As I’m sure you know, Pope Francis has called for tomorrow to be observed as a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria. Joshua Gonnerman gathered a few prayer resources, mostly from service books, for those who are interested in them, to help people join Pope Francis in prayer tomorrow. The following is from the USCCB’s website: Almighty eternal God, source of all compassion, the promise of your mercy and saving help fills our hearts with hope. Hear the cries of the people... Read more

Over the last few years I have found my life gradually moving from doing ministry in a church setting to working in an office setting. This has been a shift. I used to lead groups on retreats out in the woods, play games with students, speak at conferences, collaborate with musicians around the liturgy, visit the sick and dying, preach, teach and outreach. Since becoming Catholic, however, things have changed. From my administrative role at the Catholic University of America... Read more

After a few months of meeting together my spiritual director made the observation “you seem to see God a lot through your son.” I had talked to him about how I had learn to see the wonder of sacred art through my sons fascination with these things in the church. I had explained the profound wonder I felt at being able to be a part of bringing life so full of personality into the world. I had explained how the... Read more

Today’s post is written by Bishop Oscar Cantú of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces. In my line of work, as a pastor, I encounter people regularly who have to make difficult choices that no one should have to make: do I buy food or do I pay my rent? Many of our churches, synagogues, schools and community centers try to lend a hand to families in need. In many cases, the aid is appreciated but insufficient to get the family to... Read more

This week I had the opportunity to chat with Fred Bahnson to talk about “Soil and Sacrament” his new book on faith and food, and his journey to find God in both (available now at many fine retailers). Take a look! The Orant: Fred is an author, gardener, and the director of the Food, Faith, & Religious Leadership Initiative at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. Tell me Fred if you had to boil this book down into an “elevator pitch” for... Read more

Daniel Tobin, Director of Catholic Evangelical Relations at Glenmary Home Missioners, has written this guest post about how his experience with sharing his faith with others has been changed as he encountered evangelicals in college.  You can read more of his reflections on this subject here. I am a Catholic, and while in theory Catholics understand evangelizing is for everyone and not just for religious orders and priests, we still don’t often consider it as primary to our religious identity. Not so for Evangelicals!  I... Read more

My decision to join the Catholic church happened after a year of discernment that was less focused on getting all the theology “right” but on experiencing God from a Catholic vantage point. I had spent the 10 years before my discernment year slowly coming to terms with Catholic theology, but abandoning my career and financial stability required more then theological agreement. I needed to know that God was with me.  In truth it was probably the hardest decision that I... Read more

Today the Catholic church remembers one the great pope of the early 20th Century Pius X. this excerpt comes from the short, but very enriching encyclical, Divino afflatu. In this section he highlights some of the best patristic wisdom on the psalms. Give it a read and learn a bit about St. Pius X here! The song of the ChurchBy St. Pius X The collection of psalms found in Scripture, composed as it was under divine inspiration, has, from the very beginnings of... Read more

This week Rachel Held Evans wrote a response to her somewhat controversial article on why millennials are leaving the church… this one focusing on why millennials need the church. You can read it here: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/02/why-millennials-need-the-church I have to say it was close to a verbatim explanation to the one I often give people who ask me why I, too, have opted to remain fully entrenched in church life. In light of her own list I thought I would share a bit... Read more

I’m not typically one to put much stock in “proofs” for God, but I had to admit the recent video on the “Cosmological Argument” was well done. It was made by William Lane Craig of Reasonable Faith. If you are into apologetics and the like take a look, I embeded it below. I would love to hear feedback on it (particularly from our Atheist/ agnostic readers). What do you think of this kind of argument for the existence of God? Is it... Read more