I spent 43 years as a student and teacher in catholic schools. I also spent several summers as a volunteer in the camps of the Christian Appalachian Project. I am currently a parishioner at Our Lady Star of the Sea in North Myrtle Beach, SC.
I had a friend who first heard of the Divine Mercy Message just in time to celebrate the Feast in 2011. Within a year she was dead at the age of 55. She was blessed to learn of the Feast of Divine Mercy when she did but how many others will not. Over and over I hear [...]
We belong to a faith that over the course of the past two millennia hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people have given their lives for. These martyrs believed that their faith was worth dying for yet this generation of Catholics seems to have abandoned their faith. With the exceptions of Christmas, Ash Wednesday, [...]
The Fortnight for Freedom may be over but we must continue to stand against the Health and Human Services Mandate to force Catholics to pay for contraception and abortion. There are many reasons to oppose this. It makes a mockery of the First Amendment. It pushes on an unsuspecting public birth control pills which many [...]
This Good Friday, I was struck by the beginning of the Divine Mercy Novena, in which Jesus asks us to bring Him all sinners. I found this message especially appropriate for Good Friday, because it drives home the truth that Jesus died for everyone. So often lately, we seem to have forgotten that Jesus died [...]
On Good Friday many of us will try and fail to comprehend the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the Cross. How can we comprehend such suffering? What in our lives can ever compare to the horrors of the Passion? The Crucifixion was bad enough but there was also the Scourging and the Crowning with [...]
Today on the news I heard a Catholic claim that the American bishops are out of tune with the times because of their opposition to the Health Care Mandate. I wanted to scream. The Church isn’t supposed to be in tune with the times. We’re supposed to be in tune with Jesus. The Church was [...]
A few years ago I went to the Christmas Eve Mass and the priest was an old retired priest who seemed to ramble or maybe I was too tired to follow him. Nevertheless, one word struck me and has stuck with me: the word was awe. Can you imagine the awe the shepherds felt? An [...]
As you give thanks this Thanksgiving be sure to thank God for your Catholic faith! I hope you realize how truly blessed we are — we have so much more than other Christians. Begin with the fact that we have the Mass available to us every day, (except Good Friday). Most Protestant congregations meet only twice [...]
October, the month of the rosary and the Pro-life Rosary Campaign, is over. Forty Days for Life has just ended. Things will quiet down until January with the various state marches and the National March for Life. There will be various prayer vigils before the march. In the spring there will be a new Forty [...]
For all of us All Saints Day raises some serious questions. We were created to become saints, to serve God and give Him glory. We are supposed to bring His love to a world that is hurting. People should see Jesus in us. That is the purpose of all of us. So we all have to ask ourselves some [...]
We live in such turbulent stressful times. We hear of disaster after disaster, Hurricane Irene, earthquakes, the Japanese tsunami, a record number of tornadoes, disastrous floods in the North East, fires and drought across the South West. Economically, each day seems to bring bad news. We may yet tip back into a recession. Crime and [...]
If we were to really take an honest look at our lives, we would probably be struck by how far we still have to go in the spiritual life. For one seeking to grow spiritually there is no such thing as good enough. No matter how good others think we are we will always see that we still [...]
Sunday, June 26, Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, previously known as Corpus Christi. This used to be a major feast day of the Church with processions and everything — a really big feast, up there with Easter, Christmas, and Pentecost. We celebrate the Blessed Sacrament to affirm [...]
One Easter I was asked by some Methodist friends why Catholics have the Crucifix. Their pastor had emphasized that Jesus is not dead. He is risen. Why look at a crucifix? He is no longer on the Cross. So, why do we have the Crucifix? Why do we have the Stations of the Cross? Why [...]
