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Americanism Caused Individualism and its Ills
Resolved: The ills of individualism that grip the Catholic Church in America today are the fruit 19th century Americanism: the efforts of the American episcopacy to establish a new modus vivendi for...
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A thought on forgiveness
From The Dailly Gospel two weeks ago, on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. I meant to say more, but at this moment words fail me. Forgiveness is not a proposal that can be immediately understood or...
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A Catechetical Thought for the Feast of Corpus Christi
It has been widely reported in recent years that there is a divergence between what the Catholic Church believes about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and what many people in the pews...
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Bishops Divorced from their Sees
Resolved: except in unusual circumstances, a bishop should remain wedded to his See and not be promoted from diocese to (more important) diocese. One exception would be to allow a bishop to be...
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Punishing the Victim of Abuse
By now I am sure that most readers of this blog have heard the story: a Catholic school teacher in San Diego was fired from her position because she was the victim of domestic violence: despite a...
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Final HHS Rules on Birth Control
(Updated 6/28/2013, 2:45 EDT) Health and Human Services today released the new rules on the birth control mandate under the Affordable Care Act. A good summary was provided by the New York Times:...
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What Don’t You Like About Francis of Assisi
I recently decide to start a systematic reading of the primary sources on the life of St. Francis. To guide me, I picked up a copy of a workbook by Br. William Hugo, OFM Cap, Studying the Life of...
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A Metal-edged Feast of the Assumption
In honor of the Blessed Mother on the Feast of the Assumption, and a pointed response to the commbox critics who find Christian Rock an oxymoron: Maria Maiestatis by Fratello Metallo, an Italian...
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Eight Brief Stories of Conversion
Sandro Magister provides a translation of one of eight stories of conversion compiled by an Italian journalist, and brief English bios of the other seven people. The interview is quite uplifting....
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Hooray for Bishop Tobin!
Okay, maybe I am overstating things. Here is what happened. As part of the media hype over Pope Francis’ six month anniversary in the Chair of Peter, Bishop Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, gave a...
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Telling Parents Their Unborn Child has Down Syndrome
Rick Smith, the father of a two year old son with Down Syndrome, who blogs about him as “Noah’s Dad,” has published an open letter on his blog entitled: To Every OB/GYN On The Planet: How To Deliver A...
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Is There a New Sheriff in Town?
The news came through today that Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, the Bishop of Limburg in Germany, has been granted a leave “outside of his Diocese” for an indeterminate period. Bishop Tebartz-van Elst...
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A Rebuke From St. John Chrysostom
From the folks at Daily Gospel Online, a quote from St. John Chrysostom that I wanted to share. “Those with ears, let them hear!” Nothing is more cold than a christian who is not dedicated to saving...
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Thoughts on Mary from Ste. Therese
A double posting today, but this commentary on the Blessed Virgin Mary by Ste. Therese of Lisieux is way too good to not share. Again it is coming from the good folks at Daily Gospel Online. “How I...
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Staircase Wit and the Revised Translation of the Missal
The French have a marvelous turn of phrase “l’esprit de l’escalier” which might best be translated as “staircase wit.” It is used to refer to those situations where you think of the perfect retort far...
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Thoughts on an Encylical I Haven’t Read Yet
Yesterday, the Vatican released Pope Francis’ first formal document, the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, available here in English translation, with both HTML and PDF versions. I have not...
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The Revised Translation: Once More Into the Breach
I ran across something today that got me thinking about the revised English translation of the liturgy again. I guess I should let this go, but things I read keep bringing it back up. Maybe I am...
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The Right to Food Campaign
On Tuesday, December 10, Caritas International, the umbrella organization of 164 Catholic organizations that provide disaster relief and human development, is launching a campaign to combat world...
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St. John Chrysostom, Pope Francis and Ms. Frizzle
From the folks at Daily Gospel Online comes a commentary by St. John Chrysostom: Is there anything more ridiculous than a christian who couldn’t care less about other people? Don’t use your poverty as...
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Changing the Text on the Fly
I have a question about being a lector that I am of two minds about. I can see both sides of the question and I wanted to lay my problem out here for discussion. This Sunday’s second reading is...
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