In one scene from the iconic Pixar movie Cars, protagonist Lightning McQueen is being schooled by seasoned race car Doc Hudson. In this scene Doc tells him he needs to “turn right to go left.” Doc tells McQueen to drive with the front of his car, that if he’s going hard enough left...
LISBON, August 4, 2023 — Among many other initiatives meant to bring pilgrims into a deeper relationship with Christ, the World Youth Day (WYD) organized the “City of Joy,” promoting vocations and the sacraments. Set in the gardens sprawling before the Hieronymites Monastery (one of Lisbon’s most famous landmarks), the City of Joy is described...
James Joyce, the noted Irish writer of the early twentieth century, has a character in his novel Finnegans Wake who is referred to as “HCE.” I am not going to attempt to analyze Finnegans Wake here; anybody familiar with the book even by reputation will know what an exercise in futility that would...
I recently came across an op-ed written by Nate Tinner-Williams of Black Catholic Messenger (who wrote his first article after becoming Catholic for WPI) back in January 2022 about his experience of watching the Academy Award-winning film Spotlight, both prior to and after his reception into the Catholic Church. He relates this experience...
LISBON, August 2, 2023 — World Youth Day (WYD) is featuring a new model of catechesis: the Rise Up Encounters. During a press conference held yesterday, Fr. Nuno Amador, the Pastoral Director of WYD 2023, listed these Rise Up Encounters as one of the main novelties of this event compared with previous iterations....
LISBON, Portugal (21:50 local time) — Today, the World Youth Day (WYD) organization released the official statistics of the event. At the time of the briefing, there were 354,000 registered pilgrims. Some critics have claimed that this is the lowest attendance since St. John Paul II first began WYD in 1986. This claim,...
LISBON, Portugal — On July 31, 2023, seven volunteers from all around the world were invited to a press conference, to give a brief testimony about WYD and its meaning for them. Micael De Almeida is a missionary and physiotherapist from Brazil. He belongs to a special team responsible for the health of bishops...
LISBON, PORTUGAL — July 31, 2023 The pilgrimage of the symbols was one of the highlights discussed at the opening press conference for World Youth Day (WYD) today. In the weeks leading up to each WYD gathering, two symbols are traditionally taken through several parts of the world as representations of WYD. These...
A reflection on the Scripture Readings for July 30, 2023 — the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The audio version will be available at this link. This homily is not based exclusively on today’s scripture readings but draws from the readings of the last two Sundays as well. There is a unity in these...
After the Annunciation, Mary could have focused on herself and her own worries and fears about her new condition. Instead, she entrusted herself completely to God. Her thoughts turned to Elizabeth. She got up and went forth, into the world of life and movement. Even though the astonishing message of the angel had...
“Yes, you are your brother’s keeper! To be human means to care for one another,” Pope Francis preached from St. Peter’s Square,[1] echoing the first pope’s call to holiness (cf. 1 Peter 1:15), Christ’s command to “Love one another as I love you.” (John 15:12), and God’s answer to Cain (cf. Gen 4:9)....
One of the endnotes in George Weigel’s 2005 book God’s Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church retells the (likely apocryphal) story of an exchange that is said to have occurred immediately after the 1914 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XV: When Cardinal Merry del Val approached the now-enthroned...
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