Recently I encountered a woman who said to me that many people have left the Church as a direct result of the news of the unmarked graves on the property of the old Kamloops Residential School in British Columbia — including her husband. Of course, there is no denying that the residential school...
“I tried to shake him awake, but there was nothing. The child was stiff, blue, dark blue in color from the cold.” I read today in the New York Times of how Jumaa al-Batran, three weeks old, died of hypothermia overnight in his parents’ tent; his twin brother, Ali, who was taken for dead, is fighting...
Today these prophetic words have been fulfilled! In Jesus, born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary, kindness and truth do indeed meet; justice and peace have kissed; truth has sprung out of the earth and justice has looked down from heaven (…) Here we see the power of faith! God has done everything;...
It is not easy to be an atheist during Christmas. Atheism demands seriousness: if God does not exist, one must be consistent. However, the experience of living without dependence on a Creator Being—a defining characteristic of atheism—often gives rise to a new, subterranean divinity. There is nothing more absolute than denying the possibility...
Last night, as I was walking on the Green in my home city, I stopped by the crèche – nestled on the rough equivalent of half a parking space ceded by the city, installed (and funded) by my hometown multinational men’s Catholic Fraternal Organization. The effect was tasteful, if a bit rococo. Continuing to...
This final section of the O Antiphon literary meditation is the true destination, where the joy and hope are realized and the most beautiful citations from the saints are to be found. (Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.) Veni, Adonai! Come, O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:...
In this episode, I spoke with Natalie Pucillo. She recently wrote a couple of articles about her visit to Rome during the final meeting of the Synod on Synodality. Her reflections were so good, capturing both the harm and the hope she experienced. So asked if she would be on the podcast to...
As a husband of 34-plus years, I know what it’s like to come home after the end of a workday or picking up the kids from school and having news to share with my wife. Sometimes it’s good news, sometimes not so much… I mention this because the last words spoken by Elizabeth...
Catholics are human beings like everyone else. Among Catholics there is every degree of good and evil—just as, conversely, in all religions there are men of interior purity who through their myths somehow touch the great mystery and find the right way of being human. I think that we shouldn’t try to calculate...
The first installment of this literary meditation was posted on Tuesday; this second installment deals thematically with art and beauty, and with their true power. The conclusion, with its promised light and joy, will follow soon. As was the case with the first installment, I encourage everyone to listen to the spoken version that...
[This is Part 3 of the series “Religion in Society.” Click for Part 1 and Part 2.] What could the Church possibly have to learn from a 19th century radical novel that inspired Lenin and Xi Jinpeng? Well… it’s complicated. This is the story: About one hundred and sixty years ago, a man...
A Brief Meditation on Today’s Mass Readings Today’s Gospel passage is nested in a literary configuring which itself tells a story: the first two chapters, alone among the pages of Luke, recall a genre specific to early Judaism, known as a Haggadic Midrash. The priest Zechariah is wed to a woman of the tribe...
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