adults from the state of Wisconsin through Catholic Youth Expeditions, a retreat ministry founded by Father Quinn Mann, a priest of the Diocese of Green Bay. As part […]

The Day I Got Kicked Out of a Hair Salon
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The Day I Got Kicked Out of a Hair Salon

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“We do not have a good rapport,” I was told by the salon owner with short red hair as she took off my plastic cape. “I won’t be able to work with you. You need to leave.” Who gets kicked out of a hair salon? But I had rubbed the hairdresser the wrong way and […]

Reflections for Sunday, July 22, 2018: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Reflections for Sunday, July 22, 2018: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6 Responsorial: Psalm 23:1-6 2nd Reading: Ephesians 2:13-18 Gospel: Mark 6:30-34 He . . . broke down the dividing wall of enmity. (Ephesians 2:14) In almost poetic language, St. Paul invites the Ephesians to marvel at the unity they are experiencing. Many […]

IRELAND: Empty Churches, Hurting People - What Can We Do?
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IRELAND: Empty Churches, Hurting People – What Can We Do?

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As Ireland prepares for an August visit by Pope Francis, her people are locked in a life and death struggle with the Catholic Church. In a country that is perhaps the most Catholic of any nation in the world, some estimates show that while well over 90% of Ireland’s citizens identify with the church of […]

Essential Oils: The Good, the Bad, and the Occult
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Essential Oils: The Good, the Bad, and the Occult

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Scents are in everything from cleaners, air fresheners, cosmetics and lotions and even drawer liners. And in recent years, the big business of essential oils promises health and well-being through smells. Who doesn’t like to breathe in a good smell? Taking a deep whiff of chocolate or lavender is pleasant. But if you want to […]

Reflections for Sunday, July 15, 2018: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Reflections for Sunday, July 15, 2018: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Amos 7:12-15 Responsorial: Psalm 85:9-14 2nd Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14 Gospel: Mark 6:7-13 He chose us in him, before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4) In June of last year, the United Nations estimated that there were 7.6 billion people living on Earth. […]

Faith: The Constant Exploration of the Boundaries of Hope
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Faith: The Constant Exploration of the Boundaries of Hope

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This deliberate choice of words is an attempt to express the reality within which so many of us find ourselves in regards to our religion. To say that I belong to a particular religion is by itself an expression of Faith, but it does not define the reality of my relationship with that religion. I […]

Lines from the Declaration of Independence to Ponder this July
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Lines from the Declaration of Independence to Ponder this July

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As youth, many of us were required to memorize – or at least study – the Declaration of Independence. Although we might not be able to quote it now, we’re probably able to spot it if we hear it read or recited by someone else. At least I hope so. The Declaration of Independence is […]

Thomas: Doubter, Empiricist, Apostle, Saint
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Thomas: Doubter, Empiricist, Apostle, Saint

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For St. John the Apostle, the empty tomb was all he needed to experience to believe in the Resurrection. But two who were later to be saints – Mary Magdalene and Thomas – began the first Easter season as nonbelievers. Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb not to assure herself that Christ is risen, but […]

The Pick-Up
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The Pick-Up

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This past Sunday morning on our way to the airport, I was dropping off my husband, a pilot for work. We had just finished saying the Rosary and were rounding the large loop about a mile from the airport, when we noticed a car off to the side of the road. The hood was up […]

Reflections for Sunday, July 1, 2018: 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Reflections for Sunday, July 1, 2018: 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24  Responsorial: Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13 2nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15  Gospel: Mark 5:21-43 If I but touch his clothes . . . (Mark 5:28) If you could use only one word to describe today’s story of the woman’s […]

The Acts of the Holy Spirit Through Peter and Paul, Apostles
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The Acts of the Holy Spirit Through Peter and Paul, Apostles

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On this the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul I will speak on the varieties of Revelation that each Apostle received from Jesus Christ, and what said Revelation means to us and to our Church today. There really is only one great Revelation—the Word made Flesh—but each of us receives it differently, in the amount […]