What could it mean that the Blessed Virgin Mary, appearing in Northern Indiana, USA, on September 25, 1956, in private revelation to Sister Mary Ephrem, CPpS, “promised that greater miracles than those granted at Lourdes and Fatima would be … [Read more...]
Articles
The “Un-hefted” Vanishing Flock
September 30, 2019 by Kevin Wells
When Irishman Declan Dinneny spoke, I caught every fifth word. His voice came in a wild chorus of undulated high pitches that crescendoed when he spoke of something important, like maybe a heifer who’d miscarried that morning. His farm was b … [Read more...]
Perserverance in the Face of Imperfect Ministers
September 30, 2019 by Richard P. Maggi, Esq.
Too frequently, practicing Catholics encounter family members and friends who are dismayed by the priestly and hierarchal abuse scandals. They have lost faith in the hierarchy and priests, not knowing whom they can trust. Consequently, they … [Read more...]
Priesthood and Spiritual Childhood
September 11, 2019 by Fr. Tim McCauley
Spiritual pride is an occupational hazard of the priesthood, and a potentially deadly disease. Because of our current ecclesiastical environment, I think it is important to mention clergy abuse cases. Quite apart from the personal emotional … [Read more...]
Evil as Good and Good as Evil
September 11, 2019 by Brent Withers
“Woe to those who say evil is good and good is evil . . .” (Isaiah 5:20) The response of a person who has their conscience pricked will range from one of irritation to annoyance, impatience, anger, and, depending on the state of the ind … [Read more...]
The Dark Spirit in Our Institutions
Catholics, Take Heed
September 11, 2019 by Stephen J. Heaney
There is a dark spirit, a spirit of unreason, stalking the world. In earlier times we might have characterized it as a Dionysian spirit attempting to oust Apollo. This spirit urges those who listen to it to throw off the constraints of the … [Read more...]
Saint Edith Stein
Footsteps to Truth
September 11, 2019 by Peter M. Collins
“Whoever seeks the truth is seeking God.” – Saint Edith Stein, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. While the general story of Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [1891–1942]) might be well known, her kind of concern for truth in all … [Read more...]
Catholicism and the Zombies of Evolution
September 10, 2019 by Thomas L. McFadden
Zombies — an undead fictional being created through the reanimation of a human corpse — are all the rage today in popular culture. Many have heard of the top-rated TV show The Walking Dead (the second most-popular TV show in the world) des … [Read more...]
The Intentional Killing of an Innocent Human Being Is the Worst Sin!
September 4, 2019 by Fr. Irby C. Nichols
Life is the first right, on which all the others are based, and which cannot be recuperated once it is lost. – St. John Paul II. This essay is intended to help pro-life apologists address the issue of abortion in parishes, homes, and the … [Read more...]
Second Peter
The Transfiguration Is the Interpretive Key of the Second Coming
August 5, 2019 by Matthew Tsakanikas, STD
Reading Mark’s Gospel with the Faith of Saint Peter and the Church Saint Peter’s Second Epistle soars the heights of the Spirit akin to the spiritual heights of John’s proclamation of the Gospel (Jn 1:1–14). He whose gift of faith caused Ch … [Read more...]
Who Was Hubert Jedin?
July 26, 2019 by Fr. Brian Van Hove, SJ
In November, 1991, the Homiletic and Pastoral Review published a memorandum of Hubert Jedin written in 1968. But many in the English-speaking world were quite unaware of who this man was and what his contribution to the Church consisted of. … [Read more...]
A Sweet Remedy for Our Troubled Times
The Practice of Confession According to St. Francis De Sales
July 26, 2019 by Br. John Paul Puschautz, CSJ
In these tumultuous times in the world and in the Church, we need more than ever to plunge into the mystery of God’s infinite mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to be inspired by the witness of the saints. What better place to s … [Read more...]
Parochial Solipsism
July 26, 2019 by Fr. John Nepil
It is not excessive to suggest that three quarters of the life of the American pastor is consumed with administrative governance. He is, for all intents and purposes, the head of a small business. He hires and fires, reviews budgets, … [Read more...]
Alternate Views on the Root Causes of the Bishops’ Clergy Sex-Abuse Cover-Up
July 26, 2019 by Rev. Martin R. Tripole, SJ
The Church is now in the throes of the second wave of the clergy sex-abuse crisis, which began June 20, 2018, with the exposé of former cardinal archbishop of Washington Theodore E. McCarrick’s abuse of minors and seminarians. Since then, at … [Read more...]
Father de Caussade and the Abandonment to Divine Providence
July 26, 2019 by Fr. Jeffrey Kirby
Existentially Bored Currently, we are witnessing a widespread cultural shift away from the Christian faith and an odd movement in many hearts toward various Eastern philosophies and spiritualities. As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once … [Read more...]
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