A reflection on the Sunday readings for January 31, 2021 — the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Once, at a Mass for our school students, the reading was about the kingdom of heaven. I began my homily by asking the students where they thought heaven was. There was a 7th grader in the very...
Pope Francis spoke to members of Italy’s National Catechetical Office today, and offered some words of encouragement and gratitude to catechists, who do such an important job of forming us in the faith. Earlier this evening, I took part in a pre-confirmation program with my son and his sponsor, via Zoom, and I...
“Furthermore, “the decline in population, due to a mentality against having children and promoted by the world politics of reproductive health, creates not only a situation in which the relationship between generations is no longer ensured but also the danger that, over time, this decline will lead to economic impoverishment and a loss...
GameStop made headlines this week when its stock price skyrocketed, shocking the investment community. After some hedge fund giants placed bets that the company’s stock price would fall (by short-selling the stock), their bets had abysmal results as retail investors banded together via Reddit threads and deliberately spoiled the strategy of these hedge...
Earlier this month, Adam Rasmussen responded to Fr. Chad Ripperger’s theory of Church authority, summarizing it as an approach in which “any magisterial statements that do not define dogmas … may be questioned if they seem to contradict earlier statements.” This outlook has become increasingly common in the years since Ripperger’s 2001 essay,...
In recent years, Americans have experienced a significant surge in anti-immigration rhetoric. This rhetoric has been targeted at people from Muslim nations and from south of our border. For the latter category especially, the rhetoric has often dehumanized migrants from Mexico and Central and South America, saying things like they are vermin “infesting”...
The recent news of Pope Francis’s surprise motu proprio Spiritus Domini inflamed old debates about feminism and women’s ordination. Responses in Catholic media have ranged from rather bland “nothing to see here” commentary focused on the historical development of the minor orders to more colorful and vociferous criticism from both progressive and traditionalist...
An experienced Vatican journalist texted me when the Pope’s World Communications Day message was released over the weekend. She was bowled over by it and wanted to know if I knew who had had a hand in it (I didn’t). “This message is just so much more concrete, real, and knowledgeable about the...
Readers of this website are aware that many Catholics who claim to be faithful to the Magisterium are nonetheless brazen in their open support for the death penalty. We’ve discussed Cardinal Raymond Burke’s declaration to an audience that the teaching on the death penalty was simply the pope’s “opinion as a man.” More...
A reflection on the Sunday readings for January 24, 2021 — the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time In normal circumstances, writing a homily or reflection based on the call of Jonah or the call of Andrew, Simon, James, and John would not be a very difficult task. But we are not living in normal...
“Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenceless and innocent among us. Nowadays efforts are made to deny them their human dignity and to do with them whatever one pleases, taking their lives and passing laws preventing anyone from standing...
Nine years ago I helped found a pro-life pregnancy center and discovered, in the process, that doing so successfully was very slow going. Through that experience, I gained a very useful personal insight: because saving lives is something worth doing, it is worth accomplishing the right way, even if it takes longer than...
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