For months, I had been mustering the courage to go to confession. I had faced the terror of Hell to marshal my sins. I had waited in the empty church for half an hour, palms in a cold sweat, rehearsing my lines. It had been three months and … [Read more...]
My Side of the Confessional
A Scrupulous Penitent’s Plea to Confessors
December 12, 2017 by Monica Lyons Montanaro
Perceptions of Ministry, and Facilitators and Barriers of Self-Care, Amongst Roman Catholics and Anglicans in Full-Time Ministry
The work of clergy and others serving in full-time Christian ministry is unique. They are often intimately involved in important life transitions and events, such as births, baptisms, weddings, serious illnesses, deaths, and the grieving … [Read more...]
Early Spring Reading
March 26, 2017 by Book Reviews
Jennifer Roback Morse & Betsy Kerekes, 101 Tips for Marrying the Right Person (Notre Dame, IN.: Ave Maria Press 2016), 127 pp. $13.95. Paperback. ISBN-13: 978-1-59471-671-3. Reviewed by Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. Raïssa M … [Read more...]
Children of Divorce: Conflicts and Healing
March 9, 2017 by Dr. Richard P. Fitzgibbons, MD
“Children need their parents’ stable union.”[1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Vatican, 2003), n. 2381.] The numerous psychological and spiritual struggles in the child of divorce (henceforth referred to as COD) are documented bo … [Read more...]
The Human Person Is a Bioethical Word
The Need to Recover the Humanity of the Human Race
January 20, 2017 by Francis Etheredge
Leonardo Da Vinci Pencil Drawings The choice in our time is this: either we are equally in receipt of the gift of life[1. Cf. Donum vitae, Introduction, 1.] or the ethical outcome of the "survival of the fittest" is that the fittest … [Read more...]
Self-esteem: Biblical or Distracting?
November 21, 2016 by Juliana Weber
Self-esteem is a relatively modern concept that has been elevated to the point of an all-important virtue by pop psychology, perhaps the virtue in which all others can be found. Christians need to make sense of the word from their own … [Read more...]
Transsexual attractions and sexual reassignment surgery
Risks and potential risks
August 29, 2016 by Dr. Richard P. Fitzgibbons, MD
Given the early age at which youth seek treatment for transsexual attractions (TSA) and gender dysphoria, and given the serious risks associated with such treatment, it is essential that family and youth be advised about these risks, and … [Read more...]
Spring Reading for April 2016
April 14, 2016 by Book Reviews
What Would Pope Francis Do? By Sean Salai, S.J. (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Press, 2016), 144 pages; $14.95. Reviewed by David Paternostro, S.J. Paul: Windows on His Thought and His World. By Maria Pascuzzi; (Winona, MN: Anselm … [Read more...]
The Meaning of the Wilderness
May 31, 2015 by Juliana Weber
It is characteristic of God in Scripture to lead chosen people into the isolation and barrenness of the wilderness or desert.[1. One author calls it “one of the most basic in biblical tradition, and it is to be expected that it should a … [Read more...]
More than Sentinels Wait for the Dawn
A Soldier Ponders the Wounds of War and the Absence of God
March 30, 2015 by Fr. Timothy Shea Valentine
I’ve had it, Chaplain. My right leg still hurts like hell from the shrapnel, and God only knows when the drugs will kick in. But physical pain is one thing; thinking about the insurgents I killed in that firefight last deployment bothers me … [Read more...]
Witness “Begets” Witnesses
February 12, 2015 by Francis Etheredge
Introduction[1. The “witness” section of this paper (Part III) was given verbally to visiting seminarians from Minnesota as part of an Introduction to the RCIA at the Maryvale Institute, 2/22/2014 and the rest of this paper was given in sup … [Read more...]
Accusations against Priests
The Need for More Justice and Psychological Science
January 29, 2015 by Dr. Richard P. Fitzgibbons, MD
The evaluation process of accusations against priests in regard to determining their suitability for priestly ministry would benefit from greater justice and knowledge of psychological science. There are presently severe weaknesses in this … [Read more...]
In the Fullness of Time: The Fullness of Family
October 13, 2014 by Joseph Keith Woodard, PhD
The incident related in the Gospel of Luke, celebrated as the “Finding in the Temple,” has always been troubling. It’s the one and only glimpse we’re given into the “secret life” of the Holy Family. Earlier, we see baby Jesus with Simeon and … [Read more...]
Homosexuality and Vocational Discernment and Choice
A Call for Evidence-Based, Astute Priestly Discernment in a Framework of Overall Moral Character Development
August 11, 2014 by Fr. Paul Anthony McGavin
A seminary that is on-going in the cultivation and the learning of the skills of virtue as an expression of life-in-Christ, and as lived testimony to the Gospel, will be a seminary that is prepared to discern, and to equip, young men for a … [Read more...]
Object-Images, Ego Formation, and Personal Identity: A Christ-Centered Approach
June 11, 2014 by Patrick F. Cioni
(This article is) an attempt to provide an understanding of object-images and ego formation, as essential elements of personal identity, laying the foundation for understanding of identity formation in Christ Jesus. An answer to the … [Read more...]
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