The spread of pornography is a new pastoral challenge for confessors, but I want to suggest that there is another moral issue...deserving to be taken seriously, which is often overlooked in the discussion over pornography. That issue is … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2012
Questions Answered
November 27, 2012 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
What is the New Evangelization? What to do when a chalice of consecrated wine spills before communion? What is the New Evangelization? Question: I have heard much about the New Evangelization to which Pope John Paul II so … [Read more...]
What does it mean to be “pastoral”?
November 26, 2012 by Fr. Kenneth Baker, SJ
The term “pastoral” comes from the Latin, pastor, meaning “shepherd,” and thus refers to the work and concern of the shepherd for his sheep. In the current ecclesiastical jargon, what is the meaning of the word “pastoral”? The term wa … [Read more...]
Homilies for December 2012
November 23, 2012 by Fr. Richard L. Schamber
For Sunday Liturgies and Feasts Homilies for December 2012 Nativity by Gerard Van Honthorst A drowsy faith Purpose: To draw attention to a particular crisis of faith present among Christians: a weak vigilance for the coming of C … [Read more...]
Philosophy and the Immortality of the Human Soul: A Tool for the New Evangelization
November 20, 2012 by Book Reviews
Problem: There is a need today for the argument for the immortality of the human soul based on reason alone for both believers and non-believers. The first pages of Scripture allude to the nature of the human soul when the inspired … [Read more...]
Transformative Preachers: Hildegard of Bingen and Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney
November 19, 2012 by Deacon Bill Smith
Hildegard and Vianney were transformative preachers, catalysts for change—Hildegard by her presence in what was ... a "man's world;" Vianney by living his life as a "sermon of humility" in the Age of Enlightenment, when humanity cast asi … [Read more...]
Biblical Foundations and the Thread of History
November 17, 2012 by Brian Jones
Current trends, that have existed in biblical scholarship for quite some time, reveal a distinct blindness about the essence of Sacred Scripture. At a recent conference in Cleveland, Ohio, the well-known Catholic author and speaker, … [Read more...]
Gender: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?
Some Thoughts on Femininity
November 16, 2012 by Dr. Maria Fedoryka, PhD
We Americans face a state of affairs relating to marriage and family ... (where we) must now attempt to show why the divinely-instituted laws of marriage and family are binding not only for Christians, but hold true for … [Read more...]
The Vital Need for a Pastoral Administration Course at the Seminary Level
November 15, 2012 by Dr. Lawrence DiPaolo, Jr.
We are doing a disservice to our seminarians when we fail to teach them about the practical aspects of running a parish. The “Program for Priestly Formation” is currently the document which guides seminary rectors, administrators, and fa … [Read more...]
St. Thomas Aquinas on the Prayer of Christ as Manifest in the Prayers of the Mass
November 15, 2012 by Dawn Eden
The Angelic Doctor’s overarching concern in treating of Christ’s prayer is to show that Jesus’ primary purpose in praying was to draw us to imitate him. St. Thomas Aquinas begins his exposition on prayer in the Summa theologiae by expla … [Read more...]
Paul Horgan’s Priests
November 7, 2012 by Daniel J. Heisey, OSB
A Catholic writer is a Catholic writing for other Catholics. ... On another level, a Catholic writer is a Catholic writing for a wider audience, but still drawing upon the biblical, classical, and patristic heritage of Christendom. Soon t … [Read more...]
The Catholic Identity of a Retirement Community
November 5, 2012 by Dr. Robert Gotcher
Because a retirement community has a more or less captive audience, it has to strike a delicate balance between the duty to witness explicitly and fully to Christ; and the respect for the freedom, autonomy, and self-determination of the … [Read more...]
The Homosexually Oriented Person and the Church
November 3, 2012 by Steven Schultz
Holding that all persons are created in the image and likeness of God, the Church most certainly does not condemn homosexual persons ... (but) condemns using human sexuality for purposes contrary to that for which it is divinely intended … [Read more...]
A “Sharing between Friends”: The Art of Mental Prayer
November 2, 2012 by Dr. Jeffrey Morrow, Ph.D.
Mental prayer is simply spending time in the presence of God, talking with him about absolutely anything, even about our lack of knowing exactly what to say. It is dealing with our Lord as a close, intimate friend. When speaking to the … [Read more...]
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