Site Map

Site Feeds

Pages

Categories

Monthly Archives

Tags

All Articles

Keeping Company with Saint Michael the Archangel

Keeping Company with Saint Michael the Archangel

Sep 29 19 • • 0 comments

Our three year old daughter Liz was in the backseat of the car while my wife was driving.  Mom made a wrong turn. “Grrr,” my wife grumbled, “wrong turn!” From the backseat Liz’s voice chimed: “Recalculating!” That made my wife crack-up.  But while Mom was laughing out loud, Liz didn’t see the humor. “That’s what […]

The Victory of the Cross: Turning Terror Upside Down

The Victory of the Cross: Turning Terror Upside Down

Terrorism is nothing new.  It’s probably as old as the human race. In fact the cradle of civilization, now Iraq, was the home of the most infamous terrorists of antiquity, the Assyrians.  Their goal was to conquer their neighbors in a way that would minimize initial resistance and subsequent rebellion.  To do this, they knew […]

Visitation Sisters’ Ebook Can Help With Discernment

Visitation Sisters’ Ebook Can Help With Discernment

Sep 9 19 • • 0 comments

Free Ebook on Salesian Spirituality Every Sunday evening a Visitation Sister gently guides online chatters about their vocational discernment and provides spiritual insights. The discussion is called the “Living Jesus Chat Room,” named after the Visitation Sisters’ motto “Live Jesus.” On this evening, a woman who teaches at an alternative public high school for discipline […]

Saving Quacks

Saving Quacks

This story happened in our family twenty years ago, but lives on today as a lasting sign of just how powerful our God is. “Dad, may I just peek inside?” ten-year-old Luke Armstrong asked holding a cardboard box. “Wait until we get home,” his dad, Mark, answered. “We’re almost there. I don’t want a bunch […]

Ex-Satanist Converts and Builds Basilica

Ex-Satanist Converts and Builds Basilica

It would seem that being raised by devout Catholic parents who prayed the rosary daily would have pointed to a good and holy future for Bartolo Longo. And it did.  Eventually. First, he strayed so far from God that he became a satanic priest. Yet, as far as Bartolo strayed—and it was extreme—he was not beyond […]

Until Death Do We Part

Until Death Do We Part

Aug 24 19 • • 0 comments

It’s been a roller-coaster kind of year so far, with thrilling highs, unexpected jolts and surprises. At the end of a roller-coaster ride after being yanked to and fro, it just seems to come to an abrupt stop and it’s time to get off. You are not quite sure if you want to ride again […]

Breaking Open the Word at Home: August 18, 2019

Breaking Open the Word at Home: August 18, 2019

Aug 18 19 • • 0 comments

Sunday Mass Readings for the Ministry of Parents and Godparents The Church professes Christian parents to be the “first” teachers of the faith and calls them to be the “best” teachers of the faith (The Rite of Infant Baptism). Godparents agree to assist in this ministry of parents. This resource from Catholic Lane is to […]

The Assumption of Mary for Converts and non-Catholics

The Assumption of Mary for Converts and non-Catholics

Aug 15 19 • • 0 comments

Mary was assumed into heaven. It’s one of the more difficult teachings for converts to grasp. But there are ways to approach the Assumption so that non-Catholics may come to believe. In 1995, I wrote an article for Protestant newspapers called “Trends in Christian Fiction” which considered the possibility that a Christian fiction book might […]

Breaking Open the Word at Home: August 11, 2019

Breaking Open the Word at Home: August 11, 2019

Aug 11 19 • • 0 comments

Sunday Mass Readings for the Ministry of Parents and Godparents The Church professes Christian parents to be the “first” teachers of the faith and calls them to be the “best” teachers of the faith (The Rite of Infant Baptism). Godparents agree to assist in this ministry of parents. This resource from Catholic Lane is to […]

Breaking Open the Word at Home: August 4, 2019, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Breaking Open the Word at Home: August 4, 2019, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Aug 4 19 • • 0 comments

Sunday Mass Readings for the Ministry of Parents and Godparents The Church professes Christian parents to be the “first” teachers of the faith and calls them to be the “best” teachers of the faith (The Rite of Infant Baptism). Godparents agree to assist in this ministry of parents. This resource from Catholic Lane is to […]

 First Five Saturdays 

 First Five Saturdays 

If ever there was a good time to make reparation for the offenses to the Blessed Mother, now would be a good time.  Even if you have already made the Five First Saturdays, it’s something we can do again and again. At Fatima, through the Blessed Mother’s apparitions to the 3 shepherd children, the devotion […]

Get to Know St. Anne, Your Our Grandmother in Heaven

Get to Know St. Anne, Your Our Grandmother in Heaven

Years ago, I attended a non-Catholic, Christian event with a couple of my teens at our civic center. It was called “The Fire” and was an all-out, sing-and-praise-your-heart-out-for-the- Lord evening. But in the midst of thousands of people, a feeling of emptiness unexpectedly came upon me. I felt the absence of those that were missing: […]

Breaking Open the Word at Home: July 21, 2019

Breaking Open the Word at Home: July 21, 2019

Jul 21 19 • • 0 comments

Sunday Mass Readings for the Ministry of Parents and Godparents The Church professes Christian parents to be the “first” teachers of the faith and calls them to be the “best” teachers of the faith (The Rite of Infant Baptism). Godparents agree to assist in this ministry of parents. This resource from Catholic Lane is to […]

Hard to Imagine the Afterlife?

Hard to Imagine the Afterlife?

Jul 13 19 • • 0 comments

I know. St. Paul had the same problem though, “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:10). Right now our knowledge of God is conceptual, we use analogies from this created world to speak of the Totally Other: […]

The 4th of July, Human Dignity, and the Catholic Church

The 4th of July, Human Dignity, and the Catholic Church

Fireworks.  Baseball games.  Picnics.  This is what the 4th of July means to most Americans today.  But July 4th, 1776, was a very solemn day for the 55 men who affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.  For in so doing, they were risking their lives and fortunes to defend the proposition that “all […]

Breaking Open the Word at Home: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Breaking Open the Word at Home: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Jun 22 19 • • 0 comments

Sunday Mass Readings for the Ministry of Parents and Godparents The Church professes Christian parents to be the “first” teachers of the faith and calls them to be the “best” teachers of the faith (The Rite of Infant Baptism). Godparents agree to assist in this ministry of parents. This resource from Catholic Lane is to […]

Breaking Open the Word at Home: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Breaking Open the Word at Home: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Jun 15 19 • • 0 comments

Sunday Mass Readings for the Ministry of Parents and Godparents The Church professes Christian parents to be the “first” teachers of the faith and calls them to be the “best” teachers of the faith (The Rite of Infant Baptism). Godparents agree to assist in this ministry of parents. This resource from Catholic Lane is to […]

Breaking Open the Word at Home: The Solemnity of Pentecost

Breaking Open the Word at Home: The Solemnity of Pentecost

Jun 9 19 • • 0 comments

Sunday Mass Readings for the Ministry of Parents and Godparents The Church professes Christian parents to be the “first” teachers of the faith and calls them to be the “best” teachers of the faith (The Rite of Infant Baptism). Godparents agree to assist in this ministry of parents. This resource from Catholic Lane is to […]

Breaking Open the Word at Home: May 26, 2019

Breaking Open the Word at Home: May 26, 2019

May 26 19 • • 0 comments

Sunday Mass Readings for the Ministry of Parents and Godparents The Church professes Christian parents to be the “first” teachers of the faith and calls them to be the “best” teachers of the faith (The Rite of Infant Baptism). Godparents agree to assist in this ministry of parents. This resource from Catholic Lane is to […]

Breaking Open the Word at Home: May 5, 2019

Breaking Open the Word at Home: May 5, 2019

May 4 19 • • 0 comments

Sunday Mass Readings for the Ministry of Parents and Godparents The Church professes Christian parents to be the “first” teachers of the faith and calls them to be the “best” teachers of the faith (The Rite of Infant Baptism). Godparents agree to assist in this ministry of parents. This resource from Catholic Lane is to […]

Living Holy Saturday

Living Holy Saturday

Apr 20 19 • • 0 comments

“For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.” (John 20:9) On Good Friday, the impossible happened. God Himself was executed by His creatures. On Easter Sunday, this same God, our Lord Jesus Christ, rose from the dead, victorious over the power of the grave. In so doing, […]

Good Friday: God is Dead

Good Friday: God is Dead

Apr 19 19 • • 3 comments

Behold the wood of the cross, on which has hung our salvation: come let us adore (Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion). As we trod with Jesus the steps to Golgotha that draw Lent to a close, it is worthy to note that these are not the waning days of a dry, tired Lent. Instead, they […]

Taking Palm Sunday into This Holy Week

Taking Palm Sunday into This Holy Week

Apr 15 19 • • 0 comments

Jesus wanted His Apostles to spend time with Him before He died. Instead they slept. He awaits our visits to Him as He remains imprisoned in the tabernacles of His Churches, but we don’t come. How harsh we are on Judas. Yes, he betrayed our Lord. But have not we done so repeatedly as well? […]

Breaking Open the Word at Home: 5th Sunday of Lent

Breaking Open the Word at Home: 5th Sunday of Lent

Apr 6 19 • • 0 comments

The Church professes Christian parents to be the “first” teachers of the faith and calls them to be the “best” teachers of the faith (The Rite of Infant Baptism). Godparents agree to assist in this ministry of parents. This resource from Catholic Lane is to assist you, parent or godparent, with using the Sunday Mass […]