Key to seeing the Holy Father’s message this week is reading again the opening passage of Matthew 18, read in St. Peter’s Square before the general audience. Distracted by the question of “greatness before God,” the apostles ask Jesus who would be the greatest. Jesus answers the question in a kind of rebuke, saying that […]
What is the best social network for the New Evangelization? Is it Facebook or Twitter? Or perhaps Instagram and Pinterest better reflect our modern lives? Or are you a Snapchat aficionado? Forget it, Pope Francis just rebooted this conversation. At his Wednesday General Audience on October 7, 2015, he revealed his social network of choice […]
Last week when the “presider” at the “meal” at the local protestant-Catholic community preached that a “synod”” is a “council” and that throughout Church history “synod” and “council” have meant the same thing, it should have come as no surprise. But I was stunned. Of course, his words are utterly false. When the shock wore […]
The current crisis in marriage and family life arises from “a cult of momentary well-being,” stated Cardinal Peter Erdö, the relator general of the 2014 Synod of the Family. In his opening speech, one which traditionally sets the tone for the whole synod, the Cardinal emphasized that “many look upon their lives not as a […]
While Pope St. John Paul II was called the Pope of the Family, Pope Francis is called the Pope of the Poor. So why did the Pope of the Poor choose marriage and family as the focus of his papacy’s first synod of bishops, scheduled to start this Sunday, October 5, in Rome? Because stronger marriages […]
On the Feast of the Holy Family, December 29, 2013, Pope Francis invited all Catholics to pray for families as the Church prepares for an Extraordinary Synod to examine the troubling disconnect between Church teaching and the reality of modern family life. In his Angelus address given to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square, Pope […]
