Rosary beads, holy water, incense, ashes, et cetera—the “sacramentals” used in prayer and liturgy give Catholicism much of its distinctive flavor. As we are physical creatures in love with a God-made-flesh, the Church encourages the use of m … [Read more...]
Articles
“And unto dust you shall return”
Ash Wednesday is more than an empty ritual—it is a reminder of our mortality and frailty.
February 1, 2011 by Dr. John-Mark L. Miravalle
O Admirabile Commercium: The true Christmas exchange
On Christmas we see how Christ “exchanges” his heavenly privilege for humanity.
December 1, 2010 by David Vincent Meconi
Christ’s Church brings the Octave of Christmas to a close with her praising, “O admirabile commercium: O marvelous exchange! Man’s Creator has become man, born of a virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled hims … [Read more...]
From conservation to consecration: Towards a Green Thomism
The Catholic tradition has much to contribute to an authentic environmentalism.
November 1, 2010 by Dr. Christopher J. Thompson
The Lord fills the earth with goodness. (Ps 33:5) Introduction “Ah! If we could and would only listen to the lesson of the bees…how much better the world would be! Working like bees with order and peace we would learn to enjoy and have o … [Read more...]
The Catholic Holocaust of Nagasaki—“Why, Lord?”
The witness of the Catholics of Nagasaki shows God’s providence in the darkest of times.
August 1, 2010 by Br. Anthony Josemaria
On August 9, 1945, God’s inscrutable providence allowed an atomic bomb named “Fat Man” to be dropped from a B-29 into the heavily populated city of Nagasaki. The epicenter of the blast was the Urakami district, the heart and soul of Catho … [Read more...]
Physician-assisted suicide: Can the culture of life and love prevail?
With faith and hope in Jesus and a firm resolve, it is not inevitable that PAS and euthanasia proponents will win the day.
April 1, 2010 by Arland K. Nichols
The daunting specter of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) continues to loom in our country and throughout the world.[1. International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, Update, Year 2009 Vol. 23, No.2. All statistics are derived … [Read more...]
Year for Priests: Presence and not production
In our obsession with worldly standards of success, we forget the message of the littleness of the Gospel.
March 1, 2010 by Fr. Alvaro Delgado
We learn from the Church’s sacred Tradition and the Scriptures the sublime role the priest plays as a steward of God’s mysteries in the vineyard of the Lord, responsible for bringing the Good News of salvation to God’s holy people. Through t … [Read more...]
St. Thomas and Chesterton on law, human and divine
Both St. Thomas and Chesterton were aware that human laws do not always conform to the natural and eternal laws.
February 1, 2010 by Thomas Storck
It was not Zeus who gave the order, And Justice living with the dead below Has never given men a law like this. Nor did I think that your pronouncements were So powerful that mere man could override The unwritten and unfailing laws of … [Read more...]
The St. Noël Chabanel Responsorial Psalm Project
The St. Noël Chabanel Responsorial Psalm Project exists as a remedy for the problematic musical settings that often destroy a prayerful mood at Mass.
January 1, 2010 by Jeff Ostrowski
“The Chabanel Psalms are not only great music; they use a revolutionary form of distribution, both in terms of zero price and universal availability. In fact, the day the site went live, I knew I was looking at the future of sacred m … [Read more...]
Bringing back Latin
December 1, 2009 by Dr. Mark J. Clark
During the debates of the Second Vatican Council one prelate after another addressed the Fathers of the Council in fluent Latin. That they did so is hardly surprising, for Latin remained the living language of the Roman Catholic Church. … [Read more...]
The ambiguity of Islam
November 1, 2009 by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
“When some fanatics kill children, women, and men in the name of pure and authentic Islam, or in the name of the Qur’an or of the Muslim tradition, nobody can tell them: ‘You are not true and authentic Muslims.’ All they can say is: ‘Your re … [Read more...]
Pope John Paul II on conscience
Conscience itself does not create norms but discovers them in the objective order of morality.
August 1, 2009 by Dr. Richard A. Spinello
When Cardinal Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II in 1978, he was well prepared to teach the Catholic faithful about ethics. As a young man Karol Wojtyla thought about a career in acting, but he felt a call to the priesthood and soon found … [Read more...]
Ephesians 5: Bridegroom and Bride
By submitting herself to her husband, the wife is allowing her man to sacrifice himself for her.
July 1, 2009 by Deacon Rex H. Pilger
It is Mass on the Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time, in late summer only a few years ago. Fortunately the air conditioning seems to be holding up, for this year at least. The celebrant offers the Opening Prayer, asking the Father for … [Read more...]
Heaven is not an abstraction
The realism or concreteness of Catholicism is startling to minds conditioned only by abstractions or by materialism alone.
June 1, 2009 by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
“Today’s feast (Assumption) impels us to lift our gaze to Heaven; not the heaven consisting of abstract ideas or even an imaginary heaven created by art, but the Heaven of true reality which is God himself.” —Benedict XVI, Homily, Feast of … [Read more...]
The ingredient for priestly vocations
In order to fulfill their ideals and challenges, young people are in desperate need of priestly inspiration.
May 1, 2009 by Fr. Jacek Stefanski
It is truly uplifting to read about the great number of people who are received into full communion in the Roman Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil in so many parishes across the United States. This gives the Church a reason to rejoice and … [Read more...]
A Question of Fairness
A review of Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith, by John Allen
April 1, 2009 by Rev. Vincent Twomey, SVD
Cardinal Ratzinger is perhaps the most controversial figure in the Church today, a subject awaiting an author. Various articles about him have appeared, but no book, until the recent appearance of that by John L. Allen, Jr., Vatican … [Read more...]
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