Second Sunday of Advent—December 6, 2015 Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/120615.cfm Experiencing New Life through Christ’s Coming this Christmas This coming week, Pope Francis will open the holy door at St. Peter’s basili … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2015
The Rights of Conscience
How English Catholic Schools Secured State Grants in an Age of Popular Anti-Catholicism
November 29, 2015 by Richard J. Janet, PhD
The United Kingdom was anything but united in the early years of the long reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). The ongoing process of industrialization created deep economic dislocation, with a growing gap between rich and poor. Urban … [Read more...]
Mother of Mercy
November 29, 2015 by Jonathan Fleischmann
On March 13, 2015, His Holiness Pope Francis announced that on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary—December 8, 2015—the Universal Church would enter an Extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy. Why did his Holiness cho … [Read more...]
Ten Commandments for Transformative Preaching
November 29, 2015 by Deacon Edward McCormack, PhD
When people walk into church for Mass, they are searching for meaning. Psychologist William Damen, in his book, The Path to Purpose, tells us we are living through a crisis of meaning. Our superficial culture of consumption and … [Read more...]
An Old Philosophy and a New Theology
Jean-Paul Sartre (ca. 1950) and the “Shadow Council” of 2015
November 29, 2015 by Deacon Peter Trahan, MATh
It is well known by now that there was a concerted effort on the part of some German Bishops, led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, to engage the 2014 Synod, and interject a liberal agenda into the 2015 Synod. This was an attempt to sway the … [Read more...]
Integral Ecology and the Ecological Virtues in Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’
November 29, 2015 by Dr. Matthew J. Ramage, PhD
Introduction Several weeks ago, I made a conscious decision to refrain from reading too much secondary literature on Pope Francis’s impending encyclical, Laudato Si’. And by noon on the day of its release, I was almost depressed. A flood of … [Read more...]
Overlooked and Under-Prayed: The Our Father
November 29, 2015 by R. Thomas Richard, PhD
The Our Father is simple, easy to memorize and recite, and is thus, easily and often, very poorly prayed. I would say it is abused, is misused, and even is, shamefully, to the point of dishonoring the Lord, who personally gave this prayer … [Read more...]
The Synod’s End and an Advent Prayer Time for the Church
November 16, 2015 by David Vincent Meconi
Pope Francis During Extraordinary Synod of Bishops; Advent wreath. The Synod on the Family, called by Pope Francis to address: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the contemporary world,” has come to a close. There ha … [Read more...]
Sacred Liturgy: Great Mystery, Great Mercy
Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick Lecture, Kenrick Glennon Seminary, St Louis, MO, October 8, 2015
November 16, 2015 by Bishop Peter J. Elliott
Reflecting on the state of divine worship in the Church, I believe that this is a good time for Catholics of the Roman Rite, a very good time. Fifty years after the Second Vatican Council initiated a liturgical reform in the Constitution on … [Read more...]
Advent Preparation through the Daily Office of Readings
November 16, 2015 by Deacon Robert F. Gorman, PhD
Introduction One of the great treasures of the Church is its Morning Office of Readings, which throughout the liturgical year offers both scriptural readings and meditations from the fathers and doctors of the Church, along with the … [Read more...]
Catholic Men, the Spiritual Life, and Our Growth in Holiness-Perfection
Living Faith as Conversion, Knowledge, and Joy According to the Thought of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
November 16, 2015 by Dr. Mark S. Latkovic
A Catholic Christian spiritual life has often been described in terms of “ways,” “stages,” “degrees,” and “conversions.”[1. See, e.g., among many books on the topic, Fr. John J. Pasquini, Light, Happiness and Peace: Journeying Through Tradit … [Read more...]
Who Am I to Judge?
November 16, 2015 by Fr. Daniel Richards
We have all become quite familiar with those words of Pope Francis, quoted two years ago during an interview on his return flight from World Youth Day in Brazil: “Who am I to judge?”[1. w2. … [Read more...]
On the Ordination of Women and the Priesthood of Christ
November 16, 2015 by Fr. James Swetnam, SJ
In the past half century, discussion about women priests in the Christian Churches has intensified. Most Churches, in particular, the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches, have held firm to the traditional view that only males … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
November 16, 2015 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Question: Could Jesus perform miracles of his own accord? Did he not empty himself and rely on the Father as we do by faith? We are to have faith to move mountains. What better way to make the point than Jesus praying in thanksgiving before … [Read more...]
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