This week I had a wonderful conversation with Sr. Carino Hodder from the The Dominican Sisters of St. Joseph. I first met Sr. Carino when she participated in one of my online workshops about spiritual abuse in the Catholic Church. Since then we’ve had several conversations about safeguarding, abuse of conscience, and the...
The successors of Peter, mortal like all men, pass away more or less rapidly. But the primacy of Peter will always endure, with the special assistance that was promised to him when Jesus charged him to confirm his brothers in the faith. Whatever the name, the face, the human origins of each Pope,...
What is postliberalism? And why does it matter? The second question is easier to answer than the first. Up to the last couple of years, the distinctions and debates swirling among a handful of mostly Catholic or Catholic-influenced scholars and theorists could easily be ignored – and largely were, to the point where...
On an altar of sacrifice the Lamb of God was anointed by the Holy Spirit Understanding the statement of St. John the Baptist With his baptism in Jordan, Jesus Christ begins his public ministry. This episode is mentioned in the four Gospels: Mt 3:13-17, Mk 1:9-11, Lk 3:21-22, Jn 1:29-34. It is a...
(This article is the second in a four-part series on faith and mental health. The first installment addressed the scientific underpinnings of psychology as well as some of the challenges that have historically plagued the field. The next article will address the complex relationship that exists between evil and illness.) Most of us...
When I checked the news headlines on X Tuesday morning, I noticed several posts referring to Hope: The Autobiography, the book by Pope Francis that was announced to the world back in October — hyped up as an autobiography that was originally meant to be published after his death — but a decision...
(This article is the first in a four-part series on Mental Health written by Ariane Sroubek, PsyD. Ariane holds a doctorate in School and Child Clinical Psychology as well as a bachelor’s degree in biblical and theological studies. Her undergraduate work in psychology took place at a Christian college where the integration of...
One of the things we do here at Sacred Beauty, our small Association of the Faithful, is the composing of liturgical music, drawn largely from sacred texts of the saints, fathers, and doctors of the Church, in the hopes of contributing to more spiritually and theologically enriching contemporary worship. Today, in honor of...
Today, we fix our gaze on Jesus, who was baptized at the age of about 30 by John in the Jordan River. It was a baptism of penance that used the symbol of water to express the purification of the heart and of life. John, known as the “Baptist”, that is, the “Baptizer”,...
A review of the book The Virtue of Affability or Friendliness and Its Relevance in Modern Evangelization by Anne DeSantis (En Route Books and Media, 2024). The Virtue of Affability or Friendliness and Its Relevance in Modern Evangelization offers a much-needed corrective to the polarized extremes within the Church that often overlook its rich...
Pope Francis’s appointment of Sister Simona Brambilla as the first woman to lead a major Vatican office marks a historic milestone in the Catholic Church’s governance. As the new prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Brambilla will oversee all Catholic religious orders. According to statistics...
In these early days of the new year, many of us are probably feeling a mixture of anxiety and hope – anxious about the many crises in our nation and world, yet hopeful that 2025 will be better. In his January 1, 2025 World Day of Peace message, titled “Forgive Us Our Trespasses:...
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