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Scandals… and Hope: An Interview with Rod Bennett

Another day, another Catholic scandal – or that is how it seems lately. If you are like me, you are just sick of it, yesterday already. I felt myself reeling a bit with the news about German bishops, and needing a little balancing support, I decided to run a few questions by my friend Rod […]

Reconciliation: Maintenance for the Soul

Nov 16 11 • Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur • 2 comments

How do you think of the Sacrament of Reconciliation? If you are like most Catholics, you probably think of it as little as possible! Or, perhaps, you think of it as something good to have available in the event you do something really, really wrong, but not something you need to concern yourself with otherwise. […]

A Parent’s Deepest Pain

Nov 16 11 • Patti Maguire Armstrong • 0 comments

Yesterday, someone close to me shared the pain of his son’s incarceration due to drug abuse and brushes with the law. Also this week, I received a letter from a prisoner sentenced to twenty years for meth. He was a graduate of St. Mary’s High school where my kids go. After reading Amazing Grace for […]

Poem: “Flame”

Nov 16 11 • Pavel Chichikov • 0 comments

Flame I tell you the trees were on fire Refulgent but never a flame, Ruby intense and a sulfur Lit from within by a name Like the halls of a palace of columns They lead to a room with a throne, Each with its top in the heavens, The arch of the spread of them […]

We Are Penn State: Complicity in the Wake of Abuse

Nov 15 11 • Jane Smith • 4 comments

All three network morning news programs opened recently with the story of the phone call firing of legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. Hardened newscasters expressed shock that men like Paterno, Penn State president Graham Spanier, and other university officials knew that children were being abused, yet turned their backs. “Who among us,” one […]

Pope Benedict: Science Must Never Compromise Human Dignity

Nov 15 11 • Chelsea Zimmerman • 0 comments

On Nov. 12 at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, Pope Benedict XVI addressed participants of the Nov. 9-11 international conference Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture. The Holy Father opened his remarks with praise for the various institutions exploring and promoting research on adult stem cells. Adult stem cells hold great […]

Occupiers, Wayseers, and the Catholic Church

Nov 15 11 • Marc Barnes • 1 comment

G.K. Chesterton, in his noble goal to make the life of a Catholic blogger unbearably easy, said that “the Catholic Church is the only thing that frees a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age.” You might think I cannot possibly add to such a perfectly rounded statement of truth. And in […]

Praying in the Spirit as Catholic Men

Nov 15 11 • Maurice Blumberg • 0 comments

He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:17-18) With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit. To that end, be watchful with all perseverance and supplication […]

What is Socialism?

Nov 15 11 • Ryan Grant • 10 comments

Lately, there has been the labeling of government officials, and Obama in particular, as socialists, and decrying government interventions as socialist per se. Now, I will not deny that Obama is probably a socialist of some sort at heart, and that he has many of the aberrant moral ideas as the socialists. However, the characterization […]

Extraordinary Form Comes to the College of Saint Mary Magdalen

Nov 15 11 • College of St. Mary Magdalen • 0 comments

Beginning November 2, on All Souls Day, the College of Saint Mary Magdalen is now offering its students the opportunity to experience Mass in both its ordinary and extraordinary forms. On the Commemoration of All Souls, three Masses were celebrated: a Mass chanted in English according to the ordinary form at 7:00 AM, a Missa […]

Poem: “When I Confess”

Nov 15 11 • Thomas A. Flynn, LC • 0 comments

When I Confess Amidst unwonted dregs of transgress Where in this fetid pool suppress Both glint and virtuous finesse You stoop, plunge, and convalesce. Fr. Thomas Flynn, LC

It’s Time to Say Good-bye to the Girl Scouts

Nov 14 11 • Kathy Schiffer • 3 comments

Who can turn away a sweet little girl, boxes of cookies in her wagon, smiling hopefully at your front door? And who can turn down the savory pleasures to be found in every box of Thin Mints and Samoas and Savannahs? Well, I can. You see, the proceeds from the sale of Girl Scout cookies […]

On the Wisdom of God

Nov 14 11 • Philip Primeau • 0 comments

We testify that Jesus of Nazareth is the Incarnate Word, the very Self-expression of the Deity. This Word is the Father’s all-encompassing Articulation, the Idea in which all ideas subsist. It is in and of the Father, yet somehow distinct. In the Old Testament, this Being typically bears the name Wisdom. Wisdom is described as […]

“So That . . .” Prayers

Nov 14 11 • Cheryl Dickow • 1 comment

When I taught religion in a parochial middle school, part of my weekly responsibilities included writing the Prayers of the Faithful that would be read by a middle school student in our weekly Mass. I loved this part of my job! Actually, I loved every part of my job. For the first few years—before the […]

The New Roman Missal: Focus on Christology

Nov 14 11 • Dr. Edward Sri • 0 comments

From “We believe” to “I believe” Can a one-letter word really make a great difference? In the case of the revised translation of the Nicene Creed in the new Roman Missal, the answer is emphatically, “Yes!” Instead of starting the Creed by saying, “We believe in one God…” we will begin by saying, “I believe […]

Work, the Curse, and Common Grace

Nov 14 11 • Jordan J. Ballor • 0 comments

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 […]

Poem: “The Great Trees”

Nov 14 11 • Pavel Chichikov • 0 comments

The Great Trees Mid-summer and the woods are dry Soil on hillsides runs to sand, Ancient trees begin to die Unless their roots are deeper than the roots of Man Dry the season and the air Draws out the running where it ran, Beasts emerging when they dare Drink from what lies deeper than the […]

That Was Then. This Is….Gross.

Nov 13 11 • Karen J Rinehart • 1 comment

If her unrealistic body proportions weren’t enough of a controversy and reason for parental and feminist outrage, now Barbie has tattoos. Hang on–before you think Tattoo Barbie is going to be your daughter’s Must Have or Die Christmas Gift, don’t. Only 7,400 dolls were made and they’ve already been swooped up by “collectors”. And by […]

Poem: “Angels at Play”

Nov 13 11 • Michele Marie • 6 comments

Angels at Play I see beauty in a vicious storm An enraged green sea suspended above Opposing winds churn and whirl the nimbus A strange fierce loveliness to behold After the storm, something uncommon Green gives way to a gold that glows On trees and fences and yards and homes Heaven’s light breaks through for […]

Searching for a Moral to Story of Immorality

Nov 12 11 • Marybeth Hicks • 2 comments

Halloween came and went, but Marion Salmon Hedges wasn’t able to hand out the hundreds of dollars worth of candy she purchased for the underprivileged children who annually visit her Manhattan neighborhood. Instead, she has spent the past 10 days in a medically induced coma at New York’s Harlem Hospital Center. Mrs. Hedges was the […]

Report Abuse to Police, Not Higher-Ups

Nov 12 11 • Colleen Carroll Campbell • 3 comments

The story related in last week’s Pennsylvania grand jury report had all the ingredients of a classic sex abuse scandal: a popular, successful authority figure suspected for years of molesting boys, a host of higher-ups unwilling to report him to police and a trail of vulnerable children left to suffer unspeakable violations while powerful adults […]

Poem: “Light from Light”

Nov 12 11 • Pavel Chichikov • 0 comments

Light from Light The ruby throat in air defers, Presents his forehead to larkspur, Walks as Christ on Galilee, Weightless goes as so did He Receives the pollen as a grace, A Eucharist on beak and face, Floating sign and metaphor, Convey to us: receive, adore Blood of wine, flesh of wheat, Wing of angel […]

The Parable of the Talents

Nov 12 11 • Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. • 0 comments

I’ve seen it time and time again. Someone decides to seek a better paying job, or pursue an investment strategy, or launch a new business. Invariably some pious person in the parish objects that maybe this is too worldly, that it will be a distraction from Church and family priorities, that one should be satisfied […]

The Revised Roman Missal: Mission, not Maintenance

Nov 11 11 • Rev. Tucker Cordani • 0 comments

“Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.” This is one of four forms of dismissal to be used at the conclusion of the Mass, according to the revised Roman Missal. Every moment of our lives is an opportunity to glorify God using the talents we receive in the Eucharist. “Let everything that lives […]