Welcome to Lent! The Catechism says of this season that “By the solemn forty days of Lent, the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert” (CCC 540), and fittingly, every year the Gospel for this First Sunday of Lent relates the temptation of Jesus in the desert....
It is sometimes claimed that dissent from the Magisterium is totally compatible with being a “good Catholic” and poses no obstacle to the reception of the sacraments. This is a grave error that challenges the teaching office of the bishops of the United States and elsewhere. (scroll down for answer)
Anthony (not his real game) was the fifth child in a family of seven kids, with the eighth on the way. He was extroverted, bright, and imaginative. At “meet the teacher night,” his mother warned me that this second grader sometimes acted out because he felt overlooked. As an academically gifted student, Anthony...
I considered the image on the screen. It showed a picture of Christ with both arms upraised in a gesture of triumphant majesty. The face has an intense expression of determination that could easily be interpreted as anger, and I remember my reaction when I first saw it in a booklet: “I wouldn’t...
In The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, the main character Frodo undergoes a dramatic shift in his attitudes towards capital punishment. His story helps us understand the Church’s recent developments concerning the death penalty. Early in The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo is adamantly in favor of the death penalty, especially...
Lent always raises a few all-familiar questions, “What are you doing for Lent?” or, “What are you giving up for Lent?” Answers to questions like these often indicate a Lent that is primarily driven by us. We plan our Lent, we plan our penances, we navigate the obstacles, and we determine the end...
For Mardi Gras, also known as Shrove Tuesday in English Christianity, and in preparation for Lent, we present this poem by the great George Herbert (1593–1633). The Collar I struck the board, and cried, “No more; I will abroad! What? shall I ever sigh and pine? My lines and life are free,...
This week we have Colleen Dulle back on the podcast! We talked about the Synod on Synodality as well as Colleen’s upcoming book. My conversation with Colleen last summer was one of my favorite interviews, so I’m so grateful she agreed to come back! Colleen gave an update on the synod and where...
If we were to take a time machine and travel to any part of the world, at any time in history, we will see that for that particular period, that particular culture, there is always a minority group that is seen as the “cursed ones”, the “condemned ones”, the ones bringing perdition into...
“The Jubilee (…) is above all a pressing invitation to all Christians to re-commit themselves to holiness of life. True holiness does not mean a flight from the world; rather, it lies in the effort to incarnate the Gospel in everyday life, in the family, at school and at work, and in social...
From Vatican News: “Let us remember that the path of holiness implies trust and abandonment,” for when Blessed Maria Antonia arrived in Buenos Aires, she did so with only a crucifix and barefoot, “because she had not placed her security in herself, but in God, trusting that her arduous apostolate was His work.”...
In the third and last installment of my three-part interview with Dominic de Souza for Smart Catholics about my book “Heresy Disguised as Tradition”, we explore how a proper understanding of Tradition can help us avoid a haywire (and erroneous) interpretation of that same Tradition. In this interview, we covered the following key points:...
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