Holy Week is beginning and there will be several additional liturgical celebrations in the Vatican in the coming days. Due to his continuing recovery, it is unclear how much Pope Francis will be able to participate in the celebrations this...
I grew up in what was once a small, Protestant New England Church. The old brick building still stands on the street front with its quintessential white tower, but by the time it was my church, it had become a...
“That’s not fair.” “That makes no sense.” “I don’t see why it doesn’t count if you just go once, it’s a Sunday.” “Do we still get to open one gift early like we do every year on Christmas Eve?” These...
I thought I’d close out the week with a little linkaround, sharing some liturgical thoughts and reading that you might find interesting. First off, on November 23, the fifth and final installment in the series by theologians John Cavadini, Mary...
I’d like to reflect on reverence at Mass. I know that in our fast-paced, constantly moving society, it can be easy to forget how important it is to show reverence when we come to church on Sundays and holy days....
A big mistake that some Catholics make is to think of the liturgy as clergy-centered. Honestly, it’s difficult to blame them—priests really do play a great role in liturgical celebrations. For example, without a priest, it is impossible to have...
Today’s readings connect many things: the blood of the sacrifice, the priest, the community, and the covenant. They show how these all come together in Jesus in the Eucharist. The first reading from Exodus depicts Moses acting as a priest...
I was born and baptized in 1962, and after I reached the age of reason, the only Mass I had ever experienced was the post-Vatican II Novus Ordo. This was the case while I misgrew in the faith and lapsed...
The other day I was told about one of my former RCIA candidates who was received into the Church a few years ago. He and his wife have a baby, and they had hoped to have their child baptized on...
Millions of Catholics around the world are now facing the reality that they won’t be able to attend any Holy Week liturgies or receive Communion on Easter Sunday. The Triduum is one of my favorite times of the year. I...
Over the last 2,000 years, we have faced many different plagues and crises. The Church has responded to them in various ways, based on the needs of the people and the knowledge of science at the time. As our knowledge...
The world is currently facing a pandemic that has the potential to kill millions of people and permanently change the way we live. Not surprisingly, many employers, in efforts to promote “social distancing,” are transitioning to largely virtual office settings,...
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