This year, as we gather to give thanks for all God’s goodness to us, I’ll be offering thanks for something for which I never thought to offer thanks before. Thanks to Nancy Pelosi, I’m thanking God for my conscience. Ms. Pelosi, it seems, would rather I don’t have a conscience, or “that conscience thing,” as she […]
As you give thanks this Thanksgiving be sure to thank God for your Catholic faith! I hope you realize how truly blessed we are — we have so much more than other Christians. Begin with the fact that we have the Mass available to us every day, (except Good Friday). Most Protestant congregations meet only twice […]
When I was 19, the day before I was headed back to college, I was in an explosion at a quarry where I had been working for the summer. Some rock misfired, and headed toward me, and I broke my leg very badly. At the hospital two days after, they wanted me to start rehab, […]
As we approach Thanksgiving, it is good to begin to get ourselves in an attitude of gratitude. Let’s start at the beginning. “Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds.” And so it happened: God made all kinds of wild animals, […]
“Through Christ we are given revelation about the nature of God-Love. The perfection consists in that this love humbly, without reservations, gives itself over.” –Archimandrite Sophrony God exists as Gift. He is relentlessly Self-emptying, pouring His love and life into this world for our sakes, undeserving wretches though we are. We have such difficulty “knowing” […]
“I cannot tell how you came into my womb: for I neither gave you breath nor life, neither was it I that formed the members of every one of you; but doubtless the Creator of the world, Who formed the generation of man, and found out the beginning of all things, will also of His […]
We testify that Jesus of Nazareth is the Incarnate Word, the very Self-expression of the Deity. This Word is the Father’s all-encompassing Articulation, the Idea in which all ideas subsist. It is in and of the Father, yet somehow distinct. In the Old Testament, this Being typically bears the name Wisdom. Wisdom is described as […]
When I taught religion in a parochial middle school, part of my weekly responsibilities included writing the Prayers of the Faithful that would be read by a middle school student in our weekly Mass. I loved this part of my job! Actually, I loved every part of my job. For the first few years—before the […]
The matter of grace is a real puzzle. There is obviously tension between the freedom of man and the providence of God, both of which are affirmed by the church. Right from the start, let me state that I do not think this enigma is fully solvable. Our minds are unfit to comprehend the interaction […]
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth (Isaiah 53:7). Perhaps the most stunning revelation of Christianity is the deep humility of God. In Jesus of […]
Rosie grabbed my arm as I walked into Mass one weekday morning. Whispering in a hushed tone she asked: “Can you help me measure the candle? I can’t reach the top of it to measure it. I was helping to set up for a funeral, and I dropped the candle and broke the glass that […]
Yesterday evening came a surprise announcement: Ireland will close its Embassy to the Holy See in a move the Irish governement says is needed to cut government costs. The Irish embassy to the Holy See, located on the Janiculum Hill near to the residence of the American Ambassador to the Holy See and near the […]
On its website the Catholic News Service identifies itself as “an editorially independent and financially self-sustaining division of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.” Why it can be a division of the USCCB, and still be editorially independent is not clear. Nevertheless, it is the voice of the national bishop’s conference in this country, […]
Is it better to be an ex-Catholic or cultural Catholic? An ex-Catholic is on the outside of the fullness of faith while a cultural Catholic is on the inside but not getting it–or rather not accepting it. An ex-Catholic has left a church he probably didn’t understand. Otherwise, he would not have walked away from […]
I do not see ghosts; I only see their inherent probability – G. K. Chesterton. This is the season of ghosts. Halloween has been co-opted as a secular holiday, poised to overtake Christmas in terms of commercial sales, and distorted in many cases into a grotesque and diabolical celebration of the macabre and ugly. While […]
Many Christians portray salvation as a simple affair: We are saved, they declare, by faith alone. The all-important role of faith is indeed Scriptural. It was emphasized especially by Saint Paul: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone that believes; to […]
Pope Benedict’s talk in Assisi today, on the 25th anniversary of the Day of Prayer for Peace summoned in the same place in 1986 by Pope John Paul II, was paradoxical and in some ways astonishing. The paradox: Benedict was speaking to a group of religious leaders, men and women representing nearly all the major […]
Anti-Semitism must be exposed by the light of truth so it can be soundly defeated – the operative phrase here being the light of truth, and by this I mean whole and entire; with neither attenuation nor ambiguity. On this, surely all can agree. In practice, however, this appears to be a real challenge for […]
A few years back, a Princeville, Illinois family I know hosted an Italian teen for the summer. This young man enjoyed many parts of his summer, but was mystified by the weather. In the rural Midwest, during the summer, a storm can pass every few days or so, so that at least three or four […]
One of the most central elements to the Catholic pro-life movement is prayer. As Catholics we have the power of the communion of saints and in my own reflection, I have come to identify a handful of saints who could be considered “co-patrons” of the pro-life movement. The Holy Family exemplifies for us a common […]
Adoration is not for a handful or a selected few. It is for everyone. It is what our loving Lord asks for, and more importantly, what He deserves. Blessed John Paul II went so far as to urge EVERY parish in the world to have Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. Let me put one hour of Adoration […]
Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Cathedral Family and friends, [O]ur Holy Father’s teaching during his visit to Germany…. [concerned] the weakening of the Faith there and the fact that only 31% of his own country considered themselves Catholic. His words tell the reason why. “God is increasingly being driven out of our society… Are […]
What has heaven to do with earth? Does the Divine One care about the comings and goings of men? After all, He is “the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome” (Deuteronomy 10:17). Even Solomon wondered whether or not the Creator really deigns to walk among His creatures: […]
When my family visits other parishes during our travels, we’re touched and uplifted spiritually. If I copied Geoffrey Chaucer and his tales of Canterbury, I could call them Biever Tales. But then people would think of something else, and my purpose would be lost. In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, many pilgrims share stories on their journey. In their […]
