“By means of the funeral rites, it has been the practice of the Church, as a tender mother, not simply to commend the dead to God but also to raise high the hope of its children and to give witness to its own faith in the future r … [Read more...]
Dying With Christ
A Mystery Begun in Baptism and Perfected in Death
March 26, 2022 by Dr. Katie Froula
“What is essentially new about Christian death” — declares the Catechism — “is this: through Baptism, the Christian has already ‘died with Christ’ sacramentally, in order to live a new life; and if we die in Christ’s grace, physical death co … [Read more...]
Book Reviews – January 2022
December 24, 2021 by Book Reviews
When Breath Becomes Air. By Paul Kalanithi. Reviewed by Richard J. Janet. (skip to review) St. Clare of Assisi: Light From the Cloister. By Bret Thoman. Reviewed by Lawrence Montz. (skip to review) America on Trial: A Defense of the … [Read more...]
Doing the Works of Mercy with Mary, Mother of Mercy
July 15, 2021 by Louise Merrie
Although I have had a relationship with Mary since I was a child and had been praying the Rosary since my early twenties, I developed a closer relationship with Mary as a mother and came to understand her as the Mother of Mercy because of … [Read more...]
Brain Death: What Catholics Should Know
Brain death (BD), the declaration of death by neurological criteria, is an established medicolegal practice in the USA and many countries worldwide. In 1968, the Harvard Medical School Ad Hoc Committee introduced BD by defining (in the … [Read more...]
Book Reviews – July 2020
July 2, 2020 by Book Reviews
Catholic Marriage: A Pastoral and Liturgical Commentary By Edward Foley, ed. Reviewed by Christopher Siuzdak. (skip to review) Vocation to Marriage and the Christian Family By Thomas McGovern. Reviewed by Matthew Rose. (skip to … [Read more...]
Book Reviews – June 2020
June 24, 2020 by Book Reviews
At Mass with Jesus on Calvary: Reflections on the Prayers of the Mass and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist By Fr. Gene Martens, SJ. Reviewed by Fr. James Swetnam, SJ. (skip to review) Hope to Die: The Christian Meaning of … [Read more...]
Questions Answered – March 2020
March 20, 2020 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Last Rites for the Clinically Dead? Question: Is it possible to perform the sacrament of the sick on someone who has been pronounced clinically dead? If so, up to how long after clinical death can this sacrament be performed? Answer: … [Read more...]
Alkaline Hydrolysis
Imprudent in Its Current Context
September 30, 2019 by Fr. Peter Fonseca
For most of Her history, the Catholic Church, with very rare exceptions, has insisted that the bodies of the deceased be interred in graves or other suitable burial sites. In 1963, Pope Paul VI allowed the practice of incineration cremation … [Read more...]
Christian Environmental Love
The Eucharist as Lamb and Predator-Prey Transformation
March 10, 2019 by Robert V. Thomann, DMin, PhD
The ambiance, the setting in which the human person lives, the “waters” in which we swim, is our “environment.” It represents the totality in which the human person lives, relates, and interacts. More than that, for the believer in a transce … [Read more...]
Believing and Praying
The Power of Homilies
January 1, 2019 by Dr. Ralph Martin, STD
It’s often been said that by reflecting on what we have received in the tradition of liturgical prayer we can discover what we believe; prayer as a source of doctrine. The reverse is also true. What we believe determines what we pray — or wh … [Read more...]
The Philosopher’s Reflections on the Rosary
May 18, 2018 by Raymond Dennehy
“I Don’t Know How You’ll Help Me, But I Know You Will” Why would a philosopher go to bat for the Rosary? I’d better ‘fess up right off. I’ve never been able to convince myself that I’m a philosopher, even though I own a Ph.D. in that disc … [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...]
Late Autumn Book Reviews
November 27, 2017 by Book Reviews
All the Pope's Saints: The Jesuits Who Shaped Pope Francis, by Fr. Sean Salai, SJ (Our Sunday Visitor, 2017) 144 pages; $15.00. Reviewed by Deacon David Paternostro, S.J. How I Stayed Catholic at Harvard, by Aurora Griffin (Ignatius … [Read more...]
Father John Navone, S.J.
His obituary plus two of his articles.
January 30, 2017 by David Vincent Meconi
Fr. John "Jack" Navone, S.J., died on Christmas Day 2016. He was one of our regular contributors, and will be missed by all of us at HPR, and those who faithfully followed his thoughtful essays. May he rest in peace! We are including two … [Read more...]
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