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Contra Traditionalists: Engaging With Tradition
With the close of the Synod of the Family, there is much discussion in the blogosphere about the outcomes. My own post on St. Augustine has attracted for more commentary than I expected, and Julia...
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In Paradisum
Today, on the Feast of All Souls, I want to offer my prayers for the repose of the souls of your near and dear ones who died in the past year. My God, in his goodness, bless them and keep them close,...
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Thoughts on Vocations IV: An Interview with Fr. Michael Dolan
As our readers may recall, I wrote several posts discussing vocations and the vocations crisis in the Church. Here are links to parts one, two and three. After some delay I want to present part four,...
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On Faithful Citizenship
Today, November 4, is Election Day in the United States. This is a public service announcement reminding all of our American readers who are registered to vote to please vote today. From our bishops...
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Evangelization Through Peace And Justice
This is the edited text of a talk I gave yesterday, November 8, at the Regional Assembly of the Solanus Casey Region, Secular Franciscan Order. The regional council asked me to speak today on...
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Suor Cristina Rocks, but Friar Gabriel Skates
After my post a few weeks ago about a Suor Cristina, the singing nun from Italy, I want to follow up with skateboarding friar. Hat tip to Brandon Vogt, who posted a remarkable video about Friar...
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From an Odd Remark to an Earthy Reading of Scripture
Warning: this post is not terribly serious, and it gets a bit bawdy at the end. So if this is not to your taste, there is no need to read further. This all started with an odd remark by my son...
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Scholasticism and Quantum Mechanics: A Question for Readers
I have been listening to some online lectures about medieval theology, and am currently working through the metaphysics of St. Thomas Aquinas as part of his proofs of the existence of God. These are...
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On the Duty of Bishops
Thanks (again!) to Daily Gospel Online, I was led to look at Christus Dominus, the Vatican II decree on the pastoral office of bishops. I found the following (long) passage impressive for what it...
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Prayer for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception
In honor of this feast of our Blessed Mother, below is a prayer composed by Pope Francis and recited by him last year to mark the feast. I wish you all a happy and grace filled feast day. Holy and...
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On Divorce: Ratzinger Then and Benedict Now
It seems that Pope Emeritus Benedict has changed his mind, and wants to make it known that he is repudiating an argument he made forty years ago. Six years ago the Pope asked Gerhard Mueller, then...
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Happy and Blessed Feast of the Guadalupe, 2014
To all of our readers, I wish a most happy and blessed feast day of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, patronness of Mexico, patronness of the Americas. For today’s feast I offer Las Mananitas from the...
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The Moral Wounds the Torture Report Reveals
Last week, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a redacted version of the 500+ page executive summary (in PDF) of its mammoth report on the CIA’s use of torture in the decade after 9/11. My...
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Is male/female wrestling immodest?
I missed this when it first came out, but it is related to some of my earlier posts (e.g. here and here) about modesty. From a Reuter’s news report in early October: Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic...
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The Christmas Truce of 1914
This Christmas marks the centennial of a small but remarkable event that has echoed down the last century as a reminder that our war-time “enemies” are human beings, just like us, and that in the midst...
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A reflection on the wedding garment
Thanks to the folks at Daily Gospel Online here is a beautiful meditation by St. Augustine on Matthew 22:1-14. It puts our vocation as Christians, followers of Christ, into perspective. What is the...
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Come, Rejoice With Me!
A very personal post today, but something I want to share. Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And...
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News on Archbishop Romero
Breaking news from the Catholic News Service: A panel of theologians advising the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes voted unanimously to recognize the late Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero as...
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Quote from Pope Francis
Pope Francis, speaking at the University of Manila in response to a 12 year old girl describing her life on the street: There are some realities that you can only see through eyes that have been...
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Was it Suicide?
The Catholic Transcript, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Hartford, has started a new feature: a monthly column on bioethics by Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a priest from Fall River, MA and director of...
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