Tough Love Jesus
I recently read an article commenting on the state of moral theology in the Church today. The author was critical of theologians and pastors setting the bar too low for Christians who, he rightly points out, are called to nothing...
Category: Reflection
Beware of False Prophets
Pope Francis has warned us many times about how the devil likes to present himself as an angel of light. In fact, he was created as such before his fall and one of his titles, Lucifer, literally means bearer of...
NFP Week and Pastoral Accompaniment
Five years ago, my wife, Kristina, and I had just had our fourth child, we were dealing with postpartum anxiety, depression, infant-induced sleep deprivation, and the real, daily struggles of having four kids under five years old. On top of...
Blessed Are the Weak
In her autobiography, St. Teresa of Avila describes a challenge she was not able to meet. It was around 1542, and Teresa was having experiences that caused her serious concern. I arranged that the priest I said was such a...
Laudato Si’ calls young Catholics to help build God’s kingdom
In the past, the Catholic Church could count on its tradition being passed on from generation to generation. Today, fewer and fewer young people will continue to identify as Catholic even if they were raised in a Catholic family or...
A bishop reflects on the Australian Plenary Council
In a conclave they bundle the cardinals into the Sistine Chapel and with the cry of “extra omnes” shut the doors. Whilst not quite as dramatic, the Church in Australia celebrated an opening Mass with 277 delegates in attendance at...
Learn by Doing, not Merely by Thinking
Pope Francis has often condemned an over-intellectualized approach to the faith. In a 2018 Message for World Communications Day, he wrote: In Christianity, truth is not just a conceptual reality that regards how we judge things, defining them as true...
To Obey or Not To Obey, That is the Question. Or Is It?
Back in January, I published an article on Where Peter Is about St. Maravillas of Jesus, a Spanish Discalced Carmelite Nun and Foundress who died in 1974 and who has had a noticeable impact on a number of Carmelite monasteries...
Rethinking Chastity? Why it means more than what most think
In December of 2020, Pope Francis announced a year dedicated to St. Joseph. Along with that announcement he promulgated the apostolic letter, Patris Corde, about St. Joseph. I’ve had a devotion to St. Joseph for a long time. I’ve prayed...
A faith built upon the love of God
Early in the pontificate of Pope Francis I was, generally speaking, what could be called a “Francis skeptic.” To be honest I didn’t pay that much attention to him at first. As the father of three little kids, I primarily...
What do we love more: our instruments of death or our future?
In the wake of the horrible massacre of innocent schoolchildren and their teachers today in Uvalde, Texas, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich released a statement on Twitter in response to this unconscionable act of evil, only 10 days after another mass...
St. Oscar Romero: A bridge between two papacies
Pope Francis has written a preface to a new collection of Pope John Paul I’s papal documents, entitled The Magisterium: Text and Documents from the Pontificate, published by the John Paul I Foundation and Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV) San Paolo. The book,...
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