A través del sacramento de la Confirmación, recibimos la plenitud de la gracia recibida en el sacramento del bautismo.  Este sacramento nos une más íntimamente a la Iglesia y nos enriquece con una fortaleza especial del Espíritu Santo.  Al recibir este sacramento, uno se compromete mucho más, como autentico testigo de Cristo, a extender y defender la fe a través de obras y palabras. Leemos en el libro de los Hechos de los Apóstoles 1, 3-5 que Jesús promete a... Read more

Throughout the Gospels, oftentimes the evangelists describe for us how people react to the words of Jesus.  At times, we learn, people felt challenged and flat out rejected Jesus’ teachings, such as when he preached his disciples had to eat his body and drink his blood to have eternal life. At least once people thought Jesus was crazy, saying, as Saint Mark tells us, “he must be out of his mind!”  Others became furious at Jesus’ words and actions to... Read more

Today we remember one of the greatest minds who ever lived, Saint Thomas Aquinas.  Despite all his intellectual work and writing, towards the end of his life Saint Thomas had a mystical experience which led him to say, “All that I have written seems like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me.” Born in Roccasecca Italy, he was the nephew of the Count of Aquino.  His father envisioned him becoming the abbot of the nearby prestigious Benedictine... Read more

Letter from Bishop Gregory J. HartmayerTo Be Read at all Masses in Parishes in the Diocese of SavannahDuring the Weekend of January 28 – 29, 2012 My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I am writing to you on a matter of grave moral concern — freedom of religion and freedom of conscience. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees health coverage... Read more

Archbishop Dolan of New York City continues to express disappointment and dismay at the recent HHC decision not to grant a conscience exemption for churches when it comes to insurance programs covering contraceptives. The decision is based on the belief that contraceptives are a moral alternative to reduce the number of abortions.  It assumes there is nothing wrong with contraceptives. Yet the issue at hand is not whether contraceptives are moral or immoral, or whether people think contraceptives are OK or not.  The... Read more

Hoy 25 de enero, la Iglesia universal celebra la Fiesta de la conversión de San Pablo.  Siempre he sentido cercanía hacia San Pablo, quizás sea porque somos tocayos, pero creo que la razón principal es que la historia de la vida de San Pablo da gran esperanza.  Un encuentro con Jesús resucitado le cambio la vida a este hombre que se llamaba Saulo, convirtiéndose de alguien que perseguía y apedreaba cristianos en uno de los más grandes apóstoles y autor... Read more

The universal Church celebrates today the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, a man whose life gives great hope.  I have always felt a closeness towards Saint Paul since we share the same name, but the true source of this closeness is the hope he instills in me.  An encounter with the risen Christ changed the course of this man’s life.  He was transformed from someone who persecuted Christians into one of the greatest apostles of Christianity. We learn... Read more

This is unsettling.  The U.S. government will force the Catholic Church to pay for insurance which covers contraception for her employees even though it goes against her moral teachings.  The government has given us one year to implement this, but as Archbishop Dolan of New York states, the government has simply given us one year to figure out how to violate our consciences.  This is a case where the government is encroaching on religious freedom – the government cannot force you to act contrary... Read more

In my previous post I promised I’d discuss the effectiveness of catechisms such as the 1918 Catechism of Christian Doctrine which I presented in my previous post, and the much better known Baltimore Catechism. Susan commented on my previous post that this type of brief and direct question and answer format served her well.  “Those basic questions have served me well, especially when I was studying theology and it would be way above my head!  Those simple questions and answers... Read more

An elderly parishioner gave me this 1918 catechism which she found forty-nine years ago at her parent’s house.  I am grateful she entrusted it to me!  Though printed in 1918 by the Institute of the Brothers of Christian Schools, its copyright is from 1911. The front cover reveals that this catechism is in conformity with the encyclical of Pope Pius X.  What does this mean?  In 1910, just one year before this catechism was published, Pope Pius X issued the... Read more