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 Do you struggle with depression? Take heart, and take advice, from a bishop who has been there too.....
Most Rev. James D. Conley, Bishop of Lincoln, joined Dr. James Link, a Catholic clinical psychologist based in Bismarck, North Dakota, via Zoom on January 30, 2021, to discuss the relationship between Catholic spirituality and psychology. In December 2019, Bishop Conley requested time away in order to seek assistance...
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Here's an excellent comparison of Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and 33 other COVID-19 vaccines...
Shortly after a new single dose COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson was approved for use in the U.S., Bishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans issued a statement warning the faithful that the vaccine was "morally compromised" due to its reliance on abortion-derived cells in both its development and testing, and advising Catholics that they consequently should use vaccines that are more morally acceptable vaccines if those vaccines are available.
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Pope Francis in Iraq, Wuerl's $2 million raises big questions, and Andrew Cuomo...
Pope Francis is in Iraq. It is an historic trip, in the proper sense of the term. The region is home to Catholic communities far older than the name "Iraq," or the concept of a nation state, and the suffering of that people as they try to hold on to their ancient homes is truly worthy of our every attention and effort of support.
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Exactly 310 years after Guadalupe, Our Lady appeared to Indians in the present-day U.S...
It was Christmas Eve, 1841, in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. Montana was still decades from statehood. The Salish Indians in that locality had welcomed missionaries only in September. Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, the well-known Jesuit missionary, had arrived with two fellow priests to found a mission among the Salish, also then called the Flatheads, who were eager to learn the Catholic faith and be baptized.
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God made you for happiness in Heaven, not comfort on Earth...
"Happy" is unlikely an adjective most people associate with Lent. By the First Sunday of Lent, Catholics in the United States will have already experienced their one (of a whole two) fast days of the year and returned to Friday abstinence (which used to be year round). We talk about what we will "give up" for Lent, and we hear of penance. What's "happy?"
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Iraq has given many great saints to the Church...
As one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world, the Christians of Iraq — whom Pope Francis will visit March 5-8 — have not only given the world a culturally rich ecclesiastical heritage, but also accorded the Church innumerable great saints, many of whom are martyrs for the faith.
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Father Edward Meeks: 'Why politics is not our religion'...
"Whether we're accused of being overly political or not, we have to take a stand for the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage and religious liberty, because all three of them are under assault in this culture today," said Fr. Edward Meeks, the founding pastor of Christ the King Church in Towson, Maryland...
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From feckless episcopal leadership, Lord save us...
Do you wonder why many Catholics have grown cynical about their bishops? The Pillar news site reports that this year's budget for the Archdiocese of Washington includes $2 million for the "continuing ministry" of Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who resigned from active ministry nearly two years ago amid what polite people call questions about his role in the McCarrick scandal.
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St. Thomas Aquinas says Heaven is like a baby who has a beard...
This isn't my own original idea. It belongs to Saint Thomas Aquinas, who used it to argue against the claim that in heaven we'll somehow lose our humanity. If we spend time thinking about it, the beatific vision—the strange and glorious union with God that we will enjoy in heaven—can seem like something unnatural to us.
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2021 OSV Challenge will help build up Catholic innovators and non-profits...
The OSV Institute for Catholic Innovation is accepting application submissions for the 2021 OSV Challenge, an entrepreneurial competition designed to "incubate unique project ideas in any stage from Catholics whose faith has motivated them to make a difference." Three prizes of $100,000 each will be awarded to three Catholic non-profits...
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How does society measure mothers?
Quarantine and political violence have made city life considerably less appealing, leading to a noticeable exodus out of cities in favor of simpler lives and less expensive locales. Accompanying this trend are large numbers of women leaving the workforce. With school-age children suddenly at home, this can come as no surprise. Many erstwhile employed women surely lament this change and feel eager to get their children back in school and their jobs back on track...
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Are Germany's Catholic bishops paving the way to a schism?
Germany's Catholic bishops embarked on a series of conversations in 2018 aimed at reforming church teachings. It was an ambitious, if not audacious, effort on everything from homosexuality, priestly celibacy and the ordination of women.
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These pastors are learning how to create an 'Amazing Parish'...
Except for a few cynics, pretty much everyone accepts the fact that a church is not a business. But Patrick Lencioni wants to bring to Catholic parishes the principles he's been sharing for years with businesses like Southwest Airlines. The key difference is, when visitors walk into a church...
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Cardinal Pell and squirming Catholics...
According to the movie Love Story, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Typical Hollywood fluff, you might say. Yet the best answer to that asininity was given by a Hollywood all-star, the late, great Charlton Heston. Asked the secret of what would eventually become his 64-year long marriage to Lydia, Chuck Heston replied...
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How British Intelligence manufactured a Satanic Panic in Northern Ireland 50 years ago...
The British government once launched a PsyOps campaign against the Provisional IRA that attempted to frame them as devil-worshipping Cultists. They even went as far as having Intelligence Agents research Crowley and other occultists in order to accurately replicate "black masses" and other rituals, which they staged throughout the Northern Irish countryside.
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When a man proposes...
Even as marriage between a man and a woman is undermined, ridiculed, or simply set aside, we naturally feel the power and poignancy of a man proposing to a woman. This particular form of human interaction holds an almost limitless interest for us. We want to hear the whole story, even when we already know how it turns out in the end.
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I never really liked Dr. Seuss much anyway...
Write what you want. Publish what you want. Teach what you want. Stock your libraries with what you want. Withdraw what you want. Prohibit what you want. Just do it on the most local scale possible, so the rest of us can write, publish, teach, stock, withdraw and prohibit what we want, as well.
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10 mysterious things to know about guardian angels...
Guardian angels are mysterious beings that are invisible to our eyes, but surround us and accompany us on a daily basis. Here are 10 fascinating facts about these spiritual creatures and how they affect our everyday lives.
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Here are 4 vital elements of Catholic renewal...
Imagine taking a small portion of every item in your fridge and cooking them into one dish tonight. You would probably end up with a gross mess for dinner. It may be "food" and provide some kind of nourishment, but it certainly isn't going to taste good. Now imagine being served this mess at a restaurant. I highly doubt you would go back...
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Have you ever thought of praying outside an abortion clinic?
Do you know about 40 Days for Life? It's a campaign of prayer outside of abortion clinics. I've been trying to stick with it most days, often signing up for a slot at 3 in the afternoon on weekdays. I quickly learned that 3 is an especially hard time. At this particular clinic...
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If Heaven is our aim, why refute the Creed?
There is a specific chapter in the book of Deuteronomy where Moses prepares, proclaims, and instructs Israel to obey God. The Shema or Law of God is what Moses specifically directs Israel to faithfully adhere. After the miraculous events of God's sovereign power witnessed by the Israelites, one would hope Israel would not hesitate to obey God's commands...
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5 theological truths to see in the Transfigured Christ...
A theophany is a revelation of God to man, when God makes himself plainly known. As examples, we might think of Moses' discovery of the burning bush or Paul's encounter with God on the road to Damascus. The Transfiguration is one such event, when the disciples see the glory of the Lord. But what did they see? St. Thomas Aquinas suggests...
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True love requires a patience that takes us to the terror of the Cross...
Today, in discerning how to address formation for ministry, the Church states its concerns over human formation. True formation requires the addressing of three dimensions of our human experience: First, conversion from sin; second, accepting and dealing with reality; and third, hoosing the totality of what Christ has revealed a complete surrender of one's whole existence to Him.
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The German question risks putting the whole Church in crisis...
With the appointment of its first lay woman secretary-general, and the first anywhere in the world, the German Bishops' Conference last week wanted to indicate the fruits of the Synodal Path of the Church in Germany. In short, a signal that the changes they are discussing will be implemented, whether Rome wants it or not.
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From trials to Transfiguration — A homily for the Second Sunday of Lent...
The text says, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. Note that in order to get them to a place where they can see glory, the Lord must first lead them "up a high mountain." It's easy to pass over this fact: they had to climb that mountain. Anyone who has been to the site of Tabor can appreciate just how difficult a climb it is...
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Massive Catholic center planned for east Texas...
A grand oratory, seven Catholic institutes, a retreat center, residences, multilevel educational programs: These are among the ambitious projects about to launch in the bucolic east Texas countryside of Winona, outside of Tyler. Called Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth), after the encyclical by Pope St. John Paul II on the Church's moral teaching...
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“I believe in Jesus Christ”...
At the heart of our Christian Faith is a Person, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Word become flesh, "the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth." Jesus comes to us as "the way, and the truth, and the life," and Christian living consists in following him. As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has said...
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Reminders that in Catholicism, the past isn't dead ... and not even past...
In Catholicism, how the past is remembered and constructed is always key to the politics of the present and future. A classic reminder of the point came recently in testimony in a Vatican trial describing fights among middle-school and high-school aged pre-seminarians over the Second Vatican Council...
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The history of Lent and fasting in the Church...
We have once again entered the season of Lent, a season of the Church calendar that is difficult for many Catholics. We have the feeling that we should be doing more, but under the pressure of modern life, and perhaps a degree of selfishness, we are reluctant to take on too much in the way of prayer and penitential activities. Words like "penance," "mortification" and "renunciation" are intimidating.
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Xavier Becerra: Is it fair to hire a hit man as HHS secretary?
Pope Francis has not particularly emphasized what we call "pro-life" causes during his papacy. You can find stray remarks in his speeches or documents, of course, that affirm belief in the sanctity of human life - even from conception to natural death. But no extended treatment and nothing like the encyclicals pushing the boundaries of marriage...
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This Sunday's readings: Our unsafe God demands too much...
We hear the story of the Transfiguration this Sunday, the Second Sunday of Lent Year B, and what at first glance seems to be a strange story that is more of a curiosity than anything else, the more you look at it turns out to be a specific and radical warning of what will happen to each of us soon.
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We face obstacles, and we're often at war with ourselves. It's not easy being human.....
Our intrinsic freedom as human persons is extraordinarily difficult to fathom, as it is hedged on all sides by things which tend to distort or limit it. For example, our freedom is limited by our innate abilities and opportunities. We cannot become doctors without a large measure of intelligence and serious study, any more than we can win a track-and-field event without significant coordination and the health to undergo rigorous training...
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A Catholic approach to diversity, equity and inclusion at Notre Dame: 10 Theses...
Like many other universities, Notre Dame is promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd on May 25, and of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and many others. Unlike most universities, Notre Dame is a Catholic university whose mission statement holds that "our Catholic character informs all our endeavors." How can Notre Dame manifest its mission in these efforts?
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Sr. Carol Keehan is getting the Xavier Beccera Catholic problem backwards...
It is possible that no one loves nuns more than I do — or spends more time with them as our Mark Wright attested to in NR's 65th anniversary issue in December. Cloistered nuns and religious sisters happen to be some of my dearest friends and holy conspirators. And while I am grateful to her fiat to God with her religious life as a Daughter of Charity...
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Vatican prosecutors have cell phone of 'Becciu's spy'...
Vatican prosecutors are in possession of the cell phone of Cecilia Marogna, the woman at the center of one of several overlapping Vatican financial scandals, according to an Italian media report. The handover suggests new kinds of evidence could be brought forward in the expected trial of Marogna, but raises questions about the legal means used to obtain it.
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Remembering lives of consequence...
All lives are consequential, for every human being is an idea of God's, and everyone is a someone for whom the Son of God, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, entered history, suffered, died - and was raised from the dead to display within history a new, glorified humanity...
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Father Quan Tran: 'Follow Our Lady to be a disciple of Jesus Christ'...
The Blessed Virgin Mary is "the perfect disciple. She is God's masterpiece. To imitate Mary is to imitate Christ. There's no contradiction," said Fr. Quan Tran, parochial vicar at St. Bonaventure Parish in Huntington Beach, Calif., and a former deputy district attorney. He is the author of "The Imitation of Mary: Keys to Growth in Virtue and Grace" (Sophia Institute Press) and leads FullnessOfGrace.org.
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Meet the insider's bet to become Archbishop of Chicago if Cupich is moved to Rome...
In recent weeks, rumors in the Church have circulated to suggest that Chicago's Cardinal Blase Cupich may soon be appointed to head a Vatican office in Rome. The rumors tend to include speculation about who might replace the archbishop in Chicago. While several American bishops are usually mentioned, one front-runner has been entirely overlooked.
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Man dies on his knees in front of altar in Mexico City church...
A church in Mexico City was the scene on Sunday of the death of Juan, a man in his sixties who got down on his knees to pray at the entrance of the church, made his way up the main aisle still on his knees, passed out, and died within minutes in front of the altar.
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A brief history of ketchup and mustard, and how they became associated with hot dogs and hamburgers...
Around 300 BCE, people in China were experimenting with making pungent pastes out of fermented fish guts. A few centuries later, the Greek historian Pliny shared a method to treat scorpion stings using the ground-up seeds of a common plant. These are the unlikely origin stories of ketchup and mustard, two condiments that people in the United States spend over $1 billion on annually. How did two condiments with thousands of years of history between them become associated with hot dogs and hamburg
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You're probably not planning enough for unlikely events...
In the wee hours of the morning on Monday, February 15, my house, like many others across the state of Texas, lost power during a winter storm. For the next 48 hours, we wore layers of clothes and huddled under blankets as temperatures indoors dropped to about 40 degrees. Even after the power came on, water supplies were low, and the city of Austin was under a boil-water order.
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The devil wants to isolate you from Christ by taking you through these three steps. Don't let him.....
The basic identity of civilization is built on an understanding of family and the community built from it. Man's ability to know and understand his relationship with God stems from the very image and likeness God created in him. This means that our original identity with God was meant to be uncorrupted. Man's human nature is meant to reflect the Divine nature of God because man receives his identity from God...
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How to sound like a Catholic when you talk about ashes and death...
Catholics began Lent with a sacramental: the imposition of ashes. Ashes remind us of our mortality. The traditional formula for their imposition is, "Remember man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." The blessing of the ashes reiterates their symbolic value...
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German Catholic bishops call for change to Catechism on homosexuality...
A German Catholic bishop has publicly defended his support for a book of blessings and rites for homosexual unions. Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz also suggested that Catholics with homosexual inclinations cannot all be expected to live chastely and the Church should adopt a pastoral approach that acknowledges this.
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The most likely timeline for life to return to normal.....
The end of the coronavirus pandemic is on the horizon at last, but the timeline for actually getting there feels like it shifts daily, with updates about viral variants, vaccine logistics, and other important variables seeming to push back the finish line or scoot it forward. When will we be able to finally live our lives again?
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'Wokeism' in France: The chickens coming home to roost...
I will confess that one of the biggest laughs I've had in the last several months was occasioned by a recent article in The New York Times by Norimitsu Onishi. In this lengthy piece, the author tells us that the current political and cultural leadership in France, very much including President Emmanuel Macron...
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Barbara Shelley: Requiem for a Catholic film star...
Barbara Shelley, who died Jan. 4, 2021, at 88 years of age, was one of Hammer Film's celebrated "Scream Queens." During the 1960s, along with a number of actresses, she became part of the Hammer's acting repertoire, adding glamour to the grisly proceedings. Never a household name, Shelley was, nevertheless, a recognizable face on screen.
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