 Why people don't want pro-life women in the abortion debate...
New pro-life laws in Georgia and Alabama have elicited predictable responses from pro-abortion activists. Framing the pro-life argument as an attack on women, Alyssa Milano suggested a sex strike, while Linda Sarsour was quick to blame white women for supporting the patriarchy. With the left's sacrament of the left under fire...
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Why your Marian devotion might need a kickstart.....
Marian devotion has not come easily to me. Don't get me wrong, I've tried: Years of praying the rosary daily Several consecrations Consistent small devotions But, "True" devotion has eluded me for any consistent period of time. The sort of devotion that does all "in Mary, by Mary, for Mary and with Mary." It's tempting to dismiss this inconsistency by blaming my fragile human nature and just assuming that I'm always going to struggle...
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Amended California confession bill still targets priests, Catholic employees...
Catholic officials are urging Catholics to continue to oppose a California bill that would force priests to disclose information about child sexual abuse that they hear in the sacrament of confession, which is advancing in the state legislature. Current California law requires clergy to report suspected abuse or neglect unless the information about the abuse was obtained during confession...
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I am the 1 percent used to justify 100 percent of abortions...
Iowa. Kentucky. Mississippi. Ohio. Georgia. Alabama. What do these states have in common? Courage and compassion. They've passed Heartbeat bills (Missouri and Louisiana are on their way), banning the brutal act of abortion once a heartbeat can be detected in unborn children. I love how mainstream media is trying to spin this as a male versus female political fight (well...
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Nationalism and Catholicism collide in run-up to the European elections...
Italians will go to the ballot box on May 26 to elect members of the country's delegation to the European Parliament. The vote — part of elections held across the European Union — will be another litmus test regarding Italy's two populist political parties and whether they can withstand challenges from the left. What this latest electoral test will also do is reveal Italy's love-hate relationship with the Catholic church...
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The Lord has left a legacy of love for us to draw upon...
The title of this sermon uses the word legacy, which refers to something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor. Perhaps the most accessible image of this is money. If I receive 100 million dollars from a dying relative, I can the money to start living differently. My bills, which now seem overwhelming, can be paid with just the interest earned from my newfound wealth...
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Belloc, the Bible, and a buried lede about a Franciscan...
These words of Hilaire Belloc's have been popping up a lot on the Web, so in case you haven't seen it: Arriving at a posh Anglican school after a Catholic gathering, he told its Anglican minister: "The Catholic Church is an institution I am bound to hold divine — but for unbelievers a proof of its divinity might be found in the fact that no merely human institution conducted with such knavish imbecility would have lasted a fortnight...
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King St. Eric of Sweden is a template for dads everywhere...
It can't be easy for kings to become saints. Most are also husbands and fathers, and so you have all the challenges that come with those callings, plus the enormous headaches and perpetual consternation associated with ruling a people. Raise taxes, lower taxes? Go to war, sue for peace? Statecraft, diplomacy, court intrigues - how do Gospel values square with all that...
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Making the best case for that open letter on papal heresy...
John Rist, perhaps the most distinguished scholar among those who signed the open letter charging Pope Francis with heresy, has explained his action in an interview with the National Catholic Register. I would strongly urge all concerned Catholics to read the entire interview. Rist is an extremely intelligent man, and makes a strong case in defense of the open letter...
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Church in Chile 'shocked' and 'perplexed' over abuse crisis, locals say...
Though it's been diminishing for a while, more so in some places than others, the influence of the Catholic Church across Latin America is still undeniable. Chile is no exception, especially given that the Church here was at the forefront of the defense of human rights during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The Church's standing in Chile right now...
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What the Church teaches by saturating liturgy with the “Glory Be”...
The Liturgy of the Hours has a distinct rhythm that becomes familiar over time. The Our Father comes at the end every morning and evening, antiphons are repeated after each psalm, the Gospel canticle is always marked with the Sign of the Cross, and when in doubt, pray the doxology. "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit...
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Humility should be the 'cornerstone' of media work, Pope Francis tells journalists...
Pope Francis told journalists Saturday that their profession has a great responsibility, the foundation of which should be humility. "Humility is an essential virtue for spiritual life; but I would say that it can also be a fundamental element of your profession," the pope said May 18. He affirmed that there are other important qualities of a journalist...
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Despite religious freedom concerns, House passes Equality Act...
The House of Representatives passed the controversial Equality Act on Friday, amid heated opposition from those who argue it would pose serious threats to critical constitutional freedoms. "This bill undermines human dignity by threatening the fundamental freedoms of speech, religion, and conscience that the First Amendment guarantees for every citizen...
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This chemist will be the first beatified Opus Dei numerary...
On May 18 in Madrid, Guadalupe Ortiz de Landazuri, a laywoman, will become the first numerary of Opus Dei to be beatified. A chemist, university teacher, and close associate of St. Josemaría Escriva, she was known for her strong character, big heart, and cheerfulness. According to Beatriz Gaytan, a historian who knew Ortiz: "Whenever I think of her...
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On the sufferings of St. Paul and the price of the Gospel...
As we turn in this week of Easter to the Acts of Paul section of the Acts of the Apostles, we do well to ponder the kinds of sufferings the apostles endured to announce the gospel and win souls for Christ. In the "softer" Church of the declining West, it is hard for us even to imagine such suffering. How many Catholics today can even bear to rouse themselves to get to an hour-long Mass on Sunday...
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A Christian gentleman in the nation's capital...
Clement Attlee once described Winston Churchill as akin to a layer cake: one never knew which layer of his personality would be displayed at a given moment — the 17th-century Churchill, imaginatively riding across the battlefields of Europe with his great ancestor, Marlborough; the 18th-century Churchill, standing in Parliament alongside Edmund Burke; the man born into 19th-century aristocracy at Blenheim Palace; the colossus of the democratic 20th century; or the visionary of the 21st century...
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12,000 'On the March' to Lourdes for the International Military Pilgrimage...
Over 12,000 soldiers from over 40 countries are set to arrive in Lourdes, France on Friday as part of the 61st Annual International Military Pilgrimage. The pilgrimage goes throughout the weekend before concluding on Sunday. The International Military Pilgrimage, known as the PMI [Pèlerinage Militaire International] first began in 1958...
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The Kingdom of Love: The readings for the 5th Sunday of Easter...
The Easter Season is passing quickly. Already it is more than half over, as we progress toward the great Feasts of Ascension and Pentecost. We want the Season to slow down, so that we may savor the joy and consolation of these readings from Acts and John that dominate the Easter Cycle, but tempus fugit. The Readings for this Fifth Sunday of Easter describe the growth of the Kingdom of God...
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Vatican court acquits priest accused of sexual misconduct...
On Friday, the Vatican's Supreme Court announced that after an investigation, they have acquitted Father Hermann Geissler, an Austrian priest who formerly worked at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith who was accused of making sexual advances during confession. Geissler resigned from his post as an official in the Vatican's doctrine office Jan...
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'I hate all of you': 'Juno' writer regrets that her movie was pro-life...
These are the times that try feminists' souls. Pro-life laws in places like Georgia and Alabama threaten to produce an epidemic of live, healthy births in red states in the not-too-distant future. All good progressives must rally to the abortion uber alles flag. Now is not time to be seen as a summer sister or sunshine patriarchy smasher...
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The 19th-century infographic that stacks a redwood against St. Peter's Basilica.....
Eduard Mielck was a big fan of enormous plants. He worked as a forestry official in Holstein, Germany, and in 1863 published a volume titled Die Riesen der Pflanzenwelt, or The Giants of the Plant World, which compiled measurements and dreamy illustrations of some of the most soaring living organisms known at the time. Just how big is "giant"...
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The English word that hasn't changed in sound or meaning in 8,000 years...
One of my favorite words is lox," says Gregory Guy, a professor of linguistics at New York University. There is hardly a more quintessential New York food than a lox bagel—a century-old popular appetizing store, Russ & Daughters, calls it "The Classic." But Guy, who has lived in the city for the past 17 years, is passionate about lox for a different reason...
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Alabama's abortion bill and what it means to be pro-life...
I'm a pro life priest. We have a strong and active pro life ministry in our parish. Every year we take a bus and March for Life. We pray at the abortion clinic. We support Birthright-our local support group for women in crisis pregnancies. We encourage and support families who foster and adopt. I'm happy about the Alabama vote...
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See the face of a man who lived in Switzerland 1,300 years ago...
Adelasius Ebalchus has a decidedly Latin name for a man who lived in Switzerland around A.D. 700, centuries after the western Roman Empire fell apart. That choice of name was deliberate, explains Mirjam Wullschleger of the Solothurn state archaeology department. It was at this time that Germanic peoples were moving into the Swiss Plateau in the country's north...
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New D.C. leader says of facing abuse crisis again: 'I'm not afraid'...
Seventeen years ago, a charismatic young African-American bishop of Belleville, Illinois, rose to national prominence as president of the U.S. bishops' conference at a time when the clerical sexual abuse crisis exploded in Boston in 2002, and then quickly rippled across the country. In a dark moment for the American Church, many Catholics felt Wilton Gregory was a rare point of light...
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This trail in the Holy Land covers at least 3,000 years of biblical history...
Tradition claims Moses walked all across Jordan, from the Red Sea in the south all the way to the north to Mount Nebo on his way to the Promised Land. In fact, the closest city to the ancient Nabatean city of Petra is called "Wadi Mousa," "the Valley of Moses," very close to what tradition has also identified as Moses' well...
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St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: A convert who brought her gifts with her into the Church...
Elizabeth was born two years before the Declaration of Independence was signed. From an early age, she was taught the value of service by her parents, especially her father, a surgeon who would serve immigrants in New York City, even risking his life to do so when yellow fever hit the city. As a young woman in the Episcopal Church...
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Harvard researchers discovered an astonishing fact about people who go to Mass ...
A Harvard research study followed 89,000 women over a 15-year period in order to understand the relationship between religion and suicide. Results showed that Catholic women who attended Mass weekly had a suicide rate that was half that of the general population. Of the 7,000 women who attended Mass more than once a week, not a single one committed suicide during the 15 years of the study...
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9 reasons you should host a dinner party this weekend...
Why is it that folks are so hesitant about throwing dinner parties? It's likely some combination of a few different factors: The well-edited version of food and life that's presented on social media has led to a perception of heightened expectations, and the feeling that if you can't make a party perfect, you shouldn't throw one at all...
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Archdiocese of Detroit cancels sporting events on Sundays...
The Archdiocese of Detroit has announced that it will no longer hold required sporting events on Sundays, in an effort to refocus the day on prayer, family and rest. In a reflection on his 2016 pastoral letter, Unleash the Gospel, Archbishop Allen Vigneron issued a pastoral note on Wednesday, emphasizing the importance of "the Lord's Day...
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9 reasons you should host a dinner party this weekend...
Why is it that folks are so hesitant about throwing dinner parties? It's likely some combination of a few different factors: The well-edited version of food and life that's presented on social media has led to a perception of heightened expectations, and the feeling that if you can't make a party perfect, you shouldn't throw one at all...
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9 things I wish I could go back in time to tell my young self about the Faith...
I occasionally like to reimagine what my life might look like if I could have a heart-to-heart with that 12-year-old kid I used to be. What if I could share with her all that I've learned about the beauty and genius of the Catholic Church? What if I could shake her and tell her to take a plunge into the depth of her faith? I consider myself blessed to be finally gaining some fluency...
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St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: A convert who brought her gifts with her into the Church...
Elizabeth was born two years before the Declaration of Independence was signed. From an early age, she was taught the value of service by her parents, especially her father, a surgeon who would serve immigrants in New York City, even risking his life to do so when yellow fever hit the city. As a young woman in the Episcopal Church...
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What you think matters more than you think. Christ alone can give you a 'new mind'...
There is a tendency today to trivialize and reduce the human person. One of the ways we do this is by claiming that it doesn't really matter what people think or believe, only that they behave well. For example, we think that if a man is a good citizen, pays his taxes, doesn't beat his wife, and is kind to children and animals then it doesn't matter what he believes...
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Harvard researchers discovered an astonishing fact about people who go to Mass ...
A Harvard research study followed 89,000 women over a 15-year period in order to understand the relationship between religion and suicide. Results showed that Catholic women who attended Mass weekly had a suicide rate that was half that of the general population. Of the 7,000 women who attended Mass more than once a week, not a single one committed suicide during the 15 years of the study...
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Married priests? We already have married priests. I am one of them.....
It seems there are billboards like this going up all across Cincinnati demanding "Married Priests. Now." My usual quick comment when someone brings up the issue of married priests (and it is almost always a progressive Catholic who does so) is: "Well, we have to remember that if the man is married and young and he and his wife are fertile they would be living within the teachings of the Catholic Church right...
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9 things I wish I could go back in time to tell my young self about the Faith...
I occasionally like to reimagine what my life might look like if I could have a heart-to-heart with that 12-year-old kid I used to be. What if I could share with her all that I've learned about the beauty and genius of the Catholic Church? What if I could shake her and tell her to take a plunge into the depth of her faith? I consider myself blessed to be finally gaining some fluency...
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This trail in the Holy Land covers at least 3,000 years of biblical history...
Tradition claims Moses walked all across Jordan, from the Red Sea in the south all the way to the north to Mount Nebo on his way to the Promised Land. In fact, the closest city to the ancient Nabatean city of Petra is called "Wadi Mousa," "the Valley of Moses," very close to what tradition has also identified as Moses' well...
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With America's Vatican 'checkup' on tap, the reports come due...
Even more than usual, the last 11 months have seen no shortage of notable stories come up, only to get washed out within hours by the latest curveball on the crisis front. Among other instances, this happened last July when - at the start of what should've been a quiet summer weekend - a Friday night saw the first report of plans for the all-important ad limina visit of the US bishops: American Catholicism's first Roman "exam" in the age of Francis ...
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U.S. births have fallen to a 32-year low; CDC says birthrate is in record slump...
The U.S. birthrate fell again in 2018, to 3,788,235 births — representing a 2% drop from 2017. It's the lowest number of births in 32 years, according to a new federal report. The numbers also sank the U.S. fertility rate to a record low. Not since 1986 has the U.S. seen so few babies born. And it's an ongoing slump: 2018 was the fourth consecutive year of birth declines...
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How the Resurrection transforms you from a tomb to a temple...
Easter marks the time that brought us from death to life. We became a new creation in Baptism, through which we died and rose with Christ. It changed us from a tomb, a place of spiritual death, to a temple of the Holy Spirit. We might compare this transformation to the Holy Sepulcher: it was a place of death but now testifies to the living presence of Christ...
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Married priests? We already have married priests. I am one of them.....
It seems there are billboards like this going up all across Cincinnati demanding "Married Priests. Now." My usual quick comment when someone brings up the issue of married priests (and it is almost always a progressive Catholic who does so) is: "Well, we have to remember that if the man is married and young and he and his wife are fertile they would be living within the teachings of the Catholic Church right...
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How the Resurrection transforms you from a tomb to a temple...
Easter marks the time that brought us from death to life. We became a new creation in Baptism, through which we died and rose with Christ. It changed us from a tomb, a place of spiritual death, to a temple of the Holy Spirit. We might compare this transformation to the Holy Sepulcher: it was a place of death but now testifies to the living presence of Christ...
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Archdiocese of Detroit cancels sporting events on Sundays...
The Archdiocese of Detroit has announced that it will no longer hold required sporting events on Sundays, in an effort to refocus the day on prayer, family and rest. In a reflection on his 2016 pastoral letter, Unleash the Gospel, Archbishop Allen Vigneron issued a pastoral note on Wednesday, emphasizing the importance of "the Lord's Day...
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U.S. births have fallen to a 32-year low; CDC says birthrate is in record slump...
The U.S. birthrate fell again in 2018, to 3,788,235 births — representing a 2% drop from 2017. It's the lowest number of births in 32 years, according to a new federal report. The numbers also sank the U.S. fertility rate to a record low. Not since 1986 has the U.S. seen so few babies born. And it's an ongoing slump: 2018 was the fourth consecutive year of birth declines...
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What you think matters more than you think. Christ alone can give you a 'new mind'...
There is a tendency today to trivialize and reduce the human person. One of the ways we do this is by claiming that it doesn't really matter what people think or believe, only that they behave well. For example, we think that if a man is a good citizen, pays his taxes, doesn't beat his wife, and is kind to children and animals then it doesn't matter what he believes...
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With America's Vatican 'checkup' on tap, the reports come due...
Even more than usual, the last 11 months have seen no shortage of notable stories come up, only to get washed out within hours by the latest curveball on the crisis front. Among other instances, this happened last July when - at the start of what should've been a quiet summer weekend - a Friday night saw the first report of plans for the all-important ad limina visit of the US bishops: American Catholicism's first Roman "exam" in the age of Francis ...
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Mainstream press still ignoring church vandalism in France — even after Notre Dame fire...
It has been exactly a month since a fire destroyed the roof and spire of Notre Dame in Paris, leaving the Catholic world — and beyond — in shock over the destruction of such an important structure in Christendom and Western Civilization. In the days and weeks that followed, we were treated to news coverage that was exceptional to the ordinary to the downright bizarre...
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Alabama Senate outlaws abortion, setting up Supreme Court Roe v. Wade challenge...
The Alabama Senate approved a bill Thursday that will outlaw nearly all abortion in the state. The bill, which is expected to be signed by Gov. Kay Ivey, is intended to be a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that declared unconstitutional state measures prohibiting abortion. The Human Life Protection Act...
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Alabama Senate passes near-total ban on abortion...
Alabama's Senate passed a near-total ban on abortion Tuesday, sending what would be the nation's most stringent abortion law to the state's Republican governor. The GOP-dominated Senate voted 25-6 to make performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy a felony punishable by up to 99 years or life in prison for the abortion provider...
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As China detains 1-2 million Uighur Muslims, world looks the other way...
China has detained an estimated 1 million to 2 million Uighur Muslims in the region of Xinjiang, and millions more live one step away from detention under the watchful eye of the Chinese Communist Party. Why it matters: It has been two years since the internment camps first came to light internationally, and a series of reports from Xinjiang have made vivid the scale of the abuses...
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When sex ed goes over the top, it's children who lose...
Colorado's House Bill 19-1032 which passed recently, calls for "comprehensive sex education" for our children in Colorado schools. While it is difficult to determine what elements of sexual activity will be studied and at what age this will be given to children to learn, the word "comprehensive" is a hint of what is to come...
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Chile bishop says Pope's criticism created 'painful,' 'unfair' image...
When the entire Chilean bishops' conference presented their resignations to Pope Francis in Rome last year amid a massive scandal involving clerical sexual abuse and cover-up, Celestino Aos Braco had been a bishop of a small diocese for just four years. As it turns out, it was scant preparation for the job the pope gave him in March: Apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Santiago...
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Exorcists see ecumenical agenda in fighting 'voluntary possession'...
When representatives from different Christian churches gathered in Rome to talk about exorcism with Catholic clergy last week, one point of both alarm and common cause that surfaced involved reports that an increasing number of people are choosing to be possessed. Speaking to Crux, Father Enrich Junger of the Anglican Church of North America said that while exorcisms have always been a problem...
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What should my child know about his Catholic Faith?
A predicament I often discover with how parents raise their child is the question about the child's overall development. I argue most parents want to be sure their child is appropriately cared for and that their overall physical, physiological, mental and academic development is on par. However, a parent's consumption of the physical...
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Homosexuals in the seminaries — A startling survey in Brazil...
The survey is not brand-new, its results came out in the spring of 2017 in Portuguese in the "Revista Eclesiastica Brasileira." But "Il Regno - Documenti" has recently published a complete translation of it in Italian, thus making it known to a much wider public. On a question that is as relevant as they come. The question is that of homosexuality in the seminaries...
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8 questions every Catholic leader should answer...
Church renewal is really hard. In fact, merely managing the daily grind of running a parish (or diocese / ministry) can be hard. That means trying to do all of the day-to-day and still make time for growth, evangelization, discipleship, change, renewal, and more is VERY hard. Yet, it is still worth it. If you believe it is worth the time...
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Sri Lanka holds first public Masses since Easter attacks...
The Sri Lankan Catholic Church on May 12 held its first public Sunday Masses since suicide bombers claimed more than 250 lives and injured hundreds of others on Easter. Attendees at the Masses saw heightened safety precautions, including full-body searches, ID checks, and street patrols by military and police forces, according to The Guardian...
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Charlotte's Web is a good book because E.B. White had a good imagination...
With the unfolding of spring comes a renewed awareness and appreciation for life. It is peculiar, though, how the observation of life, birth, and the rounds of nature's dance can lead to the contemplation of death. Resurrection requires that life conclude before it may rise again. Spring can, as a result, be solemn even as it sings...
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Bishop Barron urges Catholics not to quit over scandals, but to stay and fight...
It's now been almost a year since the latest wave of the clerical sexual abuse scandals in Catholicism erupted with news that the Vatican had removed then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick from ministry following allegations deemed credible by a review board in the Archdiocese of New York. How bad have things become over that year...
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Georgetown Visitation Prep to publish alumnae same-sex 'marriage' announcements...
About a week ago, the monastery that runs Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, a prestigious high school in Washington, D.C., sent an email to alumnae that is certain to confuse and demoralize many faithful Catholics. The superior of the Georgetown Visitation Monastery, Sister Mary Berchmans, announced that the monastery leadership has decided to publish news of their alumnae's same-sex unions alongside other updates from alumnae...
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Too many sermons focus on this world. Too few sermons focus on Heaven... ...
Many people say that they don't hear too many sermons about Hell anymore. I believe this is true in general, but I will say that I preach about it a good bit. However, I would like to point out that the same could be said about sermons on Heaven. Try to remember the last time you heard a sermon that dealt with the topic let alone inspired a longing for Heaven...
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The Dubia were finally answered — by Benedict XVI...
Perhaps it was because Notre-Dame de Paris was burning. Perhaps it was because the best place to hide something from view is in plain sight. Or perhaps it was because we look for power in wind, earthquake, and fire, but miss the "still small voice" of God when He passes by. Whatever the reason, the world watched, read, and missed the answers to the dubia proposed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in his April essay...
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Jean Vanier on the importance of a 'healthy belonging'...
There's a very out-in-the-open debate happening right now about whether an unborn child at the heartbeat stage should ever be considered a child. It's the norm for Democratic presidential candidates to extend that question to the case of children who survive abortions. At a recent unprecedented pro-life event in New York City's Times Square...
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New Orthodox schism stalls ecumenical dialogue, Vatican official says...
A significant rupture between Orthodox churches in Ukraine has brought the official theological dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox to a standstill, according to a Vatican official involved in the talks. "The ecumenical dialogue is a journey. At this point in the journey, we have a new problem," said Bishop Brian Farrell...
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Gunmen kill six, including priest, during Mass in Burkina Faso...
A group of gunmen burned down a Catholic Church during Sunday Mass and killed at least six people, including a priest, in the west African nation of Burkina Faso Sunday morning. The attackers reportedly burst into the church, located in the northern town of Dablo, and started shooting at the beginning of Mass, around 9 am local time...
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The numbers don't look good — what should the Church do?
What are we to make of "the numbers"? As the Church it is hard to ignore the large decline in attendance at Mass and reception of the sacraments, yet the Lord never seemed overly concerned with numbers; He even distrusted them. The information can help us to gauge the effectiveness of our preaching, teaching, and engagement of God's people; it can also be a pernicious temptation to water down the gospel just to improve our numbers...
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Thoughts on populism, liability and unfinished business on abuse norms...
Now that the dust has settled a bit on Vos Estis Lux Mundi, a new set of papal norms governing both reporting and investigation into accusations of clerical sexual abuse and its cover-up released by the Vatican on Thursday, the overall reaction seems reasonably clear. For most people, it can be expressed this way: So far as they go...
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Soldiers of the Pope: The ancestral tradition of the Pontifical Swiss Guard in the Vatican...
The emblematic Pontifical Swiss Guard, entrusted with the safety of the Successor of Peter and the Apostolic Palace for more than five centuries, welcomed 23 new recruits to its ranks in an annual ceremony at the Vatican. On the afternoon of May 6, 23 Swiss Guards — easily identifiable thanks to their Renaissance-style parti-colored uniforms — took the oath during a ceremony in the Vatican's St...
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What does Our Lord mean by calling us sheep?
The Lord says, "My sheep hear my voice." That's right, He called us sheep. Get a little indignant with me here! The Lord is comparing us not to majestic eagles, beautiful gazelles, swift horses, mighty lions, or clever doges, but to sheep. While reality may hurt, the truth can liberate. Although sheep are considered somewhat lowly animals...
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How to understand the readings for Good Shepherd Sunday...
This upcoming Lord's Day is often known as "Good Shepherd Sunday," since each year the Gospel reading is taken from John 10, the "Good Shepherd Discourse." It's also often observed as a day of prayer for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, since priests and religious are visible manifestations to us of Christ in his role as the Good Shepherd...
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On the composting of thee and me...
In Herman Wouk's novel, War and Remembrance, Warren Henry shocks his Bible-reading father, the novel's hero, by claiming that human beings are "microbes on a grain of dust...and when it's over we're just dead meat." The Washington state legislature has now topped the cynical young Warren Henry by declaring that we're useful meat...
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'Mayor Pete' Buttigieg is wrong — God still forbids all homosexual acts...
In recent remarks, Pete Buttigieg, Democratic presidential candidate and mayor of South Bend, Indiana, remarked that his same-sex "marriage" to Chasten Glezman has brought him closer to God. This raises a question: To what god has he moved closer? Respectfully and sincerely, Mr. Buttigieg, it cannot be the God who has revealed himself in the Scriptures and through the Church...
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Benedict's essay broadens conversation on causes of crisis...
The recent essay of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, "The Church and the Scandal of Sexual Abuse," was an apt summary of a long life of ecclesial and theological service, as I commented previously. At the same time, it significantly advances the Church's handling of the sexual-abuse crisis. Since the first sexual-abuse cases emerged into public knowledge in the 1980s and early 1990s...
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Pope Francis signs motu proprio to prevent and report abuses in the Catholic Church...
New Vatican norms for the Church's handling of sex abuse, issued Thursday, place seminarians and religious coerced into sexual activity through the misuse of authority in the same criminal category as abuse of minors and vulnerable adults. The norms also establish obligatory reporting for clerics and religious, require that every diocese has a mechanism for reporting abuse...
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Why Confirmation is not a mere rite of passage...
Working in a Catholic mentoring organization for almost a decade, I have been interested in the idea of rites of passage for years. Simply put, all societies throughout time have had specific cultural and ceremonial ways to help boys leave boyhood behind in order to become men. This was necessary because boys do not naturally grow into maturity through the logic of their bodily experience...
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Here's how to respond to Brian Sims, who harassed the woman praying at Planned Parenthood...
Over the past few days, videos have gone viral on social media featuring State Representative Brian Sims aggressively harassing young and elderly women who were peacefully praying outside of a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Philadelphia. These videos, which Representative Sims took himself, have rightly sparked broad outrage and garnered much attention in the press...
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Scholars aim to give Christians a kinder, gentler view of Pharisees...
When William Faulkner famously wrote, "The past is never dead. It's not even past," he wasn't speaking specifically about religion - though, it should be noted, the line occurs in his 1951 novel Requiem for a Nun. Faulkner easily could have been, however, because in no other sphere of life does the weight of the past hang quite as heavy as in religious traditions...
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Asia Bibi, Catholic cleared of blasphemy charges, leaves Pakistan for Canada...
A Pakistani Christian woman who spent eight years on death row after being found guilty of blasphemy — a conviction that was later overturned — has arrived in Canada, her lawyer said on Wednesday. The woman, Asia Bibi, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2010 after being accused, based on little evidence, of speaking against the Prophet Muhammad during a heated argument with Muslim women...
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German Church membership will be halved by 2060, new study says...
The number of Germans who pay a state-administered "Church tax" to the Catholic Church or the country's largest Protestant group is expected to be halved by 2060, according to researchers at the University of Freiburg. Researchers say the expected decline can be predicted a dwindling number of baptisms in Germany, the number of Germans who have departed from formal religious enrollment...
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Why Catholic apologists need Protestant Bibles...
Do you have a Protestant translation of the Bible? I'm not talking about the Gideon King James Version (KJV) you snagged in that Orlando motel five years ago. I'm talking about a good, solid, modern Protestant translation - like the English Standard Version (ESV) or the New International Version (NIV). If you walk into most evangelical churches these days...
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Your life is not about you, as illustrated in a Bible story...
The Acts of the Apostles sets forth an event that amounts to a tale of one Church in two cities or regions. It illustrates well a couple of points: that the Church is always in need of reform and that our lives are not merely about us and what we want. Let's look at the event in two scenes. Up until now the Church in Jerusalem has experienced steady growth...
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Pennsylvania legislator Brian Sims acknowledges aggression toward woman praying at Planned Parenthood...
Brian Sims, a Pennsylvania state legislator who confronted a woman praying outside Planned Parenthood last week, said in a video posted to social media Tuesday that he was aggressive, and he reiterated his intention of "pushing back" against those who pray or protest outside abortion clinics. Sims had livestreamed a video May 2 in which he can be seen approaching a woman outside of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia...
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The Seal of the Confessional is under attack in California...
California state Sen. Jerry Hill introduced a bill to the state Legislature on Feb. 20 that would require Catholic priests to report child sex abuse learned about in the confessional. The clergy and more than 40 other professions are already mandatory reporters there, but crimes disclosed during confession have been exempt. According to Hill...
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Overcoming fear on a stormy night in Galilee...
The images in this passage are reminiscent of the journey of life. The disciples have set out in a boat to cross to the other shore. We, too, have set out for another shore in our life. Darkness grows for them as it often does for us. The winds are contrary, and the sea becomes choppy. The must row because the sails are useless...
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Father Flanagan of Boys Town is an intercessor for our times...
I recently found a hero to help heal our cultural wounds. I am appealing to Father Edward Flanagan, the Irish American founder of Boys Town, to pray for us. With my Irish Catholic heritage, social work degree, and past experience running a group home for delinquent teenage boys, I should have made his acquaintance years ago. Although I had heard of him...
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