Category: Featured

Reflections for Sunday, April 5, 2015
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Reflections for Sunday, April 5, 2015

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by on Apr 01, 2015 in Catechesis, Featured, Learn & Live the Faith, Sunday Reflections
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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 10:34, 37-43 2nd Reading: Colossians 3:1-4 Responsorial: Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23 Gospel: John 20:1-9 Allowing the Resurrection of Jesus to Strengthen Our Faith He had to rise from the dead. (John 20:9) At the first miracle, the wedding at Cana, Jesus turned […]

Why Ordinary Form Parishes Need Traditionalists
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Why Ordinary Form Parishes Need Traditionalists

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by on Mar 31, 2015 in Featured, Learn & Live the Faith
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In your last letter, you told a compelling and heartbreaking story detailing how your rights as a traditionalist Catholic were curtailed. Not only are the prelates who persecuted you wrong, but as shepherds of the flock, they made a foolish decision to stamp you out in an age when faithful Catholic communities like yours are […]

Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel
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Front Row With Francis: Prayer and the Synod

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by on Mar 30, 2015 in Catechesis, Featured, The Shepherd's Voice
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On Wednesday, March 25, in the Church the Annunciation, Pope Francis celebrated the Incarnation as Archangel Gabriel visited the humble Maiden of Nazareth and  announced she would conceive and give birth to the Son of God. The pope incorporated this feast day into his Wednesday address as he continued his course of catechesis on the family because, with Joseph, Jesus […]

Book Review: <em>Gifts of the Visitation</em>
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Book Review: Gifts of the Visitation

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by on Mar 30, 2015 in Featured, On Books, Women
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The Visitation refers to the time when Mary, receiving the news from the angel Gabriel that she was going to become the mother of Jesus as well as that her cousin Elizabeth was going to have a baby, rushed to her elder cousin’s side. Gifts of the Visitation by Denise Bossert (Ave Maria Press, 2015) […]

Palm/Passion Sunday
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Palm/Passion Sunday

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by on Mar 28, 2015 in Catechesis, Columnists, Featured, MyChurchParish.com
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We now come to the Sunday with a split personality.  It starts with an upbeat gospel recounting Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  It is a festive affair, complete with a parade route strewn with palm branches instead of ticker tape.  But we quickly progress to the stark reading of Jesus’ passion, bearable only because we […]

General Assembly Votes in Favor of Gay Marriage?
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General Assembly Votes in Favor of Gay Marriage?

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by on Mar 27, 2015 in Featured, The Homosexual Agenda
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In an animated and unusually packed budget meeting this week, UN member states gave the go ahead to special benefits for any UN staff in same-sex legal arrangements. A proposal of Russia in the General Assembly fell well short reversing the Secretary General’s unilateral decision last June extending benefits of marriage to any UN staff […]

Lamenting Loss of Family-Owned Grocery
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Lamenting Loss of Family-Owned Grocery

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by on Mar 26, 2015 in Featured, Humor
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The old grocery store in my neighborhood is closing next month. Boy, does that make me sad. The family-owned store has been a staple in our community for more than 50 years. Its simple, spartan interior is a snapshot into the past, the way grocery stores were in the ’60s and ’70s — like the […]

Empty Houses
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Empty Houses

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by on Mar 26, 2015 in Featured, The Social Order
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Home is where… no one is. That seems to be the modern trend. City dwellers lead hectic lives, our suburbs are “bedroom communities”, and the talent of the next generation is quickly fleeing small rural towns. Our homes are empty for far too many hours of the day, and this trend has been steadily reshaping […]

Reflections for Sunday, March 29, 2015
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Reflections for Sunday, March 29, 2015

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by on Mar 25, 2015 in Catechesis, Featured, Learn & Live the Faith, Sunday Reflections
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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7 2nd Reading: Philippians 2:6-11 Responsorial: Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24 Gospel: Mark 14:1–15:47 Following Jesus’ Example of Self-sacrifice and Compassion Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! (Mark 11:9) When artists talk about contrast, they’re referring to the […]

The Profound Dignity of Motherhood
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The Profound Dignity of Motherhood

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by on Mar 25, 2015 in Featured, Parenting, The Feminine Genius, Vocations, Women
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Mothers are by far the most beautiful creatures in the world. There is nothing more beautiful than a mother. There has never been a beauty pageant winner more beautiful than a pregnant woman. A pregnant woman glows with the grace of God. She is one with God. Her love has borne fruit with the life […]

Devoted to Hearing His Voice
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Devoted to Hearing His Voice

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by on Mar 24, 2015 in Evangelization, Featured, Live in Christ, Vocations
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Not long ago, I did an exercise in which four words were listed horizontally and I had to rank them as they applied to me by giving a “4” to the one most descriptive of myself down to “1” for the least descriptive of me. For example, the first list of words was: independent, compassionate, […]

Sterilization Camps in India
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Sterilization Camps in India

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by on Mar 24, 2015 in Contraception & Abortion, Featured, International Issues, Those in Need, Women
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Anne Roback Morse gave an address on March 13, 2015 at the United Nations surrounding the Commission on the Status of Women at a panel titled, “Coerced Sterilizations, Abortions, and Reproductive Rights.” The following remarks are based on excerpts from that address. Last November, 83 women were sterilized in a matter of hours at a […]

Van Gogh: Accomplishment and Mental Illness
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Van Gogh: Accomplishment and Mental Illness

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by on Mar 24, 2015 in Art & Architecture, Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured
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Vincent Van Gogh’s career as a painter began when he was 27 years old and lasted a brief ten years, ending with his suicide. His works are, perhaps, better known than those of any other painter and yet during his lifetime he was virtually unknown. He suffered from mental illness.[1] His mental illness drove his […]

Seven Things that are (Way) Better as a Catholic
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Seven Things that are (Way) Better as a Catholic

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by on Mar 24, 2015 in Contraception & Abortion, Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Evangelization, Featured, Live in Christ, Marriage, Men, Parenting, Women
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Having spent most of my life as an atheist (I converted just 13 years ago), I have a good basis of comparison for the difference between Catholic and non-Catholic life. And without a doubt, these seven things are WAY better now that I’m Catholic! Reprinted with permission from CatholicSistas.com.   1. WEEKENDS My husband and I spent three […]

Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel
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Front Row With Francis: The Joy of Youth

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by on Mar 23, 2015 in Catechesis, Featured, Learn & Live the Faith, The Shepherd's Voice
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In raising children, we rediscover the wealth in youth. On the most basic level, we re-learn the nursery rhymes, we re-memorize Dr. Seuss, and we are fascinated by door-knobs and blue skies and dandelion seeds. There is more to it than this, however. As Pope Francis notes, children are a gift because they witness to […]

Hebrews and the Obedience of Christ
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Hebrews and the Obedience of Christ

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by on Mar 21, 2015 in Catechesis, Columnists, Featured, Learn & Live the Faith, Sunday Reflections
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Heb 5:7-9 Christ learned obedience and became the source of eternal salvation The Letter to the Hebrews is a singular spiritual work, one of the most unique books in the Christian Scriptures. For centuries church fathers believed Hebrews to have been written by the Apostle Paul, the great epistoleer of the New Testament, though modern […]

Free to Love: Marriage Vows
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Free to Love: Marriage Vows

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by on Mar 21, 2015 in Catechesis, Evangelization, Featured, Live in Christ, Marriage
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Our marriage vows reflect the fidelity of God’s love for us. The obligations of the marriage covenant – fidelity, love open to new life, and lifelong sexual exclusivity – ask a lot of another as it assumes a lot about ourselves. Too often we make promises we don’t keep, overextend our commitments, or intend fidelity […]

Unless the Grain of Wheat
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Unless the Grain of Wheat

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by on Mar 21, 2015 in Catechesis, Columnists, Featured, Learn & Live the Faith, Sunday Reflections
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All of us want the very best for those we love. But as we pursue it, we often have a rude awakening. The best turns out to be quite expensive, whether you are dealing with homes, cars, or colleges. To get it will cost much time and money, maybe even some blood, sweat, and tears. […]

Egg Trafficking and Rented Wombs: UN Learns How Not to Make Babies
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Egg Trafficking and Rented Wombs: UN Learns How Not to Make Babies

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by on Mar 20, 2015 in Featured, Reproductive Technology
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Every seat in the UN auditorium was filled, with a waiting line outside, to hear about making babies. “Online baby making, buying and selling eggs, renting wombs,” said Jennifer Lahl. “We no longer beget our children, we make our children, we build our families.” Lahl is a pediatric nurse turned film director. Her documentaries explore […]

Fear and Natural Family Planning
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Fear and Natural Family Planning

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by on Mar 20, 2015 in Catechesis, Contraception & Abortion, Featured
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As far back as I can remember, heights have posed an unwelcomed challenge. I was the kid who scaled the jungle-gym only to become paralyzed at the summit and tearfully beg for rescue. Ferris wheels are totally off-limits and even today escalators require a mental strategy. I never dreamed of spending my days balancing atop […]

Ite ad Joseph
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Ite ad Joseph

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by on Mar 19, 2015 in Contraception & Abortion, Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Featured, Live in Christ, Men, Parenting
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Ite ad Joseph! (Go to Joseph!) It’s the great Latin admonition of the Church, to seek the intercession of the Patron Saint of the Church, and a powerful intercessor at that. Against the backdrop of the new aggressive eugenics that has taken solid root in American medicine, and against the war on the Catholic Church […]

Two Josephs, Both Alike in Chastity
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Two Josephs, Both Alike in Chastity

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by on Mar 19, 2015 in Apologetics, Featured, Men
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With our attention upon St. Joseph today, it might be good to look back at the Old Testament figure for whom Mary’s chaste spouse was most likely named. That would be Joseph, son of Jacob, grandson of Isaac, and great-grandson of Abraham. Joseph is a popular name for Jewish boys precisely as a memorial of this […]

Lover of Poverty
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Lover of Poverty

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by on Mar 19, 2015 in Featured, Live in Christ, MyChurchParish.com
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Today is the Feast of St. Joseph. He is special to us because he was special to Jesus. I would like to reflect on a title from the Litany of St. Joseph: Lover of Poverty. As Catholics, Jesus teaches that we are to be poor in spirit. St. Joseph is a wonderful example of this […]

<em>LUCY</em> and the Longing of the Heart for More
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LUCY and the Longing of the Heart for More

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by on Mar 19, 2015 in Featured, On TV and Movies
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I was a young boy in the 1970’s and 80’s, coming of age in the early days of the movie magic of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. of galaxies far, far away, of Close Encounters, and hidden mysteries, of Lost Arks and great adventures. I can honestly say my formation and invitation into wonder and transcendence was assisted, however […]