The scorn with which the new atheists heap on religion is understandable when one looks into their understanding of theology. The religion they reject is the religion of kindergarteners. There exists a Santa Claus that delivers presents at … [Read more...]
Magazine
Dr. Curtis Boyd, Abortionist
The Tower of Abortive Choice, Anarchy, and the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
January 23, 2018 by Deacon Thomas Baca
The Scourge of Abortion in New Mexican Catholic Culture—an Introduction Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Dr. Curtis Boyd, is a cult hero to some. To others he is the devil incarnate. Boyd is an abortionist. He performs third-trimester, and even pa … [Read more...]
Being Open to Life—Abstract Norm, or Embodied Word?
January 23, 2018 by Francis Etheredge
Preamble We have a temptation to separate a moral norm from its existential reality and, in so doing, to imagine that we have “an abstract norm”[1. Although the expression, ‘abstract norm’ (ncregi … [Read more...]
Conversion, Consecration, Communion
Movements into Salvation
January 23, 2018 by R. Thomas Richard, PhD
The Sequence in Salvation History This sequence—Conversion, Consecration, Communion—can describe three steps in several important processes, in the Catholic Faith. Historically, it can describe periods in the salvation history of humanity. … [Read more...]
In Memoriam
Fr. Matthew Lamb Remembered by Two of His Students
Theologian and priest Fr. Matthew Lamb (June 5, 1937 – January 12, 2018) will be missed in a special way by those of us who had the providential blessing to be his graduate students. He died peacefully and, as providence would have it, with … [Read more...]
Homilies for January 2018
December 30, 2017 by Fr. Drew Hoffman
Homily for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God—January 1, 2018 Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/010118.cfm Nm 6:22-27; Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Gal 4:4-7; Lk 2:16-21. Mary kept all these things, reflecting on … [Read more...]
The True Christmas Exchange
Christ’s Striving to Take Flesh Anew
December 30, 2017 by David Vincent Meconi
Christmas did not happen only in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago. The coming of Christ is not simply an historical event recorded deep in our human history. If it were, you and I would be historians but not Christians. The days of preparation … [Read more...]
Conformed to a Vulnerable Savior
A Christmas Reflection for Priests
December 30, 2017 by Rev. Thomas V. Berg, PhD
Msgr. Stephen Rossetti’s 2011 study, Why Priests Are Happy,[1. Stephen J. Rossetti, Why Priests are Happy: A Study of the Psychological and Spiritual Health of Priests (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2011).] gave the lie to any number of p … [Read more...]
Receiving the Gift
A Way of Life Open to Reality
December 30, 2017 by Thomas Gourlay
(This essay was previously presented at the National Billings Ovulation Method Teachers' Weekend.)[1. Presented at the National Billings Ovulation Method Teachers' Weekend. Perth, Western Australia. May 6, 2017.] If the Christmas Season … [Read more...]
Is a Sense of Humor Necessary for Salvation?
December 30, 2017 by Rev. Basil Cole, OP
Everyone needs to develop a certain flexibility in life or one simply becomes a grump, unable to be a healthy and realistic optimist in the face of trials and difficulties, failures and other mishaps of life. The flexible person first knows … [Read more...]
Recovering Our Bearings
The Role of the Common Life in the Rebuilding of Priestly Fraternity
December 30, 2017 by Fr. John Nepil
Many priests consume themselves in work, but become alone and lose their bearings. It is thus all the more important that the unity of the presbyterate is lived and experienced. Support everything which strengthens priests to encounter and … [Read more...]
You Shall Rejoice In Your Festival
December 30, 2017 by Fr. Tim McCauley
Why do we need a command to rejoice in our religious festivals? Simply look out at the sea of faces in the average congregation on a Sunday morning. God instructed the people through Moses, regarding the three major Jewish festivals of … [Read more...]
The Human Jesus
December 30, 2017 by Fr. John Zupez, SJ
(First published in "Spirituality," July/August 2013. Dublin: Dominican Publications.) Since the Second Vatican Council, Catholics have come to a better appreciation of the full humanity of Jesus, which was always a part of Church dogma. … [Read more...]
Proselytism, Evangelization, and “Ecumenism of Return”
December 12, 2017 by Eduardo Echeverria
In a 2016 interview that was arranged by Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J., the editor of La Civiltà Cattolica, prior to the trip to Sweden for an ecumenical gathering anticipating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Pope Francis expressed … [Read more...]
The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Second Vatican Council
December 12, 2017 by Fr. Donncha Ó. hAodha
The most mature and complete fruit of the conciliar teaching.[1. St John Paul II, Homily, 8 December 1992.] 1. The Council and the Catechism This past October (Oct 11, 2017) marked the 25th anniversary of promulgation of the … [Read more...]
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