No Earthquake in Rome, Cardinal Dolan Emphasizes Continuing Conversation, Not Doctrinal Shifts

October 13, 2014 By Kathryn Jean Lopez

Commenting on some of the headlines covering the synod on the family and the working summary document that was released and discussed today, New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan emphasized that doctrine isn’t being changed in Rome right now. On his weekly radio show, Dolan was joined Fr. Jonathan Morris from the Archdiocese of New York and Nigeria’s Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama — who has some choice words for Western insistence that aid be contingent on adopting Western sexual mores. Kaigama stressed... Read more

Trusting Christ, with a Little Help from Blessed John Henry Newman

October 9, 2014 By Kathryn Jean Lopez

I talked with Leonie Caldecott on the ground during Pope Benedict’s beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman in September 2010. This was her takeaway: Keep a hold of the truth — but in charity and with attentiveness to the position and concerns of your interlocutors. Do not be afraid to witness — but make sure that witness is witness to Christ, and not to your own preoccupations. Let Christ transform you and trust He will not let you down. Do... Read more

Creating and Sustaining, a Healthy Marriage

October 9, 2014 By Kathryn Jean Lopez

“Love is simple.” “Love is love.” Is it any wonder young people feel lost in love? They are often left without solid wisdom, models, and experience. Is it any wonder they’re not getting married, having seen too many marriages fail and living in a culture of extravagant, unrealistically unfair and unjust expectations and harmful advice? A lot of what has hurt marriage and family life in the United States and elsewhere in the West has to do with very fundamental... Read more

Living Love, Getting to Holy with the Help of St. Thérèse

October 1, 2014 By Kathryn Jean Lopez

From Thérèse of Lisieux herself, from today’s prayer of the Church: When I had looked upon the mystical body of the Church, I recognized myself in none of the members which Saint Paul described, and what is more, I desired to distinguish myself more favorably within the whole body. Love appeared to me to be the hinge for my vocation. Indeed I knew that the Church had a body composed of various members, but in this body the necessary and... Read more

Avoid the Plague of Practical Atheism

September 28, 2014 By Kathryn Jean Lopez

Lukewarmness can be a dangerous road there … As Pope Benedict XVI said during the Year of Faith: A particularly dangerous phenomenon for faith has arisen in our times: indeed a form of atheism exists which we define, precisely, as “practical”, in which the truths of faith or religious rites are not denied but are merely deemed irrelevant to daily life, detached from life, pointless. So it is that people often believe in God in a superficial manner, and live... Read more

Why Didn’t Cardinal Dolan Walk Away from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade?

September 22, 2014 By Kathryn Jean Lopez

I’ve shared some of my thoughts on the matter previously here, with a bit more in my syndicated column this week. I’ve certainly got some push-back for suggesting there might be some pastoral wisdom about it. Where’s the wisdom? In love. Tom Hoopes at Benedictine College offers very practical advice about that here. Tom isn’t writing about the parade but the same-sex marriage debate, such that it is. I encourage you to read the whole thing, but highlight this: In... Read more

Say Her Name, Say Her Name

September 12, 2014 By Kathryn Jean Lopez

From Magnificat on the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary: As much as Mary’s holy name is a blessing for us, it is a dread for the evil one. Venerable Thomas a Kempis (1471) observes that the devils fear Mary so much that, if they but hear her holy name pronounced, they fly from the person who speaks as if from a burning fire. For this reason, we devoutly follow the indispensible counsel of Saint Bernard: “In dangers... Read more

Pray for Christians in Iraq and Syria Today?

September 12, 2014 By Kathryn Jean Lopez

A bit of a mess this week reminds me again how little we in America are doing when we have such tremendous power. Families, individuals, campus groups, parishes, friends, co-workers, couples … pray for Iraqi and Syrian Christians. Here’s a prayer the Knights of Columbus have circulated: Prayer for those Persecuted in Iraq O God of all the Nations, the One God who is and was and always will be, who in your providence willed that your Church be united... Read more

Christ Is Key

September 8, 2014 By Kathryn Jean Lopez

I’m grateful to Fr. Paul Murray, O.P., for many reasons, and for many reasons even simply for a talk of his I was present for at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota just a few days ago, during Labor Day weekend. Among other things, it nudged me to re-read a saint’s homily from 1979. During that talk, he quoted from John Paul II’s earth-shattering visit home to Poland after becoming pope. The crowd broke out into: We want... Read more

The Light We Need

September 3, 2014 By Kathryn Jean Lopez

I was just reading the latest column from my friend J. David Franks, who teaches at St. John’s Seminary in Massachusetts. He writes: The world is dark. Our own hearts are dark. We have but one task: let the light penetrate us more deeply, and preach that the light is flowing down in starry cataracts. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Mt 3:11), the fire of true and divine love. This love never ceases to... Read more