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LDS thoughts on Modesty
Last year I published three articles on the virtue of modesty: the first deconstructing the rhetoric surrounding it in terms of the feminist theory of the “male gaze”; the second on modesty and...
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Pope Francis: Show Concrete Mercy to Refugees
In an appeal following his Sunday Angelus prayer, Pope Francis called on Catholic Churches throughout Europe to respond to the refugee crisis in Europe by taking in refugee families. His remarks are...
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The Conversion of Muslim Refugees
This is something of a companion piece to my post this morning about Pope Francis and welcoming refugees. An article appeared a couple days ago on Crux about Muslim refugees converting to...
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Blessed and Happy Feast of St. Francis
On this the feast of our Seraphic Father, St. Francis, I want to wish each of our readers all the blessings, all the graces, all the joys that the Lord, in his infinite goodness, will dispense and...
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Random Reflections on the Synod
I have been more or less following the news from Rome about the meeting of the Synod of Bishops. There has been the flap about the letter from 13 cardinals to Pope Francis, first revealed by Sandro...
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Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Widow’s Mite
To the readers of Vox Nova: I have not been posting much lately, as you may have noticed. One excuse is that I have been busy with my new job, which is proving to be much more time consuming that I...
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Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time: Preparing for the End
My second installment of a sermon on the Sunday readings. This one was much, much harder. Even though I started preparing last Tuesday, it did not come together until today at mass. The opening hymn...
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A follow up to the Widow’s Mite
This is a quick post to follow up on my homily on the Widow’s Mite two weeks ago. Yesterday, at a regularly scheduled meeting of department chairs, we had a presentation from the United Way of West...
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The Last Sunday of Ordinary Time: The Feast of Christ the King
My third attempt at crafting a homily for the Sunday readings. This time I had it pretty much worked out by yesterday, but was unable to find the time to write it up. And then at mass this morning I...
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Quote of the Day: Pope Francis on Human Evil
A great quote from Pope Francis, with a hat tip to NCR: Faced with the tragic events of human history, we can feel crushed at times, asking ourselves, ‘Why?’ Humanity’s evil can appear in the world...
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On Being Mistaken for a Muslim
Twice, that I can remember, I have been mistaken for a Muslim. It may have happened more often than that, but only twice did the person making the mistake call themselves to my attention. The reason...
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The First Sunday of Advent: Strength for the Journey
The latest in my continuing attempt to write a homily on each week’s readings. Today at mass we had a visiting priest who talked about Advent as a season of hope, tying it in to the beginning of the...
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The Second Sunday of Advent: Prepare the Way of the Lord!
A homily for the second Sunday of Advent. As I was reflecting on the readings, I happened to reread a poster created for me many years ago by the students in my first year seminar, Radical Christian...
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Catholics Should Oppose Donald Trump
Resolved: No Catholic, in good conscience, can or should support Donald Trump for president. I started this post last week—I wish I had posted it then since I would have been ahead of the curve! My...
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Third Sunday of Advent: Rejoice, the Lord is Near!
My homily for Gaudete Sunday. This Sunday my parish celebrated the feast of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe with a big bilingual mass. It was beautiful but I am a bit sad from this experience—an odd...
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Fourth Sunday in Advent: Why Should the Lord Come to Me?
My last homily for Advent and it is a day late. This week I had a hard time making myself sit down and read the readings, let alone reflect on them. And I have only been doing this for two months....
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December 27, The Feast of the Holy Family
I am late again. I decided to not hold myself responsible for sermons for feast days—keeping up with Sunday is proving to be enough of a challenge. But “skipping” Christmas did not get me any closer...
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The Feast of the Epiphany: What will you give to the Lord?
Another week, another attempt at a homily. Thanks to all for the feedback on my homily for the Feast of the Holy Family. This week I got started earlier–in fact, as soon as I posted the last one, I...
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The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord: Are You Eager to do Good?
A homily for the opening of Ordinary time. I got sidetracked this week thinking about the meaning of baptism as incorporation into the Church, and what this means pastorally: is there ever a time...
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Should we ever refuse baptism?
The title of this post says it all: should we ever refuse to baptize someone? In particular, if parents present a child for baptism, are there ever grounds for refusing this request? My initial...
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