The diversity of thought within Catholic teaching, like variety within the strictures of sonnets,  is one of its most beautiful features. It is nevertheless important to listen, as much as we can, to a broad chorus of Catholic thinkers. I have found great consolation in the fact that someone holier and smarter than myself has likely asked my questions already; my job is to find them and to listen, and then to make as many people as possible read block quotations about it.

Sharon Kabel , OSB vs. UFO: Stanley Jaki and the Theology of Aliens (June 16, 2021)- OnePeterFive

Easy Access to Tunes and Tweets from the BCCT JULY 29, 2022

So you know what to expect and what your getting into here is…

Obligatory and Helpful Introduction

I tried to keep this intro short. I think it is helpful to know what this post is all about before you dive in.

Who has time to read all the zillions of webpages with nifty neat Catholic content that is worth thinking and pondering about? It can be a chore to search, find and keep up with your favorite authors, podcasters and youtubers. So I’ve done you the eager reader a service by gathering some (mostly) recent cool tunes (a lot from june)  from the Broad Chorus of Catholic Thinkers that I found worthy of  bracketing off into small bits for you to browse through. Like a short version of Catholic Blog Readers Digest.

In this blog post you will find both bleeding heart liberal and traditional heartful conservative Catholic writers.  I quote all types of Catholics, as long as they give 100% acceptable Orthodox ideas about the faith and aren’t jerks about it in the particular selection I select to share. By quoting a particular person or magazine  doesn’t mean I endorse all their ideas or writings. I am selecting certain points that stand out to me as worth looking at, with this in mind.

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8 NIV

In my selection of what and whom to include in this semi-long buffet of Catholic thought I used the Kind Gaze to Look Past Splinters in my selection of quotes. A splinter can take the form of  dispising Pope Francis and Vatican II.  I love Pope Francis and the Second Vatican Council regardless of your opinion about him.  I know I’ll probably upset some people with my selections or my choice of selectees. I’m also sure I made little formating and perhaps some grammar type errors. But…

Tough Cookies to You.

Get over it and offer it up.

“I myself am not the Catholic Church, I may have my own misconceptions regarding what she teaches, and  I cannot exclude my own pet heresy from the judgment of the whole of the Catholic Tradition. “-Dr. John Rao.

Read on and use the kind gaze on other members of the Choir and think about good, true and beautiful things that are also witty, creative and humorous. There is a lot here. I could have added more authors and left out others. But of who is here read them all, skp some, and maybe discover somebody new.  Click on a link and read more if you so desire.

Or be a cotton-headed ninny muggins scruffy looking nerf herder and disagree with them and then Keep Calm and Carry On somewhere else. Just so you know Your Mom was Probably A Hamster and you Dad Smelled of elder berries”

This post is subject to change and updates.

So without further babbling and movie quoting here are some of those Catholics who are

Writing Right Now

 If you want to find more Catholic content not focused in this post,
Here is a guide to
Surfing the Catholic Web | Mark Wilson (patheos.com)

Perpetual Adoration live from St Benedict’s, Melbourne

Aleteia

Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News & Culture —
Aleteia is a worldwide network sharing stories that inspire readers daily

In early June, VOCES8 released this stupendous rendition of William Byrd’s “Ave Verum Corpus.” The piece is a stand out work in Byrd’s collection, which is prized as some of the most adept music composed in England during the Renaissance.

VOCES8’s treatment of the 17th-century tune is phenomenal, as they pronounce the Latin text with all due reverence. Their hushed tones maintain a somber atmosphere for the work, which speaks of the sacrifice Christ made for the world. J-P Mauro – VOCES8 treats our ears to William Byrd’s “Ave Verum Corpus” (06/26/22) (aleteia.org)

The Cathedral of Saltillo, also dedicated to St. James the Greater, became news on Pentecost Sunday this year.

It wasn’t because it’s one of the architectural jewels of the Mexican state of Coahulia and recognized as one of the tallest cathedrals in the country, but because of a curious incident in which the protagonists were bees.

According to local newspaper Zócalo, on the morning of Sunday, June 5—the Solemnity of Pentecost—a swarm of European bees attacked the people who were attending morning Mass at the cathedral of Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila in northern Mexico.

Curiously, this episode with the bees in Mexico took place on a date which, in addition to being Pentecost this year, was celebrated internationally as World Environment Day.
Pablo Cesio Bee attack forces cathedral to close and suspend Masses in Mexico (06/26/22) (aleteia.org)

American Catholic

This site has an impressive set of links to other Catholic sites not listed in this article.

Being still means to stop doing what you are doing. Forget your plans and schedule, forget what you have to do right now, and forget what you want to do. Be quiet, immobile, silent, and stop focusing on all these things in your life that are in and of the world.

If one has never done this, it may not be easy. For most of us, doing this, intentionally being quiet and doing nothing in today’s world, includes no talking, no texting, no emailing, no phone calls, no keyboarding, no gaming,  no working, no social media-ing, no chats, and no staring at a screen.  It is the difference between waves crashing constantly on rocks along a shore and the flat, tranquil, glassy mirror surface of an undisturbed pond. You have to make the conscious choice to relax, settle down, and chill out – with God.
Guy McClung Be Still & Know That I Am God –(June 25, 2022) The American Catholic 

America Magazine

The Jesuit Review of Faith and Culture

Being a father is an embodied thing—biological, psychological, social, legal. It is—or should be—a total thing, owning wholly the man who dares to become a father. Which is why it is also an exhausting thing; it is weariness both moral and beautiful. It is a profound thing; it changes fundamentally the man made a father, deeply and hopefully for the better. At least, it should. At least, it did me. At least, I hope.
Joshua J. Whitfield A married Catholic priest’s lessons from two kinds of fatherhood (June 17, 2022) America Magazine

Alleviating poverty would not end abortion, but it would reduce the demand for it. For myriad reasons, there will continue to be people who become pregnant and do not wish to give birth. But whether you count yourself as supporting a philosophy of “choice” or “life,” you are not being consistent unless you are also working toward the end of poverty—for as long as mothers are stuck in poverty, they have neither true freedom nor a fully dignified life.

In the richest society in human history, we could reduce poverty if only we had the political will to do so. Every day, we Americans make a collective choice on economic justice, and every day we choose poorly.
Colleen Shaddox Pro-life and pro-choice groups are both overlooking the link between abortion and poverty | (June 06, 2022)  America Magazine

Ascension Presents

The Leader In Catholic Faith Formation | Top-quality Catholic media, books, and study programs

In response to countless requests, Ascension is launching The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) on January 1, 2023!

With this podcast, Catholics will:

• Read the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church in 365 days
• Understand the essentials of the Catholic Faith and why they matter
• See how Church teaching is rooted in Sacred Scripture
• Absorb over 2,000 years of Sacred Tradition
• Encounter God’s plan of sheer goodness
• Transform their relationship with the Church that Christ founded.

If you have ever wanted to understand what it means to be Catholic and allow those truths to shape your life—this podcast is for you!

We can’t wait to start this incredible journey with you!

Keep up-to-date on all things Catechism in a Year (CIY) by joining our Facebook group here.

The Catechism in a Year – Ascension (ascensionpress.com)

NEW BOOK: On Earth as It Is in Heaven: Restoring God’s Vision of Race and Discipleship by Fr. Josh Johnson

This book follows Fr. Josh’s journey of serving as the only Black priest in the diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Fr. Josh draws from the riches of Scripture, personal experience as a Catholic of color, his priestly ministry, and the wisdom of the Church to encourage Catholics to understand more deeply the call of Christ to make disciples of “all peoples and nations (Matt. 28:19).”

Ave Maria Press

Catholic publisher of books, textbooks, and parish resources.
A ministry of the United States Province of Holy Cross.

Four Ave Maria Press titles won 2022 Excellence in Publishing Awards from the Association of Catholic Publishers.

In the general interest category, Our Not-Quite-Holy-Family by Mark and Melanie Hart took first place.

St. Dymphna’s Playbook by Tommy Tighe and A White Catholic’s Guide to Racism and Privilege by Daniel P. Horan tied for third place in the general interest category. Deacon Harold Burke Sivers also won a third-place award in resources for ministry for his book for deacons, Our Life of Service.

First-, second-, and third-place awards were given in sixteen categories. An overall resource of the year from among the first-place winners will be announced later this summer.

See the complete list of winners on the ACP website.

AVP also publishes
Our Lady of Hot Messes Leticia Ochoa Adams November 11, 2022
Reclaiming Catholic History Series by Mike Aquilina
Reclaiming Vatican II by Fr. Blake Britton
The Way of Beatitude by Casey Cole, OFM
Befriending St. Joseph Deacon Greg Kandra
Pray for Us by Meg Hunter-Kilmer
My Badass Book of Saints by Maria Morera Johnson
Becoming Eucharistic People: The Hope and Promise of Parish Life by  Timothy P. O’Malley
Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life by Haley Stewart
Catholic Hipster Book 1 & 2 Tommy Tighe
What to Say and How to Say It, Volume 1 – 3 by Brandon Vogt

Ave Maria Radio

Build the Church. Bless the Nation. http://avemariaradio.net/live

Three Titans of Christian Thought discuss the Eucharist  

Black Catholic Messenger

Nonprofit media in the tradition of
Daniel Rudd’s ‘American Catholic Tribune’ (1885-1897).
Amplifying Black Catholic voices.

To state the obvious, those who affirm that abortion violates the right to life are happy, and those who chiefly emphasize the freedom of women are upset. But in order for our nation to truly prosper in regard to human dignity, we must examine the sanctity of life from a holistic, or Whole Life approach. In this worldview, women’s rights are protected and catered to, but so are the lives of the unborn. A holistic approach would also bring to light the underlying economic issues that contribute to abortion—such as underpaid or unpaid maternity leave, as well as lower wages in the workplace.

The Church can be a powerful witness when it works together in unity to tackle the life issues of the age and does not allow politics to dictate its works of mercy. A house divided cannot stand, and hypocrisy will always rob us of justice. Our heavily Catholic Supreme Court, for example, overturned Roe in the same week that it shot down gun control, while conservatives in Congress—many of them Catholic—blocked protections for breastfeeding mothers.
Briana Jansky – Overturning Roe demands commitment to Black women’s health (June 25, 2022) (blackcatholicmessenger.com)

Busted Halo

Busted Halo is a media ministry dedicated to sharing the faith joyfully! Listen on @SiriusXM  Channel 129 M-F, 6-8 p.m. ET

In “The Mountain Trail and Its Message,” Albert W. Palmer tells about a conversation he allegedly had with the great naturalist John Muir, in which Muir suggests:

“[The word ‘saunter’ is] a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre,’ ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers.”

It turns out I also enjoy a good saunter — although in this case, my destination isn’t “the” Holy Land but rather to be fully in the presence of all the holy creation around me. It’s so refreshing to take a wandering and meditative walk through wherever I happen to be with the experience itself as its end. It’s when sauntering that solutions to problems materialize, creativity flows, and my soul is inspired.
 MEGAN ARTEAGA The Parable of the Saunterer: How To Take It Slow and Enjoy the Journey (JUNE 20, 2022) – Busted Halo

Cardinal Seán’s Blog

Cardinal Seán O’Malley shares his reflections and experiences

I welcome the Court’s decision, but I do not underestimate how profoundly divisive the issue of abortion has been and will continue to be in our public life.  Even more tragic has been the personal suffering of women facing unplanned pregnancies in difficult situations.  The Church has consistently opposed the moral and legal dimensions of Roe v. Wade; we also adamantly reject stigmatizing, criminalizing, judging or shaming women who have had abortions or are considering them.  Too often isolated and desperate, women have felt they had no other choice.  They need and deserve spiritual, emotional, and material support from the Church and from society.

In the Archdiocese of Boston, we have sought, through Project Rachel and Pregnancy Help, to support women facing a crisis pregnancy and women whose lives have been impacted by an abortion.  In addition, the Church offers the Lord’s boundless mercy and healing to those suffering from the spiritual harms of abortion.  In the face of recent statistics indicating an increase in abortions, our pastoral and social support for women will continue, will be welcoming, and will be available to all who need them.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley A day many thought would never come (June 24, 2022)Cardinal Seán’s Blog (cardinalseansblog.org)

Carmelite Today

A Blog about Ancient Insights on Modern Living

The schedule in our monasteries includes an activity called the hour of recreation, in which the community gathers in a common room to talk together. It typically follows the evening hour of mental (silent) prayer, and the two share a lot in common. Both require the same attentiveness of heart, both require patient perseverance to gain their reward, and in both that reward is an experience of getting to know the other and being known by them

Recreation is a time set aside for the whole community to gather together for conversation, storytelling, and humor. It’s not a diversion from our life of prayer, but a necessary part of it. St. Teresa-Benedicta was a welcome presence at her community recreations. Her novice mistress tells us “She was a first rate storyteller and could turn even the most trivial incident into a thrilling adventure” (Edith Stein: Life of a Philosopher and Carmelite, pg. 137). St. Thérèse made the community laugh with her rare talent for impersonations (if you can imagine that). No doubt she saw her participation during the hour of recreation as an essential part of living her little way, practicing virtues that go largely unnoticed and in ordinary settings.

Br. Isaiah of the Holy Face What I’ve Learned from Recreation –(June 5th, 2022) Discalced Carmelite Friars

Catholic 365

Explore the Catholic faith and its impact on our world through the different perspectives
of Catholic authors, bloggers, evangelists and theologians.

Science has proven it and the Bible has affirmed it long before.  Music is good for us.  The bible is replete with verses [dozens] exhorting us to sing and dance and clearly these two art forms are strongly imbedded in our culture and at mass.

Catholic Answers

Catholic Answers is a media ministry that serves Christ by explaining and defending the Catholic faith. See all the ways we do it.

Catholics do everything the hard way. Just look at our saints: rich people who decided to be poor, attractive people who became nuns, powerful people whom everybody respected until they decided to be all picky about doctrine this or dogma that. Then there are countless people who, in the prime of life, practically volunteered to be dead.

These people are the Catholic Church’s celebrities. The thing is, nobody thought so at the time. Everybody thought they were nuts. Nobody looked at St. Francis and said, “Someday you are going to make a great garden statue.” They said, “You just gave up a fortune to live like a leper. Aren’t you taking this God thing a little far?”
Susie Lloyd Catholic Life the Hard Way Is Easier (June 16, 2022) Catholic Answers

Catholic Apostolate Center

Light is what draws us to the Heavens on a day with a clear sky. It is what makes us wonder at the millions of stars bursting in radiance in the night. It is what can illuminate any darkness no matter how small the flame may be. The light we see in the Sacraments passing from Christ into His people is nothing short of a miracle. The light we witness on the Cross, expelling all sin and darkness from our twisted up hearts, brings us closer to the very nature of love, the deepest kind of love, the love of Christ. In Him I see my guiding Light and my strength to carry on each and every day of my life. He is my starlight in the dark of the sky, letting me gaze of his majesty.
William Clemens Starlight -(5/24/2022) Catholic Apostolate Center

Catholic Central

Sharing the wisdom & tradition of the #CatholicChurch w/ wit, thoughtfulness and a bit of wackiness.
Hosts Kai + Libby want to be central to your faith! ✝️

Throughout history, the Church has been at the forefront of “food movements.” Monks began brewing beer in the Middle Ages for their own consumption and then sold it to the public. Religious Orders all over Europe made wine, cheese, bread, and other products. This tradition continues today in Religious communities that farm the land, roast coffee beans, make wine and beer, raise animals, and sell gourmet food items. In fact, Catholics are the perfect people to champion the rebirth of a culinary culture.
How to eat like a Catholic – Catholic Digest

Catholic Education Resource Center

A pope who openly and repeatedly speaks about the language of the devil, the father of lies, the war against God, and prayer to the Holy Family as a way to combat it clearly isn’t trying to win points with the progressive media. Argentina’s President Cristina Kirchner accused him of medievalism for these remarks, but that didn’t intimidate him or others. And she was forced to withdraw the criticism.

It may only be a personal reaction after hearing so many different political, liturgical, and theological views about Pope Francis, but any pope who can seriously assert again that sin exists, that it’s more than a matter of mere human weaknesses and errors, that the whole of the old Christian drama as a contest between God and Satan is still the center of the Faith — and the reason that the Church exists — just may have something fresh to say to the world.
Robert Royal, The Devil and Pope Francis (catholiceducation.org)

Catholic Guy Show

Updates from Lino Rulli’s The Catholic Guy.
Show airs M-F from 4-6 pm ET and replays 8-10pm ET
on The Catholic Channel, Sirius XM 129

Lino Rulli@linorulli (Jun 14, 2022): Its not Christmas, but this is why our producer Tyler is a true gift:
He actually thought the song was called Round Young Virgin.

Bears Are Fast@bearsarefast (Jun 14, 2022) This Day in BearsAreFast History: [2/6] Round Young Virgin – a description of the pregnant, youthful, and motherly Virgin Mary in the classic Christmas song “Silent Night”.

Example: “Of course the song says, ‘Round, young virgin, mother and child.” Who says “yon?”” (6/14/19)

Catholic Herald

I can’t quite put my finger on it. When was the moment I was converted? Was it after a friend, whose virtues stood as a witness to the supernatural grace of God, unexpectedly forgave me with true Christian charity, despite all the injury I’d done him? Was it after being moved by the magnificence and soul-striking beauty of Florence and Venice, or the peaceful reverence of an Andalusian mountain town on a Sunday? Or was it rather upon the encounter with Holy Mother Church’s rich wellspring of truthful and sensical philosophy and theology?

What I do know is that, today, I’m home. More than that, it would be an insult to the graces I’ve received to pretend I’m anything less than certain about the Faith. My soul, intellect, and will have been shown more than enough for any doubts to flee.

The Catholic Faith closely reflects a great Gothic cathedral; it’s not a simple thing. And, in the same vein a great cathedral is built, none of this happened overnight.
Thomas Colsy, Discovering the Gothic foundations of Faith -(June 25, 2022) Catholic Herald

Catholic Insight

Yes, devotion to the ‘Sacred Heart’ may descend into saccharine spirituality and kitsch art, but the central point is sound:  That Christ loves us with His whole being, not just as God, but as Man, with His human heart that moves Him to have mercy and pity, willing the salvation of all men, and drawing all to Himself, even to the point that we from our humanly, earthly perspective might find mysterious, even disconcerting. His mercy always triumphs over His justice. Get behind me Satan, was Christ’s response to the ‘logic’ of Peter, trying to find a non-suffering way for Christ to save Man. Christ follows a higher, supernatural ‘logic’, if you will, the way of the word. Suffering is the way of love, and love always, always implies giving oneself for the other, in some way.
John Paul Meenan, Editor The Logic of the Sacred Heart (June 24, 2022) Catholic Insight

Catholic-Link

We are a Catholic site with hundreds of audiovisual Catholic resources for the New Evangelization. Free to use and share! 

Catholic News Agency

HIS name is Juan Vicente Pérez Mora, he’s Venezuelan, passionate about his faith, prays the rosary twice a day, and was named in the Guinness World Records as the oldest man in the world.

Mr Mora was born on May 27, 1909 and this year he turned 113 years old.

Catholic Review

On the eve of the World Meeting of Families and with a view toward the beatification Sept. 4 of Pope John Paul I, attention turned to his initial openness to softening Catholic teaching on contraception and his later support for the teaching of St. Paul VI.’

The editorial director of Vatican News, Andrea Tornielli, and the vice postulator of St. John Paul’s sainthood cause, Stefania Falasca, both focused in June on a document drafted in 1967 by then-Bishop Albino Luciani of Vittorio Veneto — the future pope.

“In the course of that conference he had said, ‘For me this is the biggest theological issue that has ever been dealt with in the church. When there was Arius or Nestorius and they were talking about the two natures in Christ, they were serious issues, yes, but they were understood only at the top of the church, by theologians and bishops. The poor people understood nothing about these things and would say, ‘I adore Jesus Christ, I love the Lord who redeemed me,’ and it was all there, there was no danger.”

When, however, the pope published Humanae Vitae, Luciani acknowledged the disappointment of many Catholics, but insisted the pope “put his trust in God” and was inspired to uphold “the constant teaching of the magisterium in this most delicate matter in all its purity.” ‘

Cindy Wooden  of Catholic News Service John Paul I and the pill: He wanted change, but accepted ‘Humanae Vitae’ (Jun 23, 2022)– Catholic Review

Catholic Saints Info

Notes about your extended family in heaven.

Who’s the patron of your state (political or spiritual)? Condition (physical or spiritual)? Vocation (monetary or spiritual)? Hobby? Maybe you can find out here.

This site has information on topics with patron saints, and profiles of those saints. Profiles have portraits, biographical information, areas of patronage, prayers, links to related sites, readings, etc. It’s not complete – I keep finding new topics, there are hundreds of saints not yet listed, and there’s lots of information to add, so the site will continue to grow and change. Thanks for stopping by.

Catholic Stand

CATHOLIC STAND is an e-publication owned by Little Vatican,
offering perspectives on issues that challenge people living the Truth the Church teaches.

Upon the heels of the glorious Easter season, Catholics celebrate Pentecost, followed by two more liturgical feasts. Ordinary Time has begun, and yet our spirits feel the extraordinary effects of Lent, Eastertide, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus Christi. Amidst the flowering roses, wedding bells, and vacation destinations of June, our spiritual selves need continual nourishment as we move on with the business of life in a secular culture. As the month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, so Catholic tradition dedicates June to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This proceeds from Jesus’ apparitions to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a young girl in 17^th century France.
Mary Ennis Meo Claiming June for the Sacred Heart of Jesus –(22 June AD 2022) Catholic Stand

Catholic Talk Show

The Catholic Talk Show features Ryan DellaCrosse, Ryan Scheel, and Fr. Rich Pagano. The show is hilarious, entertaining, and informative!

Episode 191:
In this episode, we will discuss:
• The most important sites in The Holy Land
• The site of the Annunciation
• The site where Christ was born
• The site where the Angels visited the shepherds
• Where was St. Joseph’s workshop?
• The birthplace of The Virgin Mary
• and much more

(The) Catholic Thing

The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary.

For better or worse, Christianity is not simply a matter of moral goodness; it is also a matter of doctrine, as it has been since the time of the Apostles.  If morality is the superstructure of Christianity, doctrine is its foundation.  Do away with the foundation, or simply don’t take the trouble to keep it in good repair, and the structure will collapse.
David Carlin Is Love All You Need? – (JUNE 24, 2022) The Catholic Thing

Since God chose to intervene in human affairs, writes Newman, it should not surprise us that He would “make provisions for retaining in the world a knowledge of Himself.” Left to our own devices, we would inevitably bring God’s saving message to ruin. So He established the Church and provides her the gift of infallibility, whereby, through His power, she teaches without error what God has revealed and wishes the whole world to know.David G Bonagura, Jr. Infallibility: An Antidote to Intellectual Madness –,( JUNE 25, 2022)  The Catholic Thing

CatholicTV

America’s Catholic Television Network®. Mass every day, live and on demand.
http://WatchtheMass.com, http://CatholicTV.com.

Catholic Vote

How can a Carmelite Monastery of cloistered monks in the middle of Wyoming become a premier coffee company? Prayer and creativity fueled the astonishing success of Mystic Monks Coffee, now an international success and boasting multiple gourmet collections of coffees, teas, and chocolates.

When one of the monks’ sister bought a small coffee plantation in Costa Rica, the community launched an entirely Internet-based company to sell their special blends roasted (for the first batches) in cast-iron skillets. 12 years later, the monks had enough income to purchase a mountain property and build 24 hermitages. Today, the gothic church at the center of the monastery is under construction, and every bag of Mystic Monk Coffee goes towards its completion and the daily life of the monks.
Erika Ahern  Make Your Coffee Break Catholic: 5 Catholic-Run Roasters (May 16, 2022) – CatholicVote org

Catholic Weekly

The Divine Liturgy of the Christian churches is best understood as a mystical remembering, renewal, and participation in the saving work of the Saviour, through which eternity entered time, so that we might be redeemed from death. What eternity worked in history, is endlessly actualised on altars all over the world. It is our privilege to be allowed to share in this.

Words fail us, but the Divine Liturgy is also a return to the Father’s house, to share in the communion of the Son; an Exodus from earthly to heavenly realities, and a climbing of the holy mountain of the Temple.

The Eucharistic summit of our liturgical services replicates on earth the essence of the worship eternally offered in heaven.
Fr Yuhanna Azize Melto D’Moronyo: When eternity enters into time (June 26, 2022) catholicweekly.com.au)

Catholic World Report

Catholic World Report provides a Catholic perspective on news in and outside the Church.

Popular author Fr. Dwight Longenecker and his children, along with veteran filmmaker Stan Williams, are producing a documentary chronicling their intercontinental family trek to the seven monastic sites known as “the Sword of St. Michael”.

Dotting the mountaintops of Europe, stretching 2,500 miles and aligned like pearls on a string, lie seven ancient monasteries. Some of the historic structures still house the cloistered religious orders which founded them, hundreds of years ago. Others have been recommissioned for a secular purpose; and still others stand vacant, stark reminders of the prayer and sacrifice which marked the days inside their walls.

And while the medieval monasteries and shrines were founded at different times and in different countries, served by different religious orders, yet there is a continuity which is hard to attribute to chance.
Kathy Schiffer Monasteries linked to the Archangel Michael share a mission and a message –(June 17, 2022)  Catholic World Report

Catholic Writers Guild

I brought a chocolate peppermint plant a few weeks ago. It looked strong and healthy. Suddenly Thrips(a tiny bug) attacked the plant. Thrips are deceiving because you can’t see them right away. They blend in with the color of the plant.

They remind me of the spiritual life. Sometimes sin appears small. If not treated properly, it takes over and destroys us spiritually. Confession is very important! After we confess our sins to the priest, God removes the sin from our lives. He picks off the spiritual bugs that are bugging us.  Sometimes God uses plants and flowers to remind us of our spiritual lives.
Angela Lano i Lessons from a Chocolate Peppermint Plant –(June 21, 2022) The Catholic Writers Guild

Catholics Come Home

Inviting Catholics and non-Catholics home to the Catholic Faith using TV commercials and the Internet

Catholicism.org

Run by St. Benedict Center which is A Catholic apostolate working for restoration of tradition and the conversion of America.

Another idea that came to mind was to talk about everybody’s favorite mythical mammal, the unicorn, an inoffensive subject if there ever was one, and one upon which I happen to be an expert. Not that it’s difficult to be an expert on something that does not actually exist; having a good imagination is all that’s required.

Now, as for unicorns, the subject of my expertise, it might surprise you to know that it, too, has long been a Christian symbol. Along with the pelican and the phoenix, symbols of the Precious Blood and the Resurrection respectively, the unicorn was treated in a second-century Greek patristic text called the Physiologus, where we learn that the unicorn can be captured only in the lap of a pure virgin, making it a wonderful allegory of the Incarnation of Our Lord in the virginal womb of Mary, as well as a symbol of chastity.
BROTHER ANDRÉ MARIE We Are Measured by the Quality of Our Loves – (JUN 13, 2022) Catholicism.org

The Center for Action and Contemplation

The Franciscan worldview is that the Christ is everywhere. In fact, this was my Bachelor of Arts thesis in college. I wrote it on the quote from Francis where he says, “Don’t speak to me of Benedict; don’t speak to me of Augustine! The Lord called me to a different way.”

Francis didn’t need to create a monastery, as the Benedictines and Augustinians had done. He didn’t want us to be enclosed monks. He wanted us to be friars, living in the middle of the people. To this day, Franciscan friaries are in the heart of most major European cities.
Fr. Richard Rohr A Ministry of Action and Contemplation (June 12th, 2022) Center for Action and Contemplation (cac.org)

charity: water

We’re bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in need around the world.

charity: water@charitywate:  (Jun 22, 2022)Let’s make some noise for the Summit Elementary third graders! Each class since 2014 has committed to fundraising for clean water. This year, they celebrated bringing clean and safe water to 1,000 people! Their teacher, Abby Bishop, told us more about this huge accomplishment: “Reaching 1,000 people with clean water is a very proud milestone for our team. It was also almost 1,000 third graders, who, over the past 10 years, have participated in our campaigns whose lives have also been changed. That’s a whole lot of good!” We couldn’t agree more. If you’re feeling inspired by this remarkable team, check out their campaign page at http://charitywater.org/3rdgrade. Thank you, Summit Elementary, for all of the kindness, goodness, and clean water you are bringing into the world!

Charlotte Was Both

One of the great tasks and challenges of being a Catholic minister or faith-sharer of any sort is to help one’s listener understand the timelessness of this body of faith and practice. The importance of that timelessness is not to “prove” anything but, more than anything else, to give hope. You, there – you are not alone in your weakness, pain, suffering and fears. It’s called being human and in Christ, no matter who you are, when or where you live or what the specifics of your situation are, in him and his Body, the Church, you will find comfort, healing, hope and answers.

In other painfully well-worn words, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel every generation. We have the spiritual resources, if we understand them properly and at a deep level, to point the suffering, questioning soul in the right direction, to open their hearts so they can hear Him.
Amy Welborn St. Cyril and OLPH |(June 27, 2022 ) Charlotte was Both (wordpress.com)

America’s leading source for #Catholic perspectives on news, culture, and politics since 1982.

In God’s Divine Providence, we can just never know how our actions or interactions might affect another. Everyone is created by God and loved infinitely by Him, and we are called to be examples of His love in the world—even to the tattooed skinheads of the world, even when they look to be hostile to the true, the good, and the beautiful. This I have learned and I encourage my children to look past some of the outlandish antics of people and to judge them for who they are—children of God who are in need of our prayers and good example.
Tom McFadden Skinheads, Nose Rings, and Tattoos, Oh My! (JANUARY 20, 2022) (crisismagazine.com)

Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse

Providing the best in smart, wired and independent Catholic news
both in the United States and throughout the world. Edited by@JohnLAllenJr

An Irish Pilgrimage Guide to the Holy Land is available from Columba Books, and was written after a decades-long relationship with the region.

“I was lucky enough to go to the Holy Land for the first time when I was 18 years old. And I completely fell in love with the place. I found Jerusalem absolutely intoxicating. I found the Old City almost calling out to me,” Kelly told Crux.

Decent Films

Film critic, Catholic deacon, father of 7. http://decentfilms.com creator.

For a while it seems Dominion wants to be the franchise’s Mission: Impossible. Instead, it’s the anti–Top Gun: Maverick.

The achievement of this summer’s extraordinary Tom Cruise legacyquel includes projecting the characters, themes, and trajectories of the original Top Gun more than three decades into the future, gracefully revisiting nearly everything fans loved about the 1986 blockbuster while also shrewdly patching up its issues and improving on it at every turn. Jurassic World Dominion can’t even manage to carry on the themes and trajectories of its immediate predecessor, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, let alone any of the prior Jurassic films. Maverick almost makes Top Gun a better movie retroactively. Jurassic World Dominion can’t touch the Jurassic Park trilogy, but, capping the Jurassic World trilogy, it makes its two predecessors retroactively worse.
Steven D. GreydanusJurassic World Dominion (June 10, 2022 ) – Decent Films

Divine Office

EWTN

Fr. Casey, OFM@caseyofm (Jun 17 2022): Last night on a certain Catholic network:
1. Abortion response as domestic terrorism
2. Twitter hates conservatives
3. Criticism of Rome for Corpus Christi on Sunday
4. #BleacherBrothers talking about synodality, peace against polarization, finding good in society.

Family Theater

Producers of family- and faith-based media since 1947,
founded on Sunset Blvd. by Venerable Father Patrick Peyton, CSC. Entertain-Inspire-Educate.

 Fellowship and Fairydust

Inspiring faith and creativity and exploring the arts through a spiritual lens.

I am not a Catholic, so the saints have never played much of a role in my religious practice. While many of their names are familiar to me, and I know a few of their stories, I do not pray to the saints, nor do I venerate them in any particular way. Nevertheless, there is one saint I particularly admire: Saint Maria Goretti.

Amid my struggle with sinful thoughts, Maria Goretti will show me that even the most unspeakable acts can and should be forgiven. Her deep religious faith will remind me that my efforts are not merely an attempt to comply with an abstract rule, but an absolute necessity if I wish to follow Christ – for I cannot claim to love God if I do not love His children.
Megan McKinstray Saint Maria Goretti and Me   – Fellowship & Fairydust (fellowshipandfairydust.com)

Fem Catholic

For Women. For the Church.
Helping you find truth in the tension, and live your faith in real life

This year, FemCatholic contacted all 176 dioceses in the United States. We were only able to confirm that 31 offer fully paid maternity or family leave policies.

Inspired by the writings of Pope St. John Paul II, we aim to start a conversation on family leave with the Catholic Church at large. We’re also writing a petition to the US Bishops asking them to lead the way in progressing family policies in their dioceses. Paid Leave Petition (femcatholic.com)

Much remains to be done to prevent discrimination against those who have chosen to be wives and mothers…This is a matter of justice but also of necessity…It will force systems to be redesigned in a way which favors the pro-cesses of humanization which mark the “civilization of love.”

Pope St. John Paul II

Letter to Women, 1995

Join us in Building a Civilization of Love (femcatholic.com)

 

First Things

America’s most influential journal of religion & public life

When I say that good sex is reciprocal, I do not mean only that it is mutual. If I desire you and you desire me, this isn’t simply a convenient pairing as when, for instance, I want to buy a pair of shoes and you want to sell a pair. What each of us desires isn’t a preexisting thing, which the other person can give us access to or withhold (such as our bodies, or permission to do certain things to them). Instead, our desire for one another has a reciprocal quality. Part of my desire for you includes a desire for you to want me. My desire for you also entails wanting you to delight in my desire for you, and for your experience of my desire to increase your desire for me.
Audrey Pollnow What Sex Really Is by Audrey Pollnow |(June 2022) Articles | First Things

 FOCUS

FOCUS is a #Catholic collegiate outreach whose mission is
to share the hope and joy of the Gospel with college students

Experience begets the best knowledge. I wanted to evangelize LA, but I didn’t have the skills to do so. I didn’t have the hours of leading a Bible study under my belt. I didn’t have the courage needed to reach out to strangers that only fortifies as a campus missionary who faces rejection after rejection. I didn’t have the method modeled by the Master. FOCUS equipped me. FOCUS gave me the tools to concretely live out my faith. Again, this isn’t a “FOCUS is the best!” plug. My time with FOCUS wasn’t perfect. The organization is imperfect and has certain ways it can definitely improve. But it’s still true. Serving on a campus for even just two years has radically transformed my life.

TANNER KALINA Becoming a FOCUS Missionary: Was It Worth It? (JUNE 14, 2022) – FOCUS (focusequip.org)

Forte Catholic

Catholic Non-Profit focused on evangelization and new media.
Weekly podcasts, YouTube channel and Church events.

Franciscan Friars

The Community of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal started in the South Bronx

Franciscan Media

 Sharing God’s love in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi

What mother or father would not be ecstatic to see how much their sons and daughters love one another? What could make them happier? Would loving parents tell their children that they must concentrate on them and not one another? Truly loving parents would say, “Loving one another is the greatest gift you could give us.” And so it would appear that heaven will be union with God and with each other in perfect love. It means that eternity will be the revelation not only of all God’s love and goodness, but also of all that we have meant to each other. It pleases God when we love one another.

 Jim Van Vurst, OFM A Closer Look at Heaven (Jun 27, 2022)| Franciscan Media

Franciscan University

Academically excellent and passionately Catholic,
Franciscan University educates, evangelizes,
and sends forth joyful disciples for lives of worldwide mission.

Franciscan University@FranciscanU (Jun 16, 2022): We are launching free, online courses (non-credit) and the first course available is “The Theology of Pilgrimage” with our president Fr. Dave. Learn more & take the course at https://franciscan.edu/freecourses

In this episode, Fr. Dave and Dcn. Bob went to the movies!  Literally.  They began the podcast, left to see Top Gun: Maverick, then came back to finish the recording. They had a need for speed.

Gaudium et Spes 22

Now is the time, as Eugene McCarraher notes, for a “Saint Francis Option”. And what that means is we hurl ourselves into the world no matter the risks, no matter the cost, in a great act of self-dispossession for the sake of the world.  And what that means concretely is that where the world destroys beauty and replaces it with ugliness, we replace that ugliness with beauty.  And where the world disparages truth and replaces it with clever lies and illusions, we cling to truth, promote truth, and that includes truths we find outside of our own tradition that are strewn all about the world like little golden nuggets of sanity from God. And where the world tramples over goodness, both moral and spiritual, we remain steadfast in the good and do not capitulate in our own lives to its attenuation through a million bourgeois paper cuts. It means a simplicity of life, and the living out of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  It means, as Dorothy Day taught, that we live out with earnest seriousness, The Sermon on the Mount

But there is also something else, something critical, something absolutely indispensable.  We must be educated and intelligent.  Learn things damn it.  Become voraciously interested in all kinds of things.  Read.  Converse with others outside of your balkanized box of discourse.  Pray.  Meditate.  Contemplate. Read some more. Read still more.  Be brutally honest with yourself in an act of prayerful contemplation over your own intellect and its ideas.  Think deeply about why it is you most truly think as you do and not about what it is you are “supposed” to think.  And do not submerge doubts but entertain them. Not in the sense of allowing them to destroy your faith. But in the sense that you take those doubts to dinner with you and plumb their depths.  Do not hide. Seek.  Think doubts through to the other end until the doubt becomes a catalyst for an even deeper faith.  Think deeply about why other people think as they do.  And listen to them first, talk to them second.  And when they speak do not be thinking about how to respond to them before they have even finished speaking. Nobody is ever wholly evil and nobody is ever wholly our enemy.  There is a freshness deep down things and that includes everyone we meet.  Love the people you meet.  Know them.  Because the greatest apologia of all is friendship.
Larry Chapp,Flipping the Script: The False Immanence of Modernity |(June 29, 2022) Gaudium et Spes 22

God in All Things

Catholic, former Jesuit, lover of Ignatian spirituality, finding God in all things,
and author of God Moments: Unexpected Encounters in the Ordinary. AMDG!

For Christians the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus becomes the primary archetypal story. Jesus is the ultimate new beginning who gives to us a new way of being human, a new way of understanding God’s faithfulness, and a kingdom that is all about hope. But it’s an “upside down” kingdom: We must die to self in order to find ourselves. We must become blind in order to see. We must carry our cross to find liberation. And even physical death itself gives way to eternal life. It’s a kingdom that finds its power in love, not violence.

Jesus was offering restoration to practically everyone he encountered, whether through a call to follow him into a new life, a physical healing that restored people again to their communities, or forgiveness that restored their own sense of worth and belovedness.
Andy Otto, Making Idols of Human Institutions  (June 21, 2021) God In All Things

(A) Good Story is Hard to Find

Julie and Scott infuriate the local Bishop, who suggests they go on a road trip. They decide to attend a theological discussion where each person of the Trinity is represented by a bottle of wine. Episode 283: Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene.

Hallow

The #1 Catholic prayer & meditation app to help you find peace, deepen your relationship with God, and sleep soundly every night. #Hallow

“Pray as if God will take care of all; act as if all is up to you.” – St. Ignatius of Loyola

Homiletic & Pastoral Review

Fr. Patrick Riviere,Homilies for June 2022 – Homiletic & Pastoral Review (hprweb.com)

If we open our hearts in response to His knocking, He enters. God leaves no space that we offer to Him empty. Today, and every day, simply ask. Open to His knocking. And as you persevere in that, watch what happens.-Pentecost Sunday – June 5, 2022

As Mother of the Church, both collectively and for each individual member, Mary  promises to stand by us in our sufferings, to draw closer and closer, and to pray for us, and to pray with us, leading us to communion with Jesus.-Mary, Mother of the Church – June 6, 2022

For years scientists have discovered various elements of our world that seem to push the limits of our understanding. The theory that time actually passes relative to the speed of the individual, the reality that everything is composed of various conglomerations of subatomic particles, the infinite vastness and continual expansion of the entire universe — all these theories boggle the mind. It’s hard to wrap your brain around and truly understand the possibility of some of these theories.

It can seem paradoxical to say that suffering and love coexist, just as it can seem paradoxical to say that one God can exist as three Persons. That paradox reveals not a contradiction but a love that is unable to be stopped, a love that brings hope to whoever is willing to accept it-Trinity Sunday – June 12, 2022

It’s no secret that faith in the Eucharist in our world isn’t the strongest. Our own American church is taking great steps in the next three years to revive that faith — not by disseminating detailed arguments or proofs, but by inviting people to take a step of faith, to believe that just maybe, He can fill that hunger of your heart. If we give Him a chance, He will not let us down.-Solemnity of Corpus Christi – June 19, 2022

Next weekend, we’re celebrating Fourth of July weekend. So it might seem fitting that the second reading for Mass today is all about freedom. Freedom is much more than doing whatever I want. Freedom is living the way I was created to live. Happiness isn’t a passing pleasure, but an enduring peace that is found only in loving communion with Jesus-Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time – June 26, 2022

When you think about it, it’s really quite astounding that the Church actually still exists. The great empires of the ancient world were founded and led by powerful leaders with great skill and charisma. Jesus picked the two weakest, least qualified, and most unlikely men to be the pillars on which the Church that He established would be built. –Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul – June 29, 2022

I Might Believe in Faeries

Aaron Irber@AaronIrber: Catholic Entomologist. Story respecter. Married w/ 3 kids.

Ignatius Press

Founded in 1978 by Fr. Joseph D. Fessio, SJ, Ignatius Press is now one of the largest Catholic publishers in the country.

Ignatius Insight@ignatiusinsight (Jun 16,“As gender norms continue to shift in our society,@FavaleAbs’s book will be an essential guide for Christians who want to encounter their trans-identifying neighbors in a spirit of both truth and love.”—@SerenaSigillito@Plough on “The Genesis of Gender”: Editors Picks: The Genesis of Gender by Serena Sigillito (plough.com)

Ignition Spirituality 

A Service of Loyola Press

Ignitum Today

Social Network of the New Evangelization generation — providing #Catholic perspectives for young adults.

Maintained by @cmsorrps4610

The model of the Holy Trinity on earth consists in three members, not two: Jesus, Mary and Joseph, who together constitute the Holy Family and belong to what has been referred to as the hypostatic-order.[1] A term which describes the essential role played by Mary and Joseph in the Incarnation of the Word who joined the Divine Nature with the human nature hypostatically—that is, in His single person.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary—indicative of our Christic and Marian devotion itself—is at the heart of, and is the very heart of our Christian life of devotion. Yet we can hardly forget the Righteous, Chaste and Hidden Heart of Joseph which is one in an indissoluble union of grace with the superior Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary—which forms the habitation in which they abide. Together they are the Three Hearts, which are so close they look as though they were one, and indeed, whilst distinct, they are inseparably one in a union of the profoundest love.

Br. John Joseph The Righteous, Chaste and Hidden Heart of Saint Joseph – (19 May 2021 IGNITUM TODAY

 Integrated Catholic Life

A Catholic e-Magazine about Integrating Faith, Family & Work.
Helping you to live your faith at home, work and in the public square.

We need to literally turn our temporal, worldly and human perspective upside-down and try to gain an eternal, spiritual and Godly perspective on the circumstances of our lives. This goes for both the good and what we may sometimes perceive to be the bad events in our lives. No matter what our circumstances, if we are people of prayer, we must come to believe that God always has our best interest in mind. And we must also understand that there is sometimes as much spiritual risk for us in our good times as there is in our bad. Therefore, we must avoid becoming proud in our time of prosperity, every bit as much as we must avoid becoming anxious in our times of adversity.
Mark DanisA World Upside Down (Jun 27, 2022) Integrated Catholic Life™

Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World

CB: What is the Mysterious History of Mysterious World? Where did it begin?

JA: About 15 years ago, I was taking a road trip around the desert Southwest, and I visited Roswell, New Mexico. I started thinking about writing a book called Jimmy Akin’s Book of the Weird, which would look at things like UFOs, Bigfoot, and the Kennedy Assassination and evaluate them from the perspectives of faith and reason. Because of various factors at the time, that didn’t come together, but it was the core concept of what became Mysterious World.

By 2018, I had gotten into podcasting and been invited to join the board of the StarQuest network. The network was at a turning point at the time, and we had some big decisions to make if we were going to continue podcasting. Among other things, we needed ideas for new podcasts that would be popular and that would allow us to fulfill our mission of evangelizing the culture. I mentioned the idea of doing one that looked at mysteries from the faith and reason perspectives. The board was very enthusiastic, and so we set to work.
Mark Wilson Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious Interview (JULY 10, 2020) Mark Wilson (patheos.com)

Knights of Columbus

We are the world’s foremost Catholic fraternal organization. Join us. #FrMcGivney

Knights of Columbus@KofC: (Jun 24, 2022) To help provide relief to displaced Ukrainians, the Knights of Columbus has forged key partnerships with organizations such as

@CNEWAand@iamCARITAS, as well as the U.S.-based @GoyaFoods

LifeTeen

A Catholic Movement Leading Teens Closer to Christ.

Little Portion Monastery

Invitation to visit the Monastery

A MONASTIC PILGRIMAGE to the CONTEMPLATIVE HEART OF THE CHURCH

Peace and Good in Christ!

For nearly 2,000 years monasticism has been considered the traditional contemplative and mystical heart of the Church. Only in the recent secularized west has this been lost. Monasteries are dying in the west. BUT, WE ARE REVIVING IT in the SPIRIT with our integrated monastery for ALL STATES OF LIFE.

WE INVITE YOU to make a Pilgrimage to Little Portion Hermitage in the beautiful mountains of Northwest Arkansas to REDISCOVER this POWERFUL GIFT for YOURSELF!

Come with a group or individually for A DAY, or SEVERAL DAYS to immerse yourself in the contemplative heart of Christ in the Church. Our GUEST HOUSE at the Motherhouse is lovely, and the food and fellowship is GREAT! Join us in beautiful chanted Liturgies. Arrange a Spiritual Conference with an experienced monastic. Or just walk the grounds and pray quietly in the Chapel.

Some stay for a day, a week, or even a lifetime!

YOU ARE WELCOME! COME AND JOIN US!

Click HERE to learn more about our way of life!

Click HERE to simply visit the Hermitage!

Contact us HERE.

Lizzies Answers

Hello! � I’m LizziesAnswers on YouTube & Tiktok!���
I talk about Catholicism, bipolar disorder, being vegan & so much more!!

Magnificat US 

Monthly Catholic prayer & worship guide presented in a day-by-day format.

Magnificat US@MagnificatMag (Jun 11, 2022): May God, who is Lord over the whole world, grant you wisdom, understanding, insight, knowledge of his just demands, and patient endurance. Be learners in God’s school, studying what the Lord requires of you; and then do it! -From the Epistle of Barnabas

(The) Meaning of Catholic

To restore the rival schools of Christendom.
Hosted by T. S. Flanders,@Paleocrat,@KennedyHall,@Luisblogs and Jake Fowler.
Our Lady of Victory Press.

Today Halley and Kyleshka pray the Byzantine Rosary and talk about the new MOC Instgram and group, Mary, Queen of the Home. This is from the live Instragram

Mercy For Life

Ntege Nasser Director at Tabasamu light of hope Uganda

Kindly pray for her soul to rest in peace …she just died right now by an accident on motorcycle….She was children’s care takers at shanitah Nakawessa children’s orphanage home over 14 children…Pray for her soul to rest in peace..

Kindly though in hospital but still heart broken over 14 children who lost everything in fire… While praying for my quick recovery all my beloved friends kindly give to them…No help is little:Here it’s gofundme page campaign to donate

:https://www.gofundme.com/…/fire-destroyed-everything…

Misc. Catholics

Sam Rocha �� Texican in Canadia@SamRochadotcom: (May 26, 2022):  I have been blessed to meet many holy people who live virtuous and pious lives. Many of them have been people who share my faith, but more of them have not been. This is a blessing. It affirms my faith in the goodness of creation and Divine love for all, in all, and with all.

Dr Taylor Marshall™️@TaylorRMarshall: Today Joy and I rode horses � onto a small mountain slope ⛰ into a heard of 60 elk: cow elk and newborn baby calves. It was magnificent. They were all squeaking and talking to each other. Seeing that makes you realize how intricate God’s creation is.

Chris Damian@CDamianWrites: I’m gay and Catholic. And I see my Catholic faith as the most fundamental of my various “identities.” I’ve worried about having therapists just try to make me abandon my faith commitments, to make it “easier” to be gay. I don’t want such a simplistic approach.

Steve Skojec@SteveSkojec : I’ve had a UFO interest since I was a boy. Always had a big imagination & loved the stars. Science fiction is the only fiction I really like. But tribes are tribes. I walked away from the feuding clans of traditional Catholicism and found the same thing with #ufotwitter. Wild.

Anonymous Carmelite: People struggle with the faith and understanding what true love really is and means, especially in the way of divine filiation. It isn’t easy being a Catholic in a fallen world, people have their own ideas of love and fall into despair or pride and need compassion.

Atticus@Ardoramdonua: Wait so Roe was overruled on the birthday of the founder of the March for Life, and the planets were literally aligned, and it was Feast of the Sacred Heart, and it was Feast John the Baptist (who leapt in the womb) at 10:10am, and John 10:10 is a verse about having life? What?�

Missio Dei

An independent LLC publication giving a voice to aspiring Catholic writers
to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Phillip Hadden, Twitter Administrator.

Recently I was giving a tour of St. Peter’s Cathedral Basilica in London Ontario to Our Lady of the Pillar Academy Catholic Private Elementary School. Its one of my favorite things to do as a priest – to welcome children into the Church and point out where Jesus is, how to pray, and what the liturgy is all about.

I began by speaking of the Church in 3 ways: the world of darkness (the narthex); the redeemed world (the nave); and the world to come (the sanctuary). When speaking about the world of darkness, I pointed out that the Baptism ritual often begins at the back of the Church. There we find the holy water fonts, where we remind ourselves of our baptism. I stressed that its in the darkness that Christ comes to greet us, to save us. When I say these things, I tend to have personal experiences in the back of my mind.
Fr. Chris Pietraszko, He Found Me in Darkness   (June 23, 2022)  (missiodeicatholic.org)

Melissa Presser@mzpresser:  Ok so according to some of you I am a #Catholic influencer because I have a #book coming out. Cool, whatever works, I’m a #GenXr so I don’t get it Sign up to read my book@MissioDei451. We are releasing it chapter by chapter for paid subscribers. Walk the Land – by Melissa Presser – Missio Dei (missiodeicatholic.org)

National Catholic Register

Corpus Christi is a good time to read The Godfather — the 1969 Mario Puzo novel bears witness to the holiness of the Eucharist. The movie leaves that out.

The most famous scene in The Godfather is Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) serving as godfather at the baptism of his nephew. Coppola cuts away from the godfather’s baptismal promises — Do you renounce Satan? I do renounce him. — to the murders Michael has ordered of the heads of all the rival families.

The juxtaposition of good and evil, the promise of eternal life and premature death, the appearance of pious devotion masking punitive violence; it all makes Coppola’s baptism scene — ancient Latin prayers punctuated by a barrage of gunshots — one of the most memorable in cinematic history.

However, the novel, rich in Catholic imagery, puts Holy Communion in the forefront, not baptism.

Father Raymond J. de Souza   Spiritual Wisdom From ‘The Godfather’ (June 17, 2022) National Catholic Register

National Catholic Reporter

National Catholic Reporter: Bringing you independent reporting on the Catholic church and justice issues since 1964.

While God is fire — appearing on Sinai (Exodus 19:18), coming to set the Earth ablaze (Luke 12:49) and descending at Pentecost (Acts 2:3) — even everyday fire by nature is a spiritually porous element. It exists at the intersection of the visible and invisible, a kind of doorway where the Spirits appear and act, such as the angel who consumed Gideon’s offering with fire (Judges 6:21).

It’s no accident that God called John into being at this time of year. Like the sun at the solstice, John declared that he must decrease and Jesus increase. He was the harbinger of fire: Jesus’ baptism of fire and the purifying fire that will burn away the branches that do not produce fruit (Luke 3:16, 3:9). And it is no accident that he who Jesus called the greatest of those born of women (Luke 7:28) intentionally lived off the land in deep communion with all that surrounded him.
Damian Costello Rediscover sacred fire on the eve of the Nativity of St. John | Earthbeat (Jun 21, 2022) National Catholic Reporter 

National Catholic Partnership on Disability

Promoting the Meaningful Participation of Persons with Disabilities in Church and Society.

Complete this 8-module course at your own pace. The course is designed as a resource for those who are preparing children or adults with disabilities to receive the Sacraments of Initiation (with an additional module devoted to the Sacrament of Reconciliation).

Read article about course here. 

NET Ministries

Challenging Young Catholics to Love Christ and Embrace the Life of the Church
through youth retreats and parish and school discipleship.

(The) New Apologetics

Jimmy Akin@JimmyAkin3000: I recently contributed a chapter to the book The New Apologetics, which brings together a bunch of thinkers on doing apologetics in a way that takes into account the circumstances of our modern world. Check it out!

Bishop Robert Barron@BishopBarron: Friends, just as Pope John Paul II called for a New Evangelization, a New Apologetics, too, is needed to speak to the hearts of an increasingly nonreligious modern culture:

New Liturgical Movement

When discussing the merits and qualities of sacred art, a distinction is often made between art that has a didactic function – primarily for teaching purposes – and liturgical art which is intended to deepen engagement with God directly during the liturgy itself. Didactic art, it is assumed, engages the person primarily through the intellect, deepening the understanding of salvation history or of a feast. Liturgical art, on the other hand, it is said, engages the heart of the person, and engages both the intellect and will in an ordered and balanced way, so that the whole person is directed to the contemplation of God through worship of Him.
DAVID CLAYTON The Distinctions Between Liturgical Art, Didactic Sacred Art, and Illustration: Is There Really Any Difference?( June 28, 2022)New Liturgical Movement

Novena Prayer

Early in the sixteenth century, Hieronymus Ambrosius Langenmantel commissioned the painting of Mary, Undoer or Untier of knots for St. Peter am Perlach Church in Augsburg, Germany. The artist, Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner, was inspired by the story of the man’s grandfather, Wolfgang Langenmantel, a German nobleman, and his wife Sophie. The couple’s lives were falling apart and they were on the verge of separation. In an effort to save their marriage, Wolfgang decided to get advice from a Jesuit priest, Father Rem, who lived in a monastery near Augsburg, Germany. They prayed together, raising up to Our Lady “the bond of marriage,” praying that “all knots be loosed and resolved.” After several meetings and many prayers to Our Lady, Wolfgang and Sophie reunited.

The painting portrays Mary dressed in a blue mantle, with twelve stars above her head, standing on the serpent, crushing evil and untying the knots in a long ribbon, working together with the Holy Spirit and the angels. The idea of Mary undoing the knots is believed to have been inspired by the meditation of St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon: “Eve, by her disobedience, tied the knot of disgrace for the human race; whereas Mary, by her obedience, undid it.” Mary is seen as one who intercedes for us to her Son, helping us to let go of what binds us, what ties us to this world, what causes discord, violence and despair, freeing us from the struggles and the “knots” of our lives.

While studying in Germany in the 1980’s, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, saw the image of Mary, Undoer of Knots and brought it back to Argentina, promoting devotion to Our Lady. He had this same image engraved on a chalice that he presented to Pope Benedict XVI.

Our Lady Undoer of Knots, pray for us!  Mary Undoer of Knots Novena – NOVENA PRAYER

One Peter Five

A journal of Catholic theology, culture, and tradition.

Last night, I complained (on social media; where else?) about how we published a fantastic, moving, uplifting story about an incredible saint — St. Marianne Cope — who took the awful lives of lepers and turned them into something full of beauty and wonder, but that it only had 27 shares.

Meanwhile, my snarky post about Cardinal Wuerl getting millions of dollars in retirement hit 500 shares right out of the gate.

Now, my complaining seemed to have done some good for once. The St. Marianne Cope piece now has over 220 shares and counting, whereas the Wuerl piece is stuck right where it was.

But it had me up last night thinking about all of this stuff. About the fact that since I started trying to do a lot more St. Marianne Cope-type pieces and fewer Wuerl-type pieces, traffic on this website has dropped faster than Gavin Newsome’s approval rating. Whereas in 2018, at the height of all the Vigano revelations, we were getting somewhere between 25-30K pageviews a day, lately, we’re at fewer than 10K. In fact, we haven’t broken the 10K barrier in the past 30 days. Not even once. There could be several reasons for this, but traffic metrics over time tend to be a semi-reliable indicator about whether the content you’re producing is what your audience wants to consume.

In theory, we want to know about the good stuff. The stuff that’s positive and motivating and helps us to live better, more virtuous lives. The stuff that helps us to be inspired to make changes in the right direction.

But the minute someone drops a nasty, negative, outrageous story in front of us, we swarm like flies.

Steve Skojec, Negativity is a Drug, And We’re Hooked (March 5, 2021) OnePeterFive

I trust that our loving God will treat with mercy those who objectively commit frequent sacrilegious Communions because they don’t know any better, they have been so poorly catechized.  Alas, we have arrived at a point where perhaps a third of church-going Catholics believe the Church’s teaching about the Eucharist and yet the lines for Communion include virtually every person who shows up. Go to confession.
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf Worthy Communion -(June 18, 2022)  OnePeterFive

Our Franciscan Fiat

Franciscan Sisters of Dillingen, Hankinson North Dakota Providence

One morning at breakfast, though, we were informed that there seemed to be a mountain lion in the vicinity.  People had heard it screaming.  A day or two later, the report was confirmed.
We weren’t too worried, and continued our evening walks, though avoiding the pasture area where we thought the feline would be more likely to roam.
We had been advised that, if we saw it, we should raise up our arms so as to appear bigger, and slowly back away from it.  I also heard that mountain lions aren’t prone to attack people.
The whole thing reminded me of the scene in the original Parent Trap, where the twins trick their dad’s fiancée into making a fool of herself by knocking sticks together as she walked.
It became a little joke throughout my days there, as we reminded each other about danger of the potential intruder.
Sister Christina Marie Neumann Watch Out for Mountain Lions! – Franciscan Sisters of Dillingen (6/3/2022)(ndfranciscans.org)

Our Sunday Visitor

A trusted publication for more than a century,
Our Sunday Visitor is an indispensable source of information and formation
for Catholics who love their faith.

The Church teaches a lot of things, some of it at a high level of complexity and sophistication, and the actual application to most of our lives can be very obscure. We say the Nicene Creed at Sunday Mass without knowing the mind-bending subtleties of Trinitarian theology. Few of us have the gifts or the time to work it all out. We trust the Church knows what she’s doing even if we don’t. She’ll work out how it all applies to our life.

Following Jesus can mean being taken where you don’t want to go. It is more active and open-ended, and possibly very costly, requiring trust you don’t always want to give. It is something whose meaning and requirements you understand more deeply and more practically the longer you live as a Catholic.
David Mills What does it mean to follow ‘all’ of the Church’s teachings? (June 17, 2022)– Our Sunday Visitor (osvnews.com)

Patheos Catholic

I saw a post online recently, about people praying the Rosary outside the public library. It’s a rally they’ve planned to “make reparation” for Drag Queen Story Hour.

They think Jesus is offended by Drag Queen Story Hour, and for all I know He is. They think praying a Rosary will cheer Him up. And for all I know it will.

Nobody prayed outside the slumlord’s house when a building went up in flames because the slumlord forgot to put in smoke detectors, and a whole family burned to death. The neighbors built a little shrine on the spot where the house used to be, with flowers and teddy bears and a wooden cross, but nobody prayed at the slumlord’s house. Nobody prayed outside the apartment building with the black mold and the broken air conditioner, when people began to get sick. Nobody prayed at the spot where the homeless camp was “cleaned up” by the city, and the homeless lost everything they had.
Mary Pezzulo Nobody Prays at the Slumlord’s House (June 23, 2022) Steel Magnificat @Patheos Catholic

Pauline Books & Media

Tweets from Pauline Books & Media (USA/CAN) a ministry of the@DaughterStPaul#medianuns

Pauline Books & Media ��@PBMPublishing (Jun 17, 2022)“: the first of its kind: a book that focuses on authentically helping autistic people in their prayer lives…from the autistic perspective. I believe any autistic Christian can benefit from giving this book a read…”
—Stephanie Bethany, Autistic YouTuber

God Loves the Autistic Mind: Prayer Guide for Those on the Spectrum and Those Who Love Us (2022 by LC Fr. Matthew P. Schneider 

The Pillar

News and analysis covering the Catholic Church, founded by@JDFlynn and @canonlawyered

Massimo Mellini is a master of art and glass work in Florence. His studio embraces a classical style, focusing on traditional mosaics and stained glass windows, mainly in churches. He’s recently been tasked with restoring 700-year-old artwork in the Duomo of Florence.

But Mellini has also done something not-so-traditional in his line of work. His studio has spent the last three years developing an image for a mosaic that – as of yet – has no customer, and no place to be installed.

The work, intended to be 20×40 feet, is based on Revelations 12, and entitled “Cosmic Battle Between Good and Evil.”

Michelle La Rosa For Italian mosaic maker, art is an expression of faith (Jun 1, 2022) (pillarcatholic.com)

Pints With Aquinas

Long form discussions, debates, and teachings on the Catholic faith.

Real Life Catholic

Husband, Dad, Speaker, TV Host, Author, & President of Real Life Catholic. Sharing the love of Jesus. Helping you do the same.

Chris Stefanick@ChrisStefanick :The greatest honor is that I’ve now brought all of my children to the Holy Land as pilgrims. To lead my children to Jesus is my primary goal Lord, may I embrace my role as spiritual leader of my family even more deeply. It’s the greatest honor of all. #holyland #reallifecatholic

Reason and Theology

Michael Lofton@michaelloftonRT: I’m the host of Reason & Theology.
I have a M.A. in Theology, working on a Th.D, and am an affiliate apologist with Catholic Answers.

Simple Catholic

Catholic. Husband. Dad. Writer. Superhero geek. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

Coffee is a sign of the existence of a benevolent Creator.  

Matthew Vincent Chicoine Catholic Meme Monday— Issue 43 – (JUNE 20, 2022) The Simple Catholic

Sister Claire 

Edward M Smith@EdMSmith: Have you seen ‘All or Nothing’ the film about the young woman from Derry, Northern Ireland,who was on her way to be a famous actress but became a nun. Sister Clare Crocket. When she was leaving home..Her mum cried and begged her not to go to become a Nun. Her story is glorious.

Spirit Juice Studios

We are a production firm specializing in the transformative power of high-quality visual media
merged with the ever ancient ever new beauty of Catholicism.

Spiritual Direction

St. Ignatius was a competent soldier who only picked up the Lives of the Saints when his romances of chivalry reading were not available as he lay convalescing in bed after being struck by a cannonball. It was a fertile ground for conversion because he had nothing else to turn to at that moment.

It’s ok to be creative as Catholics, to seize upon little opportunities to share Christ with someone with your lips, to be Christ to someone with your kindness. Especially when the forgotten, the lost, the dejected, and the hurting who have no one else to turn to present themselves. As one example, St. Francis de Sales used to write his sermons on pieces of paper and slide them under the doors where Calvinists lived.
ROB MARCO The Fix –(MAY 29, 2022) SpiritualDirection.com

The fires of hell, the suffering fires of purgatory, and the all-consuming bliss of beatitude are one thing, the same One. When the soul is freed from the confines, and limits, and filter of the physical body, it rushes back to the Love from whence it proceeded. That soul’s experience of His presence will be hell, purification, or the light of beatitude, depending on its conformity or lack of conformity to God’s love. -Sonja Corbitt  Purgatory is a Person – SpiritualDirection.com

Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton

SQPN

Home of American Catholic History, Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World, and more.

St. Paul Center

Founded by Scott Hahn, we are a non-profit, research and
educational institute promoting life-transforming Scripture study in the Catholic tradition.

Strange Notions

As a secular Muslim, I see the Incarnation (the embodiment of God the Son in human flesh) as one of Christianity’s most philosophically rich doctrines that has likely had a substantial impact on the evolution of the European mind. As I understand this doctrine, by inhabiting a human body and being present on earth, Christ as the Son of God not only sanctified the body and material world, but he also conferred some form of divinity upon man¹ and in a sense humanized God,² thereby bridging the hitherto yawning gulf between Creator and man.
Tamer Nashef  I’m Not a Christian, But I’m Fascinated by the Incarnation : Strange Notions

Suicide Prevention

Need help? Know someone who does?

• Call 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255)
• Use the online Lifeline Chatexternal icon
• Both are free and confidential. You’ll be connected to a skilled, trained counselor in your area.

Stumbling Towards Heaven

When I’m being honest with myself, precarity absolutely terrifies me. This scandal exists in my own heart. I can say that I trust God’s goodness and his providence. In my mind I admire and long for a radical life of holiness. But in my heart I am terrified of precarity.

I’m scared that my wife or my kids will suddenly get seriously ill or disabled or die. I’m scared of growing old and losing the ability to do the things I love doing. I’m scared of my kids getting into freak accidents. I’m scared of house fires and kidnappings and the whole litany of things that run through a parent’s mind when they can’t get to sleep at night.

The truth is that Christianity does not offer security from precarity. In this world, there is no real escape. Look at Jesus. His life was nothing but precarious, from his poverty and homelessness to his arrest, torture, crucifixion, and death.

Christianity doesn’t free us from precarity, it liberates us from being terrified of it.
Mark Shea Me on Paul Fahey on Dorothy Day –(June 22, 2022)  Stumbling Toward Heaven (markpshea.com)

Mark Shea is author of The Church’s Best-Kept Secret: A Primer on Catholic Social Teaching

Unbound

We challenge poverty in new & innovative ways, working side by side
with people of diverse cultures & faiths in Latin America, Asia & Africa.

Unbound@UnboundOrg (Jun 21, 2022) Today on World Music Day, transport yourself to the dusty red roads of #Madagascar while you enjoy these songs written, performed and recorded by sponsored members and their families. Let’s Walk Together – Culture (unbound.org) #worldmusicday #makemusic

Rise and Dream movie trailer from Unbound on Vimeo.

 U.S. Catholic

What if each of us embraced the aesthetic of love, as Pope Francis calls it, turning on one another the “kind gaze” that views each person as valuable, loveable, and precious to God? The kind gaze does not discriminate, judge, measure, or exclude. The kind gaze sees the divine image in every face rather than imposes an image it prefers or insists on. This great worth in every person is what the pope calls beauty in the 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (On Love in the Family): “Love opens our eyes and enables us to see, beyond all else, the great worth of a human being.
ALICE CAMILLE Catholicism gives us a common language (and it’s not Latin) –(June 13, 2022) U.S. Catholic (uscatholic.org)

USCCB

Supporting bishops through evangelization efforts and promoting the greater good which the Church offers humankind. 

Abp. José H. Gomez@ArchbishopGomez: Let us ask our Lord to help us to love the Eucharist with greater intensity and to increase our desire to be in his presence and to live by the bread that he gives us. #EucharisticRevival

Tea with Tolkien 

inspired by the works & catholic faith of jrr tolkien  free book clubs, reading resources, and online community.

Scene: a company of characters from The Lord of the Rings are meeting at a local coffee shop for their monthly book club. Here’s what they order.

Frodo Baggins is first in line, ordering a small Dark Roast with a biscotti.

Samwise Gamgee immediately follows, “I’ll have whatever Mr. Frodo’s having” but quickly adds cream and sugar after realizing it would be a bit much for him.

Gollum is beside himself because the coffee shop doesn’t have any raw fish, doesn’t order anything at all.

Lord of the Rings Characters as Coffee Shop Orders — Tea with Tolkien

Tomics

JOKE-OGRAPHY:A vampire sits comfortably beside his UV-resistant window, wearing his holy-proof nitrile gloves to read an unofficial photocopy of a Bible untouched by apostolic successors. As he reads, he chortles to himself at Jesus’s quote about consuming His Body and Blood to have eternal life. The vampire chortles, of course, because while Christians are busy devouring their one and only God for eternal SPIRITUAL life, the vampire boasts a much more convenient version of their practice, whereby he simply drinks ANYONE’S blood to sustain his eternal PHYSICAL life. As he muses about this most hilarious hole in religious thinking, Jesus appears outside the vampire’s window, as He was wont to do back in the 1820s, which is obviously when this is taking place. Jesus stands in direct sunlight and asks if the vampire’s version of eternal life allows him to do the same, to which the vampire must, sadly, admit that it does not. It also doesn’t allow him to (among other things) cross running water, enter consecrated ground, overcome the humiliation of young adult novels featuring his ilk, or make up his mind about what his powers and weaknesses actually are, but fortunately for him, Jesus decides not to rub it in.

Vatican

Sometimes there is the risk of confining the Eucharist to a vague, distant dimension, perhaps bright and perfumed with incense, but rather distant from the straits of everyday life. In reality, the Lord takes all our needs to heart, beginning with the most basic. And he wants to give an example to his disciples, saying, “You give them something to eat” (v. 13), to those people whom he had listened to during the day. We can evaluate our Eucharistic adoration when we take care of our neighbour like Jesus does. There is hunger for food around us, but also of companionship; there is hunger for consolation, friendship, good humour; there is hunger for attention, there is hunger to be evangelized. We find this in the Eucharistic Bread – the attention of Christ to our needs and the invitation to do the same toward those who are beside us. We need to eat and feed others.
Angelus – Activities of the Holy Father Pope Francis | Vatican.va

Vatican Observatory

The Vatican Observatory is an institution for astronomical research
and public outreach to advance the scientific understanding of our universe.

Catholic thinkers from Augustine to Aquinas to John Paul II have been at pains to remind us that there are not two different kinds of truth, one for science and another for religion. But there are two kinds of questions. One sort are those that have simple and often quantifiable answers: how many, how big, what happens first, what happens next? Science answers this kind of question. Once these questions are solved, we put them aside and go on to the next set of questions.

The second kind of question, though, are those that we continue to ponder all our lives, even when we already have answers for them… questions about meaning and beauty and love. Rather than answering them, science can provoke us to ask such questions, illuminating them in a new light. When it does that, science enriches our religion and philosophy without pretending to replace it.
Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  A Tiny Particle of the Creator –(25 Jun 2022) Vatican Observatory

Voyage Comics

Faith-filled stories that inspire heroic lives. #Comics #Catholic Founded by@PhilipKosloski

What you are about to read is a fascinating collection of legends from the popular historian and author of the 19^th century, Andrew Lang. He wrote, along with his wife, Lenora, many popular collections of myths and fairy tales, such as the color-coded Fairy Book series. J.R.R. Tolkien was highly influenced by Lang’s collections as a child, as well as an adult. In fact, his famous essay, On Fairy Stories, was originally designed to be part of a series of lectures about Andrew Lang.

While Andrew Lang was not a practicing Christian, he decided to publish a book on Saints and Heroes that featured many medieval myths and legends about Catholic saints. It was designed, like many of his books, to be read aloud, specifically to children. While some of the language used can be difficult for the modern reader, it still retains its value as a popular read aloud book, especially among homeschool families. At the same time, Tolkien would argue that these stories are not to be reserved to children but should be enjoyed by adults of every age. We all need to awaken in ourselves a sense of wonder and these legends can help even adults achieve that goal.
The Book of Saints and Heroes – Voyage Classics – Voyage Comics

(The) Way of Beauty

While art may be used for many purposes, its primary purpose is to celebrate what is True, and Good, and Beautiful. The purpose of all art is to lift mankind out of his finite life in order to contemplate the infinite. The more that art accomplishes this the more it succeeds in its purpose. For this reason the more that artists live their faith the better prepared they will be to speak the language of beauty.

This does not mean that art must deal solely with religious subjects or confine itself to the liturgical space, but it reaches its highest achievements when it does so.
Deacon Lawrence Notes Towards A Theology of Art (June 22, 2022) The Way of Beauty

Weird Catholic

The Kaplica Czaszek (skull chapel) of St. Bartholomew’s Church, Czermna, Kudowa, Poland dates from the end of the 18th century and is the only such chapel in the country. Over 21,000 human remains are interred here, while the remains of 3,000 victims of plague and war adorn the walls. The remains were collected, cleaned, and arranged by Fr. Vaclav Tomasek between 1776 and 1804 as part shrine, part memento mori. THOMAS L. MCDONALD The Skull Chapel of Czermna –(JUNE 20, 2019) Weird Catholic

Where Peter Is

When I was a child, and my parents and grandparents would teach me lessons about our faith and our Saints, I always pictured the Heavenly “offices” of our saints as bustling places, with requests flooding in and prayers on our behalf going out. But, as I grew up, I realized that some Saints are more “popular” than others. Our Blessed Mother is extremely busy. St. Jude is pretty busy. St. Anthony is very busy (and requests that you keep better track of your items). But how about the saints that we don’t turn to a lot, whom we’ve barely even heard of? They are there, and they would love to hear from you!

Why not start talking with them this summer?

DUANE HYLAND · The Saints of Summer  (JUNE 17, 2022) – Where Peter Is

In addition to religious liberty and the death penalty, the Church’s increased emphasis on human dignity has led to it forcefully speaking out against other practices once tolerated by Church authority, such as torture and slavery. More recently, the Church has made incremental changes to its approach towards other marginalized groups, including women, gays and lesbians, and people of other faiths in recognition of their human dignity. Many public acts by Pope Francis, both planned and spontaneous, have carried great symbolic meaning that reinforces the Catholic belief in the universal nature of human rights. Gestures such as his embrace of a man with a disfigured face at the end of a general audience; washing the feet of women, Muslims, and prisoners on Holy Thursday; and inviting children with disabilities to join him in the popemobile as it zips around St. Peter’s Square serve as simple reminders of the universal nature of human dignity.

Even though Roe is gone, we still have an obligation to support the dignity of the unborn and their families, especially women and girls who need help raising their children. We all share in this responsibility. I join in David French’s call: “The answer from pro-life America should be clear and resounding—the commitment to life carries with it a commitment to love, to care for the most vulnerable members of society, both mother and child.”

MIKE LEWIS ·  Human dignity and holes in the seamless garment –(JUNE 28, 2022) Where Peter Is

Word on Fire

Founded by@BishopBarron
Word on Fire Catholic Ministries is a nonprofit global media organization
proclaiming Christ in the culture.

But perhaps best of all, humor results in laughter, and laughter is an end in itself. One could borrow from Josef Pieper and say that, like contemplation, laughter’s “very premise is freedom from the fetters of workaday busyness.” We laugh, to quote the “Piano Man,” “to forget about life for a while.” In an age of never-ending darkness, we are hungry (desperate, even) for joy. Laughter is the calling card of joy. Reflexive, unbridled, unashamed joy.

Imagine the enormity of God’s mirth. Imagine the magnitude of his wit. Soon, we will know it firsthand. But in the meantime, God left us with just a taste of the awesome mirth that is to come: glorious, delicious, irrepressible laughter.

DR. TOD WORNER The Deeper Meaning of Laughter  (JUNE 16, 2022) Word on Fire

Word on Fire Institute

ZENIT

ZENIT is an international, non-profit news agency staffed by a team of professionals and volunteers who are convinced that the extraordinary wisdom of the Pontiff and the Catholic Church can nourish hope, and assist all of humanity to find truth, justice and beauty.The coverage we offer focuses on The Pope’s activities like apostolic trips, documents, meetings with state officials, and more.

On Sunday, June 5, Solemnity of Pentecost, the Catholic community of Nigeria suffered a terrible attack, which left some 21 people dead.

“The terrible massacre perpetrated in a Catholic church in Nigeria has not received the importance it deserves  in many of the world’s main media. In fact, a second-class suffering exists that causes another suffering, which stems from feeling forgotten, from witnessing that one’s sorrow, no matter how great it is, is not worthy of attention

Elizabeth Owens Massacre of Catholics in Nigeria. Pope Speaks Out. The Media Is Silent About This “Second-Class” Suffering (JUNE 07, 2022) – ZENIT – English