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...]
Articles
The Vital Need for a Pastoral Administration Course at the Seminary Level
November 15, 2012 by Dr. Lawrence DiPaolo, Jr.
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...]
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...]
The Pastoral Mandate, Politicians and Religious Liberty
October 30, 2012 by Joe Tremblay
Is this threat to religious liberty a political problem, or is it a pastoral problem? ... With the 2012 election nearing, it is a time ... to have a serious discussion about the relationship between the bishops’ pastoral practices and the po … [Read more...]
Preaching to the Whole Person: Classical Wisdom for the New Evangelization
October 25, 2012 by Fr. Michael Dominic O'Connor, OP
St. Augustine, the Church’s foremost teacher in the classical art of Christian preaching, master rhetorician, and former teacher of oratory, was convinced that the pagan rhetorical tradition, so important to the ancient cultures of Greece a … [Read more...]
Las Presentaciones: A Vibrant Hispanic Tradition
October 20, 2012 by Fr. Gus Puelo
This principally Mexican tradition of the presenting of a child to God, and to the Church, stems from a strong desire by parents to ask for divine protection for their newborn, and thanksgiving for a safe childbirth, as infant mortality … [Read more...]
The Year of Faith: Recovering a Culture that is Genuinely Catholic
October 12, 2012 by Arland K. Nichols
Surveys of Catholics reveal that a majority do not live in accord with, or simply do not know, their Catholic faith. ... On October 11, Pope Benedict called for a “Year of Faith” to “rediscover the journey of faith” in the midst of “a profou … [Read more...]
The Most Holy Rosary
October 10, 2012 by Paul Kokoski
Because the Immaculate Virgin was chosen to be the Mother of God, cooperating with him in the work of man's salvation, she has a favor and power with her Son greater than any human or angelic creature ... it is her greatest pleasure to … [Read more...]
The Heavenly Attitudes
October 9, 2012 by Brent Withers
The mystery of receiving God’s love is to fully experience ... the infinite love God has for each one of us, along with an equally experiential awareness of our uniqueness, and smallness. St. Faustina and St. Catherine of Siena The hu … [Read more...]
The Vertex of Love
October 8, 2012 by Jonathan Fleischmann
When Mary was predestined in one and the same decree with Jesus Christ by the design of God—before the creation of angels or the universe, and before the existence of sin or evil—she was predestined to be the Spouse of the Holy Spirit ... to … [Read more...]
In Praise of My Father
October 3, 2012 by Judene Indovina
I write this article as a pause from the great sorrow of scandal which has wounded the Church, in order to bring to mind... the spiritual beauty of fatherhood present in our priests. Being corrected by a prince of the Church in the … [Read more...]
God’s Love: Reason for Hope
September 30, 2012 by Fr. William P. Clark, OMI
His love for man will never rest until he has raised our earthbound nature from glory to glory, and made it one with his own in heaven.- From a sermon by St. Andrew of Crete, pg. … [Read more...]
“You Can Always Give Them Kindness”
My Favorite Priest
September 29, 2012 by Loretta Matulich
Fr. Robert C. Cieslinski was a priest in the mold of St. John Vianney ... He was self-effacing and humble, but realistic. “It is unusual to see so many people at the funeral Mass of a diocesan priest, especially one of his age.” So r … [Read more...]
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