Category: Vocations

A Reflection On the Benedictine Vow of Stability
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A Reflection On the Benedictine Vow of Stability

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by on Jul 25, 2012 in Featured, Marriage, MyChurchParish.com, The Social Order, Vocations
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Most Catholics are familiar with the three vows taken by most religious of poverty, chastity and obedience. To these three, St. Benedict (whose feast we celebrated July 11), added a fourth for the Benedictine order, the vow of stability. Our summer seminarian who had considered joining the Benedictines at one time spoke to us today […]

What We are Defending was Bought by Blood
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What We are Defending was Bought by Blood

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by on Jul 19, 2012 in Featured, Law & Justice, Vocations
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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 […]

10 Things to Consider When Sharing your Catholic Faith
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10 Things to Consider When Sharing your Catholic Faith

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by on Jul 17, 2012 in Featured, Vocations
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“Conversion requires convincing of sin, it includes the interior judgment of conscience, and this, being proof of the action of the Spirit of Truth in man’s inmost being, becomes at the same time the start of a new grant of grace and love” — Blessed John Paul II, DeV 31; CCC 1848 “I can’t believe […]

“Ordinations Give Life to the Church”
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“Ordinations Give Life to the Church”

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by on Jun 24, 2012 in Featured, MyChurchParish.com, Vocations
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On June 23rd, the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral of Providence, RI opened her arms to embrace three new priests, who were ordained in a marvelous ceremony that showed the Church at her finest. Bishop Thomas Tobin was supported by five fellow bishops, scores of priests, numerous joyful Religious, and delighted lay faithful—all of whom […]

For a Greater Glory: The Fourth Vow of An Ancient Order of Friars
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For a Greater Glory: The Fourth Vow of An Ancient Order of Friars

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by on Jun 20, 2012 in Live in Christ, Vocations
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Heroic deeds. Quiet sanctity. Courageous martyrdom. These virtues present themselves over and over again in the stories of the many martyrs for the faith. The movie in theaters now, “For Greater Glory,” awes the public with its gutsy stories of the religious and lay martyrs of Mexico, who chose horrible torture and death rather than […]

Remembered Today in Rome: Fr. Vincent Capodanno, American Marine
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Remembered Today in Rome: Fr. Vincent Capodanno, American Marine

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by on May 21, 2012 in Featured, Men, MyChurchParish.com, Vocations
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“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — Gospel of St. John, 15:13 There are some men who sum up the character of a nation. One such man was Vincent Robert Capodanno. Capodanno represented what was best about America, and now those who remember him would […]

The Greatest of Pastoral Care
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The Greatest of Pastoral Care

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by on May 20, 2012 in Featured, MyChurchParish.com, Vocations
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The Church has the charge for the “cura animarum” (the care of souls).  Jesus commands His Apostles to go and preach unto all nations (Matthew 28:16-18).  In the sixth century, Pope St. Gregory the Great wrote his much celebrated “Regula Pastoralis” (Rule for Pastors) that spoke about caring for souls in various states or conditions.  […]

Catholic Bishops and the Nuns
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Catholic Bishops and the Nuns

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by on May 18, 2012 in Columnists, Featured, Vocations
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The Vatican called it a reform but it’s actually a “war against nuns,” an unprovoked “crackdown” on the dwindling ranks of America’s 55,000-plus religious sisters by a power-hungry pope and his ungrateful bishops. Rather than thanking the aging sisters for their years of service to the oppressed, the patriarchal Catholic power structure is punishing them […]

Deception for our Times? Questioning Anne a Lay Apostle
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Deception for our Times? Questioning Anne a Lay Apostle

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by on Mar 19, 2012 in Featured, Vocations
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Scandal is developing around an American woman living in Ireland who claims to be a Catholic mystic but hides her true identity, misleads people, takes in millions of dollars and is protected by influential people. For the past several years, Kathryn Ann Clarke, going under the name of “Anne a lay apostle” has been travelling […]

The Death-Haunted Art of Friendship (Part I)
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The Death-Haunted Art of Friendship (Part I)

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by on Mar 13, 2012 in Catechesis, Featured, Vocations
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Eve Tushnet is among the most promising young Catholic intellectuals in America. She is a student of art and culture whose writing touches on sexuality, personhood, and faith. Published in journals secular and religious, she was profiled in the New York Times as a “gay Catholic voice against same-sex marriage.” This is the first of […]

A Refined Vision
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A Refined Vision

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by on Mar 11, 2012 in Contraception & Abortion, Featured, MyChurchParish.com, Vocations
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In one of his homilies, Fr. Mitch Pacwa of EWTN told the story of a group of seminarians who visited a silversmith to see how silver is refined so that they could understand better the references in Scripture about the necessity that we be refined like silver refined by a silversmith. The seminarians watched as […]

I Teach to Save Souls
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I Teach to Save Souls

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by on Mar 08, 2012 in Education, Featured, Vocations
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Imagine someone coming up to you and without hesitation telling you: “I desire to save your soul.” This is exactly what St. John Bosco would do in his attempt to rescue the kids of Turin, Italy from the depths of despair.  He would make his point very clear to the youths he would encounter in the […]

19-Year-Old's Dream Continued by Dominican Sisters
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19-Year-Old’s Dream Continued by Dominican Sisters

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by on Mar 05, 2012 in Featured, Vocations
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As the sun sends red and blue hues through the stained-glass windows into a convent chapel in the Chicago area, a dozen Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception enter the rooom for their morning prayers. Their voices blend into invocations of praise as they chant the Liturgy of the Hours. Their white habits with black […]

Three Wrong Reasons to Become a Religious
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Three Wrong Reasons to Become a Religious

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by on Feb 06, 2012 in Featured, MyChurchParish.com, Vocations
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You may think you have a religious vocation, but do you? A recent post on a Catholic social media website warned of three faulty motivations of those who were attracted to religious life. The post said that the candidate might see religious life as 1) a refuge from a hostile world, 2) an attraction to […]

God's Hero for Our Time? Yes, It's You!
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God’s Hero for Our Time? Yes, It’s You!

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by on Dec 21, 2011 in Featured, Vocations
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The Holy Scriptures contain examples of simple, even lowly men and women, who said a heroic yes to God.  And always it cost them dear. Think of the humiliation Noah underwent as he built that ark and his neighbors laughed at him.  Think of Moses who at age 80 was called away from home and […]

Where is John the Baptist When You Need Him?
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Where is John the Baptist When You Need Him?

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by on Dec 15, 2011 in Featured, Vocations
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During the season of Advent the readings at Mass include passages about John the Baptist, the humble inhabitant of the Judean desert who possessed nothing but the truth and owed no one but the God who created him.  He was fearless in his preaching. He discomfited all in their complacency, but to all he gave […]

Grant Us Thy Peace
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Grant Us Thy Peace

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by on Dec 06, 2011 in Columnists, Featured, Live in Christ, Vocations
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There are days and then there are days. Have you ever felt like there was so much to say and do, and not enough time, concentration, or energy to accomplish half of your expectations? Lately, during my daily chores, blog ideas, article notes, and lessons pop into my head and I rarely write them down. […]

Love Your Priests – All of Them
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Love Your Priests – All of Them

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by on Nov 21, 2011 in Featured, MyChurchParish.com, Vocations
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Blessed John Paul II gave the Church many beautiful gifts; among them were the Year of the Rosary (2002-2003) and the Year of the Eucharist (2004-2005).  In doing so, he encouraged priests, religious and laity to use these gifts and harness the spiritual power and strength that flows from them. Both he and his successor […]

Work, the Curse, and Common Grace
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Work, the Curse, and Common Grace

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by on Nov 14, 2011 in Featured, Vocations
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That human beings were created to be creators, to work, is undeniable. The anthropological concept of homo faber, man the tool-maker, attests to this basic aspect of what it means to be human. From a Christian perspective, we confess that human beings make things in a way that imitates their Maker. While God creates “out […]

"Nothing Dramatic" -- Karl Blake’s War Story
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“Nothing Dramatic” — Karl Blake’s War Story

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by on Nov 11, 2011 in Featured, History, Vocations
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“It was nothing dramatic,” says Dr. Karl E. Blake of Wexford, Pennsylvania, retired surgeon and member of the World War II generation, “but it was important, and no one has written about it, at least that I’ve seen.” I got an unexpected call from Dr. Blake last Memorial Day, mid-afternoon, after just returning from the […]

A Call to Patriotism
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A Call to Patriotism

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by on Nov 11, 2011 in Featured, Vocations
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Thomas Joseph Dudley, USMC died in Afghanistan during combat on July 7, 2011. He was 29 years old, married, and had three children. He was laid to rest in Rock Hill, SC on July 15, 2011 amid an outpouring of patriotism and support for his young family.  During Staff Sergeant Dudley’s funeral, his young son, in […]

Paterno, Pedophiles, Homosexuals, and Cowards
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Paterno, Pedophiles, Homosexuals, and Cowards

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by on Nov 11, 2011 in Featured, Vocations
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Coach Jerry Sandusky, the now notorious pedophile, and his boss, coach Joe Paterno, have some Catholic background.  Paterno played football for a Catholic high school in New York.  The New York Times states that Paterno is a “practicing Catholic.”  The most I could ascertain about Sandusky is that his paternal grandparents emigrated from Poland. To […]

No Regrets: Frank Kravetz’s Story
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No Regrets: Frank Kravetz’s Story

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by on Nov 07, 2011 in Featured, Vocations
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“Just existing became what was important,” says 87-year-old Frank Kravetz of Pittsburgh, captive of the “hell-hole” that was Nuremberg Prison Camp. “Yet even as I struggled with the day-to-day sadness and despair, I never once had any regrets that I signed up to serve.” An extended tour of Nazi camps as a wounded POW scratching […]

The Fighting Nun in Rome and the Pope Pius XII Museum
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The Fighting Nun in Rome and the Pope Pius XII Museum

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by on Oct 31, 2011 in Featured, Vocations
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I was privileged this afternoon [written October 26] to spend time with Sister Margherita Marchione, the so-called “fighting nun,” who has spent 50 years battling to defend the truth about the life and activity of Pope Pius XII, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, during the time of the Second World War. Sister Margherita, who […]