When I was a kid, I remember very clearly asking my mother once at Mass right before communion: “Does the priest ever run out of hosts?” She gave me a quick and hushed response, “No, he never does.” My mind registered her answer with utter amazement.  The priest never runs out of hosts!  God must miraculously keep putting hosts in there so the priest never runs out.  I imagined angels dropping hosts into the ciborium to make sure everyone received... Read more

[Homilia del decimosexto domingo de tiempo ordinario, ciclo B] La responsabilidad más grande de un pastor es cuidar bien a sus ovejas.  Tiene que llevarlas al agua, conducirlas a campos verdes para que se alimenten, tiene que velar por ellas a todo momento, especialmente para protegerlas de predadores.  Las ovejitas se asustan fácilmente, pero como aprenden a reconocer la voz y la cara de su pastor, el pastor las calma y las mantiene unidas.  Para arrearlas, el pastorcito solo tiene... Read more

After twenty years of refusing to accommodate its statutes according to the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone, has issued a decree by request of Pope Benedict to strip the titles of ‘Catholic’ and ‘Pontifical’ from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. Founded in 1917 with the ecclesiastic approval of Archbishop of Lima Pedro Manuel Garcia y Naranjo and erected by Pope Pius XII in 1942 as a canonical juridical person subject to canonical... Read more

[written for The Southern Cross, newspaper of the Diocese of Savannah] Saint Paul wrote the Philippians, “but our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  In the last week I have been asked five times if I am a United States citizen.  Each time I answered “no” to baffled hearers.  I had never been asked that question so closely together in the twenty-one years I have lived here. As Catholics, we... Read more

  [escrito para The Southern Cross, periodico de la Diocesis de Savannah] San Pablo escribe a los filipenses, “en cambio, nosotros somos ciudadanos del cielo, y esperamos ardientemente que venga de allí como Salvador el Señor Jesucristo.”  Cinco veces me han preguntado esta última semana si soy ciudadano norteamericano, y cada vez respondí “no” dejando a las personas perplejas.  Nunca en veintiún años que vivo en este país me han hecho esta pregunta tan seguido. Como católicos, creemos que la... Read more

I have always loved maps and statistics.  I came across this map this morning in the world of facebook and was intrigued by it.  Maps like these are always interesting, especially the statements one may draw from them. (click on map to enlarge it and read its legend) The Catholic Church has the majority of faithful in the highest number of counties (1,231) followed by the Southern Baptists with 1,217.  After all, 25% of Americans are Catholic, the single largest... Read more

I just completed my first week at my new parish, Saint Joseph in Augusta.  It has been a great week, I was welcomed very warmly! Four families from Sacred Heart (my previous parish) attended one of my Masses and stayed for the reception afterwards.  It was an awesome surprise. The picture above is of the stained glass window over the altar.  Below some pictures I took of the church, built in 1994.     Pictures are mine, all rights reserved. Read more

   (Interior of Nazareth synagogue where Jesus preached to his native people) About three weeks ago I got curious about what readings I would preach on during my first weekend at Saint Joseph.  I got on my computer and pulled up the US Bishop’s website, I found the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, clicked on it and began to read. I first read a passage from the prophet Ezekiel.  I thought it was appropriate for me to meditate on as... Read more

For the last two weeks we have been praying for the defense of religious freedom together with the whole Catholic Church in our country. We are aware that religious freedom was uniquely enshrined in the vision of our country by our Founding Fathers.  Religious freedom is a central element of the ‘American experiment’ as Rome has oftentimes referred to the United States since 1776.  Even Blessed Pope John Paul II referred to the United States as the ‘American Experiment,’ when... Read more

[written for The Southern Cross, newspaper of the Diocese of Savannah] I attended a conference on preaching last week and the most valuable lesson I have taken from it is the need for silence. It may seem contradictory, attending a conference on preaching and many presenters speaking on the need for silence.  How can this be? The opening line of the first speaker was a quote from the great Spanish doctor of the Church Saint John of the Cross: “The Father... Read more