This June is a very solemn month. There are six solemnities on the liturgical calendar: Pentecost Sunday, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, and Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles. … [Read more...]
The Solemnities of June
Corpus Christi and the Sacred Heart of Jesus
June 13, 2015 by Stephanie A. Mann
The Thrill of Anticipation: Encountering God in the Eucharist
May 31, 2015 by Sr. Teresa Benedicta Block, OP
How Previous Ages have seen the Eucharist At one point during the Communist takeover in China, the Communists came to a remote village where Catholicism was lived with great vigor. They imprisoned the local priest in his own rectory, … [Read more...]
Summer Reading for June 2015
May 31, 2015 by Book Reviews
Our Father, Who Art on Earth: The Lord’s Prayer for Believers and Unbelievers. Jose Tolentino Mendonca, with a Foreword by Enzo Bianchi. (Mahwah, New Jersey/New York: Paulist Press, 2012) 114 pages; $14.95. (Reviewed by Brandon H … [Read more...]
Catholic Identity: More than the Tip of the Iceberg
April 27, 2015 by Dr. Jay Boyd, PhD
It is becoming more and more difficult to deny that there is a crisis in the Church. Statistics are available that show a decline in the Church in practically every measurable way, from Sunday Mass attendance, to priestly and religious … [Read more...]
Spring Reading for April 2015
April 27, 2015 by Book Reviews
The Charism of Priestly Celibacy. Edited by John C. Cavadini (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2012) 184 pages; $13.25. (Reviewed by Fr. Jeffrey Kirby) --------- The Classical Moment: Selected Essays on Knowledge and Its Pleasures. Fr. … [Read more...]
The Homiletic Directory
A Guide for Catholic Preaching
April 15, 2015 by Fr. Shane Crombie, CC
In response to a request made by the 2008 Synod of Bishops, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments recently published the Homiletic Directory. The Directory was commissioned to assist homilists in their … [Read more...]
Rediscovering Preaching within the Liturgy of the Hours
February 12, 2015 by Colleen R. Vermeulen
For most Catholics in the United States, the terms “homily,” “sermon,” and “preaching” nearly exclusively evoke the occasion of a priest or deacon preaching as part of Mass.[1. The use of the specific terms, “homily,” “sermon,” and “preachin … [Read more...]
The “Sanctus”: A Catechetical Signpost for the Mass
February 12, 2015 by Dr. Michael Brummond
The Eucharistic Liturgy is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”[1. CCC 1324; Cf. Lumen Gentium 11. ] Active participation in these mysteries constitutes the “foremost and indispensible font” for acquiring the Christian Spirit.[2. S … [Read more...]
Preaching, Music, and Acoustics
February 12, 2015 by Deacon W. Patrick Cunningham
The work of the New Evangelization is identical to the work of evangelization in every age: to communicate to those who are unaware of the saving work of the Son of God those things that will bring them to accept the gift of faith, and come … [Read more...]
Liturgy in Bede’s World
January 29, 2015 by Daniel J. Heisey, OSB
Time-honored ritual; a space often ornate, if not opulent, used almost exclusively for this purpose; seating by hierarchy; candles; a prayer, perhaps in Latin, perhaps in English; ceremonial robes; a bevy of trained servers; wine; elegant, … [Read more...]
Life-Giving Funerals
The Importance of Skill in Music Ministry
January 12, 2015 by Angela Biggs
It is exceedingly difficult to stand before mourners assembled for a funeral Mass, look them in the eye one at a time, and sing—with them, to them, and sometimes for them—of truth, love, and life. Still, this is a duty that must not be neg … [Read more...]
Recognizing a Link in the Hermeneutic of Continuity
A Brief Look at Blessed Pope Paul VI
November 14, 2014 by Fr. Matthew J. Albright
The ranks of those declared blessed and saint by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit constitute the great array of our brothers and sisters who have been lifted up as models of holiness and powerful intercessors. While … [Read more...]
Fall Reading for October 2014
October 29, 2014 by Book Reviews
History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium. James F. Hitchcock (Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 2012) 584 pages. (Reviewed by Fr. Brian Van Hove, SJ) The Word Made Love: The Dialogical Theology of … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
July 2014
July 10, 2014 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Is socialized medicine ethical? When the Pope recently washed the feet of women on Holy Thursday, does that mean that the liturgical law is changed which prescribes that only men should have their feet washed? Question: Is so … [Read more...]
The Church’s Year of Grace: History, Traditions, Beauty
August 1, 2012 by Sister Joan L Roccasalvo, CSJ
Christian discipleship is fundamentally a dynamic movement from self to the beauty of Christ. In the absence of this dynamic movement, faith remains woefully incomplete. ...The essential characteristic of beauty then is to be transported … [Read more...]
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