Articles

The Heavenly Attitudes

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

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

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

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

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...]

Avoiding Cooperation with Evil: Keeping Your Nose Clean in a Dirty World

The most important distinction, when it comes to evaluating cooperation in evil, is the distinction between formal and material cooperation—formal cooperation being always wrong, while material cooperation might be wrong if a person does no … [Read more...]

The New Evangelization: Quo Vadis?

More and more, Catholics are shying away from using terms like "proselytizing," "conversion," and even "Catholic" in their ecumenical and inter-religious efforts, almost as if they were ashamed of the Gospel, or afraid of appearing as a … [Read more...]

E Pluribus Unum: The Church’s Role

Where is that Church where “there does not exist among you Jew or Greek, slave or freeman, male or female. All are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).  Where are those churches where the congregations are not divided by ethnicity or lang … [Read more...]

Spousal Love in Conjugal Spirituality

Spousal union is sacramental because it makes visible the invisible reality of God’s spousal love for his people.  Our Catholic faith is lived through an array of spiritual traditions. While each observes the same theological truths, the … [Read more...]

Full and Active Participation: The Challenge of “Porta Fidei” and the Promise of Right Brain

To effectively promote Pope Benedict's effort, the Year of Faith, with its associated catechetical programs, a new marketing approach needs to be crafted putting joy before the law ... leading with the contagious love of Jesus Christ, d … [Read more...]

The Value of Philosophy

True philosophy throws light on all other forms of knowledge, revealing their relation to each other...with philosophy underpinning them all. Especially does it help in the study of sacred theology, the supreme science based on God’s s … [Read more...]

Clergy Sexual Abuse: Questions Remain

The original John Jay statistics state that the sex abuse crisis was the overwhelming work of a very small number of clergy, targeting young males as their victims ... the one reform not addressed: screening out clergy candidates with … [Read more...]

The Will in Augustine’s Confessions: The Law of the Mind and the Law of the Members

Unlike the ancient Greek philosophers for whom virtue is knowledge, and vice is ignorance—the problem of evil being a matter of intelligence and education—Augustine discerns that the problem of evil results from man’s unruly will, not from a … [Read more...]

Shepherding the Irascible Sheep: Anger, Fear, and Fortitude

By dealing with our anger and fear in a healthy way, we develop the virtue of fortitude (a key component of patience). Focusing on the character of fortitude provides guidelines to dealing with clients that encourages proper use of fear and … [Read more...]

Refilling the Empty Pews: Can an NFP course be an agent of evangelization?

The problem of the rare use of NFP is not a lack of information. The basic problem is a two-fold lack of faith, and faith-based love. Catholics may never hear this teaching from the pulpit, or see it in the parish bulletin. But the … [Read more...]