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A 10-Day Retreat with St. Francis de Sales

Jun 27 17 • Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur • 0 comments

Lift up Your Heart: A10-Day Retreat with St. Francis de Sales by Rev. John Burns (Ave Maria Press, 2017) is an updated version of St. Francis de Sales’ meditations, originally published in 1609. Fr. Burns discovered these meditations during a time of his own spiritual searching and seeks to share them with a new generation. […]

Poem: “The Skeleton”

Jun 25 17 • G.K. Chesterton • 0 comments

The Skeleton Chattering finch and water-fly Are not merrier than I; Here among the flowers I lie Laughing everlastingly. No; I may not tell the best; Surely, friends, I might have guessed Death was but the good King’s jest, It was hid so carefully. G.K. Chesterton

The Principle of Solidarity and U.S. Healthcare: A Closer Look

Jun 16 17 • Charles Gernazian • 0 comments

When members of Congress were debating the Affordable Care Act, many Catholics suggested that the Catholic Principle of Subsidiarity was particularly instructive in the ongoing U.S. healthcare debate. Although mindful of the many relevant Catholic principles involved in the discussions of U.S. Healthcare (e.g., common good, separation of Church and State, life, primacy of focus […]

Sacred Music “Starter’s Kit” Helps Parishes Sing with the Universal Church

Jun 13 17 • Trent Beattie • 0 comments

Just how far off the mark is the music at your parish? The question seems unfair, yet the vast majority of parishes in the United States engage in liturgical deviations of the musical variety. Everything from folk music to heavy metal has been heard at Mass, despite having no official approval by the Church. Curiously, […]

The Plot Against Democracy

Jun 12 17 • Daniel Greenfield • 1 comment

There’s no room in the Democrat Party for democrats.

Defend the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity!

Jun 11 17 • Mary Kochan • 9 comments

Every time we make the sign of the Cross we make an invocation of the Holy Trinity: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Those who grew up as Catholics, or in other religious communities with an orthodox understanding of this Triune nature of God, may take […]

Police Officers on Borough High Street, London, June 4, 2017

Breaking Up With Mr. Islam

Jun 8 17 • Daniel Greenfield • 3 comments

This arranged marriage of ours with Islam is going very badly

Poem: “My Soul is on the Page”

Jun 4 17 • L. Lapiz • 0 comments

My Soul is on the Page When I read your verse I am awestruck. To see such words before me, Knowing that my soul is on the page. And You put it there. My God, my God, my wondrous God, I am slain with the knowledge of You Such warmth, From the fire of your […]

Poem: “The World”

Jun 1 17 • Christina Rossetti • 0 comments

The World By day she woos me, soft, exceeding fair: But all night as the moon so changeth she; Loathsome and foul with hideous leprosy And subtle serpents gliding in her hair. By day she woos me to the outer air, Ripe fruits, sweet flowers, and full satiety: But through the night, a beast she […]

A Message To A Niece On Her Confirmation

May 31 17 • Robert J. Gieb • 0 comments

You have no doubt focused on the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit in preparing for your reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of God… the emphasis being on the word “gifts.” They are free to you. But they are not cheap giveaways. You may have heard […]

Joyce Kilmer - from Last Civilian Portrait, 1917.

Memorial Day 2017: Joyce Kilmer

May 29 17 • E. L. Core • 0 comments

The poet died in battle during the Great War.

The Double-Edged Sword of Infertility

May 26 17 • Betsy Kerekes • 16 comments

The pain of infertility or impaired fertility comes in more than one form. The first is the obvious suffering of the couple who wants so badly to have a child but, for whatever reason, is unable to. The second is the judgment of others in their Catholic community. I’ve experienced this first-hand, despite having three […]

Solemnity of the Ascension

May 26 17 • Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. • 1 comment

It is fitting to celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We rejoice to see the holy city roll out the red carpet and hail Jesus as the promised Messiah. The problem is, however, that the only crown they gave their king was a crown of thorns. This week the Church recalls a […]

Abba – Daddy

May 25 17 • Randal Agostini • 1 comment

Our grandchild was over for the night and she brought her dolls with her. We had no daughter so It was interesting for me to watch from a distance to see how she was caught up in the moment, a fantasy that was transformed into a reality that quickly absorbed all her senses. Before discounting […]

Poem: “Confessional”

May 25 17 • G.K. Chesterton • 0 comments

Confessional Now that I kneel at the throne, O Queen, Pity and pardon me. Much have I striven to sing the same, Brother of beast and tree; Yet when the stars catch me alone Never a linnet sings- And the blood of a man is a bitter voice And cries for foolish things. Not for […]

Trump Expands Mexico City Policy, Abortion Groups Keep Some Funding

May 19 17 • Lisa Correnti • 0 comments

The Trump administration announced additional restrictions on abortion funding in foreign aid this week, in effect neutralizing U.S. complicity in the proliferation of global abortion. The State Department announced that effective May 15th, $8.8 billion in global health assistance would fall under Mexico City Policy guidelines, prohibiting most foreign non-government organizations (NGOs) that perform or […]

New Human Trafficking Foundation May Support Abortion and Prostitution

May 17 17 • Austin Ruse • 0 comments

Conservative human rights groups are increasingly alarmed about a new funding proposal to combat human trafficking around the world. They are concerned also about the groups that seem to have gotten the ear of the White House, specifically Ivanka Trump, who appears to be quarterbacking the White House position. The immediate issue is the End […]

The Eucharist, Mary, and Redemptive Suffering

May 12 17 • Shane Kapler • 2 comments

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24). Redemptive suffering. It is that mysterious but incredible reality that the suffering God allows into our lives, when accepted and lived with […]

Poem: “My God is King”

May 10 17 • Stacy Peterson • 0 comments

My God is King How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one bringing good news, Announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, saying to Zion, “Your God is King!” ‘Neath a sapphire sky window to heaven John guided his Master smoothly up mountain, Peter kicked an ancient stone, Ascending the path zig-zagged. […]

Poem: “I Am Pleased to be in Your Service”

May 4 17 • L. Lapiz • 0 comments

I Am Pleased to be in Your Service If I am, why am I, God? What is my purpose? What deeds lie ahead of me on this road? Will they be wondrous or cowardly acts? Will they bring praise or condemnation? Could either serve Your purpose? Whatever You have in store, Whatever is Your will […]

Mount Rushmore with American Flag Background

National Day of Prayer 2017

May 3 17 • E. L. Core • 0 comments

Thursday, May 4th, 2017.

Praying the Angelus – (Re)Discover an Ancient Prayer

May 2 17 • Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur • 0 comments

My knowledge of the Angelus prayer was minimal at best before reading Praying the Angelus by Jared Dees (Ave Maria Press, 2017). I doubt that I am alone in that regard. Dees, a high school theology teacher, describes his own confusion when first listening to the Angelus in Latin when in Rome and then learning […]

Poem: “May”

May 1 17 • Christina Rossetti • 1 comment

May I cannot tell you how it was; But this I know: it came to pass Upon a bright and breezy day When May was young; ah, pleasant May! As yet the poppies were not born Between the blades of tender corn; The last eggs had not hatched as yet, Nor any bird forgone its […]

Including Children With Disabilities in Life

Apr 28 17 • Mark Davis Pickup • 0 comments

It was a beautiful sunny day for a man to be at a playground with his preschool grandchildren. That’s exactly where I was. I took my grandson and grand-daughter to a playground at a nearby elementary school; one child sat on my lap while the other stood on the back of my electric wheelchair as […]