The first step in renewing architecture in the Catholic Church is to make a commitment to the truth. As the Church teaches, Truth is a person, not a concept. We know the “Truth will set us free,” and so it is our desire to be free from any and all erroneous beliefs that enslave us. […]
The older the script, the more likely it is that Hollywood will produce a good and uplifting film. The newest version of the Jackie Robinson saga, entitled simply “42,” is well worth viewing twice. I took my wife the 2nd time, and she loved it too. Living as we do in times dominated by the […]
The mainstream media has done an excellent job of completely ignoring the trial of Kermit Gosnell. As everyone knows by now, Gosnell was the Philadelphia abortionist famous for “snipping the spines” of newborns who happened to survive his efforts to abort them. The state health authorities ignored his clinic for 17 long years. Then one […]
“…let us be protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.” – Pope Francis, March 19, 2013 Our new Holy Father spoke about our responsibility to care for and protect the environment several times in his homily on the day he was formally installed as […]
What can mothers today learn from a poor Jewish woman who lived two thousand years ago? If the woman in question is Our Blessed Mother, the answer is everything. Marge Fenelon explores ten of these lessons in the new book, Imitating Mary: Ten Marian Virtues for the Modern Mom (Ave Maria Press, 2013). Fenelon writes […]
How many times have you — as a parent — sat in Mass and not heard a word the priest said because you were playing referee, peacekeeper, or bad cop in the pew? Since I can answer that question in the triple digits, I was thrilled to learn about the new DVD “Understanding Sunday Mass: A […]
Graduation from college is a transition from working towards a goal to accomplishing it. Some are ready to save the world while others simply want to make their mark in it, but either way, it is the threshold of new possibilities. Inevitably however, within any group of graduates, time brings surprises both good and bad. […]
Dear God, I Don’t Get It by Patti Maguire Armstrong Liguori Publications, 2013 Why does God answer some prayers and not others? This is a question that plagues even adults. Sometimes, we pray so hard and think we know what God should do in our lives. And then, God does something else or He does […]
Do you think you would benefit spiritually by spending thirty hours in prayer and meditation? Yeah, right, you are likely thinking. Where would I find time for that? I’m a very busy mother. Motherhood has its ironies. When we are pregnant and feel the need to “rest up,” sleep is often hard to come by. […]
Wolves prowl the streets of abandoned cities. Only prostitutes are left to take care of the elderly. War is looming. This is 2013 and the global population is aging. These are only a few of the alarming anecdotes retold at a conference last week. Decades of policies to reduce the number of people on our […]
Please, open your heart and consider this situation. Brian Gadbois is a permanent deacon and his wife Nissa has just, as in today, given birth to their ninth child. A couple of years ago a dream that they had nurtured for many years came true when they purchased a foreclosed and abandoned farm property. As a […]
There are strong feelings being expressed about church architecture today. It is my hope in writing these articles that the reader will feel empowered to think for himself and not feel obligated to follow directions established by art and architectural historians who intentionally and sometimes unintentionally use their ‘special’ language and terminology to make the […]
I do quite a bit of reading. Up until recently, I was convinced that paper books were the way to go. And then I thought an iPad would solve all my “I want to read it electronically” problems. Then, slowly, I started to think about how some of the “just like real paper” e-readers might be […]
Get this: Social media are making us ruder. According to Reuters, social media users face “an increase in rudeness online with people having no qualms about being less polite virtually than in person.” I think our rudeness began ticking up with the introduction of another technological innovation: the telephone. As phones became commonplace in American […]
The approach of spring is an excellent time to think of gardening. One of the projects on my bucket list is to create a beautiful flower garden in my “sacred space” near the statue of Our Lady in the forest adjoining our home. As my children were growing, then as I began writing fiction, this […]
In an opening scene of Brian Helgeland’s moving film, 42, Branch Rickey, the famous president of the Brooklyn Dodgers and played by Harrison Ford, is reviewing files of potential black baseball players whom he might bring into major league baseball in the face of inevitable hate, vitriol, and racism. He picks up Jackie Robinson’s file. “He’s […]
Catholics throughout the world might be familiar with Fr. Donald H. Calloway, MIC as a frequent conference speaker. In many of his talks he shares the story of his radical conversion to the Catholic faith, recounted in another book, No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy. Due to his frequent conference appearances he has developed a […]
Dr. Thomas E. Woods, Jr., author of How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, has re-issued his 2008 book Sacred Then and Sacred Now: The Return of the Old Latin Mass. In this book, Woods writes about Pope Benedict XVI’s famous Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, which allowed for the Roman Liturgy according to the Missal […]
In every person’s life, there should be a person who, as C.S. Lewis says, “hears the song in your heart and can sing it back to you.” Through this devoted love, one overcomes fears, hurts and selfishness, and the soul expands. For the Lovely family in Sherry Boas’ fictional Lily series, this person is the […]
In 1999, Tracy Sands was inspired while listening to Christian music at a church event. With only a pen and the program she received at the door to work with, she began sketching quickly. The urge to create was so strong she “felt as though she would pop if she didn’t get the ideas out […]
One year ago, on May 23, 2010, the Holy Shroud of Turin was placed out of public view at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Turin (Torino), Italy. We are not expected to see it again until the year 2035. For only the 18th time in its 2,000 year history, the Church’s most venerated relic […]
How do you present Theology of the Body in a novel that people will not only like, but want to share and passionately recommend? You couldn’t have convinced me that it could be done well until I read the debut novel by AnnMarie Creedon. Angela’s Song is a novel that I should probably categorize as chick […]
Our relationship with the things of this world requires a very delicate balance between loving creation and allowing it to rule our hearts. The Lord is very clear in Scripture that we are to bow to only One Being. Surprisingly, our TV screen or our iPhone is not that Supreme Being who demands our full […]
