Part Four, The Church’s Memory and Identity Continued: In the previous installments of this series (part one, part two, part three), I discussed the role of various influential theologians and laymen who effectively acted as “interpreters” of Vatican II. Their actions, I argued, led to a lot of confusion about what the Council taught and […]
Presented in cooperation with Greg Schlueter and JP2Journey.com: The JP2 Generation Tells Its Story, remembering World Youth Day 2002 and the impact of Pope John II. Part Three, Fr. Dan Hoffman There are not many things more beautiful than the joy of the Lord! As we embarked on the third day of this pilgrimage of […]
After the death of Dr. Bernard Nathanson last February, we were reminded that somebody once asked him why he became a Catholic. Because, said Dr. Nathanson, (who’d been a leader in the movement to legalize abortion and performed or presided over many thousands of abortions, then seen the light and become ardently prolife) no other […]
Bishop Sheen was well acquainted with the media, through long years of experience. After beginning work as a priest in the 1920s, Bishop Sheen became a famous preacher. An elderly woman who had been a young lady in St. Patrick’s Parish in Peoria said that many of them would attend the Low Mass, early on […]
Part Three, Re-orientating Ourselves to Tradition — an Example: In the second article in this series, I discussed how the Church’s memory and identity were under siege after the Second Vatican Council vis-à-vis a “para-Council.” In this article, I use private revelation as an example to expand upon how Catholics were misled after the Second […]
Have you ever attended Mass angry at a member of your immediate family? And then you have to offer them peace! Thankfully, the sign of peace comes toward the end of the liturgy and I have usually calmed down somewhat by that point. Still, extending a greeting and saying those words “Peace be with you” […]
Today is World Water Day. So, while you and I may mark this date on our calendar just once a year, Catholic Relief Services is devoted to ensuring that our poor neighbors around the world have clean water every single day. Safe drinking water should not be a pipe dream. That’s why we make access […]
“During the floods, we saw funerals for women who’d died of snakebites,” says Jaya Menon, a Catholic Relief Services staffer working in India during severe floods of autumn 2010. “The women had to wait till evening to go to the bathroom outside, and in the dark, they couldn’t see the snakes.” CRS projects that build […]
The Feast of the Annunciation (March 25th, nine short shopping months until Christmas!) reminds me of the response we might make to questions of faith. When confronted with these profound questions, we can dismiss them, we can scoff at them, or, even while not understanding, we can seek to know more. We can understand this […]
Imagine: you are ten years past customary retirement age. It’s time finally to kick back and relax. You live in a great city where everything is at your fingertips – shopping opportunities, cultural events, all your relatives and lifelong friends. Suddenly God appears and tells you to pack up, uproot your life, and march into […]
Presented in cooperation with Greg Schlueter and JP2Journey.com: The JP2 Generation Tells Its Story, remembering World Youth Day 2002 and the impact of Pope John II. Part Two, Stephanie Muhs The second day of our World Youth Day pilgrimage was one filled with great hope and anticipation. As we boarded the buses that beautiful, sunny […]
Part Two, The Church’s Memory & Identity Under Siege: In my previous article, I talked about the Catholic Church and the Latin language. I left off with a note on various theologians and laymen substituting their makeshift theology for the Tradition of the Church. I would like to expand upon that point. Still smarting from […]
It is the Lenten season; a time of fasting and penance in an effort to draw nearer to the Lord who suffered all things for love of His people. And though the time to consciously strive to join one’s sufferings to the Cross of Christ is always in season, during Lent it is especially so. […]
It’s St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, and everyone is Irish today — if not in fact, at least in spirit. Come on now, don’t be an old Druid! Regardless of your nationality, St. Patrick is a saint for everyone. It’s not just because I’m half Irish or that my parents named me after St. Patrick, […]
As a long, hard winter comes to a close, four words can always elevate my spirits: ‘Pitchers and Catchers Report!’ This simple phrase indicates the boys of summer are heading to the sunny paradise of either Florida or Arizona to work out the kinks that settled in during the long winter months. Pitchers are stretching […]
Look up “Gregorian chant” in just about any current dictionary or encyclopedia and you will see a description that says it “is the liturgical chant of the Roman Catholic Church.” Notice that the tense of the verb “to be” is in its present form of “is.” What Should Customarily Be? The definition doesn’t place Gregorian […]
“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). That’s a truth to keep central as we enter this season of Lent. It’s possible to make a grandiose resolution and miss the reality at the […]
I fold my underwear. That is probably an overshare, so please forgive me. I also fold my socks, but I doubt that makes me unique, because folding socks makes sense, but underwear? What’s the point?! I have often had that discussion in my head and with my wife (especially when we were first married and […]
Her conversation went something like this… “So-and-so is writing a book about her search for the meaning of life. Her story line is, that having left her Catholic faith as a teen, she took the ‘best of’ from all the various religious practices she could find. Then she designed her own spirituality.” And so it […]
“Mom, that’s cheating!” our 15-year-old son reprimanded me. “Well, whatever works, right?” I tried to defend myself. “Yeah, but it doesn’t really count if you don’t do it on your own,” he insisted. “I still think it’s cheating.” “Fine. You can see it anyway you want, but I don’t see it as cheating so I […]
The other night, I had the pleasure of watching You Again, a fun, lighthearted comedy that will appeal to anyone who ever found herself at the bottom of the social ladder in high school. Featuring such stars as Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Kristen Bell, and Betty White, it explores what happens when women are […]
Part One, Latin and the Catholic Church: Recently I obtained the Latin text of Cardinal Lambertini’s (Pope Benedict XIV) treatise De Servorum Dei Beatificatione Beatorum et Canonizatione (“De Servorum”). After going over a couple of passages of interest, I reflected upon the treatise itself. My thoughts revolved around the place of the treatise in Catholic […]
Our Lady of Akita, pray for us. St. Peter Baptist, martyr and patron of Japan, pray for us. St. Francis Xavier, patron of Japan, pray for us. St. Paul Miki, martyr, pray for us. St. Anthony Dainan, martyr, pray for us. St. Anthony Ishida, martyr, pray for us. St. Francis Nagasaki, martyr, pray for us. […]
I always find the lyrics of the song “Red River Valley” to be haunting and beautiful. Written in Iowa, and making reference to frontier days, the song is often performed as a cowboy song. The song makes reference to the frontier days in Canada, and an expedition through the Red River Valley of the north, and […]
