On the evening of the Boston Marathon bombing I was doing a radio interview about a book I’d written. Before getting to me, the host asked listeners to pray for victims of the atrocity in Boston and for the nation. When my turn came, I said, “My prayer is ‘deliver us from evil.’” The host […]
How many times have you — as a parent — sat in Mass and not heard a word the priest said because you were playing referee, peacekeeper, or bad cop in the pew? Since I can answer that question in the triple digits, I was thrilled to learn about the new DVD “Understanding Sunday Mass: A […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Acts 15:1-2,22-29; Psalm 67:2-3,5-6,8; Revelation 21:10-14,22-23; John 14:23-29) Being Drawn into the Life of the Trinity Peace I leave with you. (John 14:27) Rarely is a passage from Scripture as Trinitarian as these few verses. This passage comes from Jesus’ farewell address at the Last Supper: the […]
What a privilege it was to serve Mass recently! It is something I have had the honor to do only 3 or 4 times in my adult life. For someone who just recently received his Medicare card, today was both a day for gratitude and for awe – gratitude for the gift of life and […]
Indonesian websites describe the country as a tropical paradise and ecological wonderland. Its lush forests, mist-enshrouded mountains, and palm-studded beaches draw visitors from all over the world. Komodo National Park, covering a large aquatic and terrestrial area between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores, is one of the most ecologically diverse regions on earth. The […]
Imagine a Bishop exercising his rightful authority to assure authentic Catholic teaching and practice in Catholic Schools. If this proposition sounds reasonable, then you will find Bishop Vasa of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, CA to be a reasonable man. He had requested/required that all Catholic School teachers to publicly affirm Catholic Church teaching and […]
One of the greatest obstacles to presenting the Sacrament of Confession is exposing perfectly good Catholics to a worldview they are completely unfamiliar with.
Make no mistake about it: The Church in our day is in the midst of a terrible, and in many ways unprecedented, crisis of faith. This objective reality, however, is largely lost on the overwhelming majority of Catholics, both clerical and otherwise. While some Catholics, with deliberate intent, actively promote the various agendas that underlie […]
Do you think you would benefit spiritually by spending thirty hours in prayer and meditation? Yeah, right, you are likely thinking. Where would I find time for that? I’m a very busy mother. Motherhood has its ironies. When we are pregnant and feel the need to “rest up,” sleep is often hard to come by. […]
It is the incoherence of the faithful and the pastors what undermines the witness of the Church. The apostles were simple people, but they were not afraid of anything or anyone. Those were the concepts at the center of Pope Francis’ homily during a Mass at the Church of Saint Paul Outside the Walls earlier […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Acts 14:21-27; Psalm 145:8-13; Revelation 21:1-5; John 13:31-35) Loving Others as Jesus Has Loved Us I give you a new commandment… . As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. (John 13:34) They say couples who have been married a long time start […]
When last we met, we looked at Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical which inaugurated modern Catholic social thought. We now continue our magical mystery tour by turning our attention to Pope Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno of 1931. Before we explore the major themes of this incredibly important document, however, it would serve us well […]
I would like to look at the matter from a different angle. I don’t really want to focus on a biblical rationale for every aspect of the sacrament of confession, not yet at least. Instead, I’d like for us to ponder why it is fitting that God chooses to use priests in the forgiveness of sins through the confessional.
I’m not wildly enthusiastic about showing my children pictures of me between 16 years old and 26, a full decade when I was the walking epitome of what not to be when you are young, single, and clueless about your Catholic faith. I didn’t exactly punk-out Duran Duran style in the eighties but I did […]
It was an astounding event. Truly remarkable, and clearly historical. Truth be told, I had never seen or experienced anything quite like it. It happened in one of the wealthiest and most powerful cities in the United States. Indeed, in the world. The setting was most fitting. A magnificent cathedral with giant stained glass windows […]
In my last column, we began covering the sacrament of confession by stating that modern Catholicism suffers from a crisis of the confessional. Here on this site, on social media and in emails, readers have shared their thoughts with me on why this is so. According to the wisdom of the crowds, the biggest problem […]
Today I have been reflecting on life and death. This past Saturday my oldest daughter married her best friend in front of God surrounded by family and friends. There was a joyous celebration after the nuptial Mass. My mother was under the weather but attended that Mass and came to the reception for a short […]
The Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is pretty close to my home, so Witnesses regularly visit our neighborhood. Their timing is very strategic, often just before holidays (which they don’t celebrate). Last fall, they came on Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving. I was putting something in my van, which was parked in the […]
It’s a matter of perception. Is the glass half full or half empty? Sometimes, all that is needed is a paradigm shift (pronounced “pair-a-dime”, not “pair-a-digum, just to be clear). In order to see our lives clearly, we need a bird’s-eye-view, but we’re stuck below, looking at life from the perspective of the worm. I […]
I wish I could say that I said prayers with my children every morning, prayed the rosary with them every day, and remembered nightly prayers at bedtime. I know I should have this routine, but time passes and before I know it each day, breakfast is served and cleared (okay, well not always cleared) school […]
It’s the card that embarrassed believers play when they choose their will over God’s.
A Damascus bomb blast which killed a deacon in training shows that a Christian district of the city is in acute danger, according to a leading Catholic bishop. Benjamin Camil, 35, was on his way home on Tuesday morning, March 26th, after distributing food to destitute people, when he was killed instantly by the explosive. […]
The Church offers Gay people what she offers anyone else: the truth.
