Content and Rich I dwell in Grace’s court, Enriched with Virtue’s rights; Faith guides my wit, Love leads my will, Hope all my mind delights. In lowly vales I mount To pleasure’s highest pitch; My silly shroud true honour brings; My poor estate is rich. My conscience is my crown, Contented thoughts my rest; My […]
I was talking with a friend the other day, both of us feeling somewhat melancholy, oppressed from the outside by the horrors of the world and from the inside by loss and chronic illness. We naturally sought out shelter and comfort in our pasts. The conversation turned to younger years — days when we were absolutely carefree, […]
There have been countless recent articles analyzing the millennial generation and its distinctive characteristics, but too many are ignoring an upcoming conflict that could define the generation: the aging baby boomers are going to be a big problem for millennials and their parents in the coming decades. In the U.S., the baby boomers are nearing […]
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to read The Story of a Soul by Saint Thérése or True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort in their original French? Doing that with new copies was formerly a distant dream or an expensive reality, since there were next to no Catholic books published […]
This selective tolerance often excludes the religious.
Following my ordination my bishop assigned me to work in two yoked parishes. “Yoked” churches share a pastoral staff but are not merged. The pastor and myself worked to merge the parishes. One parish was Irish. The other was Puerto Rican. The linguistic and traditional differences were palpable. Often I reflected on the sixth chapter […]
180-Degree Moral Shift
There will never be a shortage of words. Words are plentiful because talk is cheap. It’s easy to make a promise. Keeping a promise is an entirely different matter, as this Sunday’s gospel makes abundantly clear. There are over a billion people on the planet who have solemnly promised to live a life of loving […]
ST. VINCENT was born in 1576. In after-years, when adviser of the queen and oracle of the Church in France, he loved to recount how, in his youth, he had guarded his father’s pigs. Soon after his ordination he was captured by corsairs, and carried into Barbary. He converted his renegade master, and escaped with […]
The Song is a new Christian film inspired by “The Songs of Songs” (aka “The Song of Solomon”) in the Bible. It is one of those distinctly southern/country culture films, with the two main characters being Christians themselves. It’s a story of adultery. A story of career vs. vocation, and spouses who are physically separated […]
“I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.” Poetic words, wouldn’t you agree? These simple, straightforward promises made at the altar by a man and a woman “seal the deal” so-to-speak. The […]
At his weekly Wednesday General Audience this week, Pope Francis spoke about martyrdom. Francis summarized the age-long contradiction of Christian martyrdom when he said that “the martyrs are not the defeated but the winners: shining in their heroic witness is the omnipotence of God who always consoles His people, opening new ways and horizons of […]
The Kingdom of God O WORLD invisible, we view thee, O world intangible, we touch thee, O world unknowable, we know thee, Inapprehensible, we clutch thee! Does the fish soar to find the ocean, The eagle plunge to find the air— That we ask of the stars in motion If they have rumour of thee […]
Funny, talented, wealthy, generous, admired people aren’t supposed to want to die. People are supposed to live beyond the age of 63, Robin Williams’ age when he died August 11. People aren’t supposed to die by suicide. Yet, Williams is no different from thousands of other Americans who die that way. More than 39,000 people […]
First, there’s the great music: The Identical, which has been showing in theaters across America, is replete with rock-and-roll music that is eerily reminiscent of the great Elvis Presley. In fact, the legendary rock star Drexel Helmsley, one of the twin protagonists played by Blake Rayne, is a dead ringer for the ’50s icon; and if you’re […]
Despite our vigilance, the dissolution of the marriage ethic and the chaos that it creates have arrived on our doorstep. We live in an America that has become unmoored from nature and reality, where justice and mercy have been rejected and self-serving pleasure reigns. Living in a state where the spurious “marriage” of homosexuals remains […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Ezekiel 18:25-28; Psalm 25:4-9; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32) Living a Life in the Spirit as Jesus’ Disciple Regard others as more important than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3) We live in a world that urges us to think in modules. We have a module for church and prayer. We […]
For Protestants, does Sola Scriptura work? Is the Bible alone as an authority standard capable of promoting truth and unity among believers? One of the largest evangelical Protestant charity organizations, Worldvision, has offered a clear answer this year. On March 24, 2014, Worldvision U.S. President Richard Stearns announced that they were making a “very narrow […]
While many pious people are wringing their hands over the popular culture and wondering if God will save his people, I find that the moral decay and preposterous incongruities we witness daily actually reinforce all I believe about Divine Revelation. What else is to be expected when God is removed from the Public Square? It […]
Society is schizophrenic on fatherhood. Studies show that by every conceivable measure, children are better off with fathers. Yet the entertainment world often portrays them as bumbling or non-essential. The feminist movement has furthered that notion because at least for some take-charge kind of women, men just get in the way anyways. But it isn’t […]
The lawsuit of Priests for Life against the Obama Administration’s HHS mandate continues to move forward in the nation’s second highest court. On Tuesday, we filed a supplemental brief with the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals addressing two key developments that have occurred since oral arguments were heard by that court in May. […]
Here at the Bad Evangelist Club, we are trying to do more than just correct some misguided ideas you hear from a lot of apologists and evangelists. In addition to pointing out what not to think, it helps to remember what we should think. When it comes to the topic of Protestants and Ecumenism, it is […]
Cultural support for fatherhood has collapsed in the past 50 years, and there are few signs of a renewal. In light of this, how can fathers summon the courage to fulfill their mission? Their mission is two-fold: to love their wives and commit to providing for the total welfare of their child. Each of these […]
