Fr. Robert Barron, a priest of Chicago, rector of Mundelein Seminary, and founder of Word on Fire ministries (which you may know from the Catholicism series that aired on PBS and EWTN and is available on DVD), writes in the November issue of Magnificat: Some years ago, a priest friend of mine suggested that in order to make this feast more understandable for people today, we ought to change the title to “Christ the President or “Christ the Prime Minister.”... Read more
On Nov. 22, we celebrate the young life of St. Cecilia, a martyr. This prayer for her intercession is a good one for the renewal of culture: Dear Saint Cecilia, one thing we know for certain about you is that you became a heroic martyr in fidelity to your divine Bridegroom. We do not know that you were a musician but we are told that you heard Angels sing. Inspire musicians to gladden the hearts of people by filling the... Read more
Today marks the memorial of The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Giving background and context for our lives, Fr. Peter John Cameron writes in his beautiful Mysteries of the Virgin Mary: Living Our Lady’s Graces: The inspiration for the Feast of the Presentation of Mary (celebrated November 21) comes from certain apocryphal texts (notable ancient writings not included in the official canon of the Bible). According to these accounts, on a given day Joachim and Anne solemnly brought their... Read more
Monday (Nov. 17) is the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI said of her: Elizabeth’s marriage was profoundly happy: she helped her husband to raise his human qualities to a supernatural level and he, in exchange, stood up for his wife’s generosity to the poor and for her religious practices. Increasingly admired for his wife’s great faith, Ludwig said to her, referring to her attention to the poor: “Dear Elizabeth, it is Christ whom you... Read more
July 13th is the feast day of the first American canonized saint, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. Here she counsels us on Christian suffering: He will always be with us in our trials, walking with us and sustaining us. He himself promised us, calling us to follow him closely, and his Word will never fail. Sometimes, we may have to suffer along the way that leads to the holy mountain of perfection, but we will not be discouraged, because whoever ignores... Read more
Today is the feast day of St. Leo the Great. In his famous sermon on the Nativity, he wrote: [L]et us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity on us, and when we were dead in our sins he brought us to life with Christ, so that in him we might be a new creation. Let us throw off our old nature and all... Read more
This Sunday we celebrated the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica. Scott Hahn explains at salvationhistory.com: Why commemorate a church dedication that happened in fourth-century Rome? First, because St. John Lateran is no ordinary church—it’s the cathedral church of the Pope and still known as “the mother of all the world’s churches.” But more than that, because God has from all time intended the church building to be a symbol of His Church and our bodies. This is what the... Read more
Nevermind about parades and synods. The big news in New York in coming days will be the parish mergers and closings that are imminent in the Archdiocese of New York. Changing vocational, economical, community realities make it a matter of good stewardship to make hard choices. Cardinal Timothy Dolan tries to get ahead of the headlines with a pastoral plea for prayerful participation in what will be an early Lenten journey for many; in his column in Catholic New York,... Read more
Cardinal George Pell tells Francis X. Rocca from the Catholic News Service: “The secret for all Catholic vitality is fidelity to the teachings of Christ and to the tradition of the church,” said the cardinal, who sits on the nine-member Council of Cardinals advising Pope Francis on church governance. Cardinal Pell said only three of the synod’s 10 small groups had supported a controversial proposal by German Cardinal Walter Kasper to make it easier for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics... Read more
On his Sirius Catholic Channel radio show earlier today from Rome, New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan said about that working document that was released from the Vatican earlier this week: There has been significant criticism of the initial relatio. Deep appreciation for the work that went into it, taking a quiet sum of it that was in there but, in general, the synod fathers have been united in saying this relatio that came out at the beginning of the week,... Read more
Kathryn Lopez
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