Articles

Saint Edith Stein

Footsteps to Truth

“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

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...]

Second Peter

The Transfiguration Is the Interpretive Key of the Second Coming

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?

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

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

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

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

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...]

Our Lady of Good Help, the New Evangelization, and the Priest

Allow me to begin by making two confessions: I arrived at the Monastery of the Holy Name of Jesus in Denmark, Wisconsin, on Friday afternoon. I am an old friend of the nuns and try to visit them at least once a year. Two of the nuns, … [Read more...]

Inverting the Relevance of the Gospel

We hear much these days about relevance and the need to be relevant in all we do. The admonition applies to politicians, parents, teachers and especially pastors who are exhorted to make Scripture relevant to their congregations. What can … [Read more...]

God Isn’t Your College Professor

It’s the end of another semester. Final exams need to be marked and grades need to be assigned to a group of students anxious to learn “what they got” for the course. There’s so much in all of this that begs for the usual justification. T … [Read more...]

Parental and Spousal Alienation in Catholic Marriages

Marital separation and divorce in Catholic couples can result in intense levels of stress and sadness, particularly in the majority of spouses who report, while this is occurring, being happily married, committed to the marriage, and … [Read more...]

Circumcision and the Crucifixion

When God Almighty called to that man Abram, inviting him to live in a covenant with the Lord, He asked Abram to do a very curious thing to himself, to his people, and to his descendants as a sign of that covenant: to circumcise the flesh of … [Read more...]

Joseph and the Epic Battle of Humility over Pride in Spiritual Direction

From the lessons of the great protagonists of Judaism many valuable spiritual lessons are to be learned. What is at the core of the lives, and in particular the life of Joseph, is how the Lord’s plan is accomplished in cooperation with h … [Read more...]