How many times have we met with dear friends who are distraught about a family member, perhaps a child who has left the faith or a family crisis hinging on poor decisions? After looking at the details, exploring the possible harms, and coming to grips with what is at stake, the conversation usually ends with […]
“Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts […]
No cardinal is under suspicion of being the mastermind behind the “Vatileaks” affair which is rocking Rome, Father Federico Lombardi, S.J., the Pope’s spokesman, told journalists in the Vatican Press Office shortly after noon today. Nor has the Pope constituted a special team of lay investigators, led by a woman, to look into the case […]
As a teen, I thought the clergy were supposed to do everything. We laity were just called to pray, pay, and obey. Oh yes, and keep the commandments, of course. The original 10 seemed overwhelming enough. Then I discovered the Sermon on the Mount and nearly passed out. Perhaps this is why many inactive Catholics […]
“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — Gospel of St. John, 15:13 There are some men who sum up the character of a nation. One such man was Vincent Robert Capodanno. Capodanno represented what was best about America, and now those who remember him would […]
The Church has the charge for the “cura animarum” (the care of souls). Jesus commands His Apostles to go and preach unto all nations (Matthew 28:16-18). In the sixth century, Pope St. Gregory the Great wrote his much celebrated “Regula Pastoralis” (Rule for Pastors) that spoke about caring for souls in various states or conditions. […]
I gave them your word and the world hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world (John 17:14). Today we observe World Communications Day, because communication is important to the life of the Church. In fact, we ARE in the business of communications: evangelization is the […]
In the novel Love Story, Oliver and Jenny want to marry. But their families don’t want them to marry. They are from “opposite sides of the tracks.” Oliver is rich. Jenny is poor. Both are well educated (he from Harvard; she from Radcliff) but aren’t interested in social status. They only want to start a […]
Did Jesus really sin? Apparently nearly 60% of all practicing Catholic within the Diocese of Camden, NJ believe so. This was the findings of a religious survey commissioned by the Diocese of Camden, with the intent and purpose of finding out what people know and understand about their Catholic faith. These results should put all […]
The larger political landscape seems like a vicious quagmire (which indeed it may be) but it also offers valuable topics for discussion around the water cooler and in the car-pool line. While the HHS mandate is primarily an assault on religious liberties, those with courage and conviction can use the opening to discuss the Catholic […]
Without any kind of a deep freeze this past winter, the weeds have had a field day (pun intended) this spring. I don’t know about your neighborhood, but ours is totally infested with chickweed. Now, chickweed looks innocent enough, with its dainty little white flowers and delicate stems, but don’t be fooled. It’s a cold-blooded […]
It’s not politically incorrect to believe in God. Just so long as you acknowledge that all are God’s children, and that there are many, equally honorable paths to the Most High. After all, that’s only fair. How conceited it would be to claim that your way is the only way. There is nothing really new […]
On Holy Thursday, the night before he died, the Lord Jesus made some startling changes in the ritual of the Passover meal. Instead of being content with the traditional Jewish table blessing over the bread, Jesus proclaimed “take and eat for this is my body.” Over the third cup of wine, known as the cup […]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Palm Sunday is the great doorway leading into Holy Week, the week when the Lord Jesus makes his way towards the culmination of his earthly existence. He goes up to Jerusalem in order to fulfil the Scriptures and to be nailed to the wood of the Cross, the throne from which […]
“So it is ourselves that we must spread under Christ’s feet, not coats or lifeless branches or shoots of trees, matter which wastes away and delights the eye only for a few brief hours. “But we have clothed ourselves with Christ’s grace, or with the whole Christ … so let us spread ourselves like coats […]
It has been said that the worst human sinfulness happened that day on Calvary when the creatures attempted to kill the Creator. The very people that God came to save rejected him and nailed him to the cross but in doing so they did not realize that they were rejecting themselves and the own love […]
When our first son was born, my oldest daughter was 7. She had been an only child for so long, we believed she might have some concerns and insecurities over this new addition. I remember talking to her the night our son was born. Mom was still in the hospital. I explained that the addition […]
We Catholics tend to shy away from spiritual vulnerability, a kind of real intimacy and relationship. We suspect emotionalism — a kind of fluctuating faith anchored in ever-changing emotions. That’s for “those evangelicals” whom we perceive to go from church to church, high to high, we think. For many of us, faith is about being a good solider. […]
Some find it hard to accept that God would love some people more than others. That wouldn’t be fair, they say. But God became man. If he did not love some more than others, Jesus wouldn’t be fully human. For human beings have family and friends. While we can do good and even risk our […]
Reading about two free speech cases now before the Supreme Court, I found myself thinking of Cardinal Newman. I’ll get to Cardinal Newman in a minute, but first let me say a word about those cases pending in the court. The basic issue in FCC v. Fox Television Stations and FCC v. ABC is the […]
The response to the HHS mandate concerning insurance and contraception has been shocking to many, as they realize that there is a yawning rift in the American population between those who understand the Constitution and those who don’t, and between those who consider sexual morality an important element of our cultural fabric and those who […]
Many of the most violent attacks on morality taking place today seem to be centered around questions of sexual morality. The controversies surrounding sex education in schools, acceptance of homosexual conduct, pornography, divorce, and, of course, the paramount matter of abortion—all these would seem to have sex as their common theme. But though all these […]
The brief reflection below is based on a 3-Minute Lenten retreat brought to you by Loyola Press. At the bottom of this reflection is a link for you to access the retreat. About 10 years ago Sarah, my Downs syndrome daughter, was asked to the senior prom by Chris, a disabled boy she had known […]
In one of his homilies, Fr. Mitch Pacwa of EWTN told the story of a group of seminarians who visited a silversmith to see how silver is refined so that they could understand better the references in Scripture about the necessity that we be refined like silver refined by a silversmith. The seminarians watched as […]
