Jesús caminó por las orillas del mar de Galilea e invitó a jóvenes pescadores a seguirlo. Se acercó a la mesa de recaudadores de impuestos y llamó a Mateo para que fuera su discípulo. Jesús vio a Zaqueo trepado en una higuera y se invitó él mismo a cenar a la casa de Zaqueo. Se encontró con una mujer samaritana en el pozo del pueblo durante la hora más calurosa del día y por medio de una larga conversación, le… Read more
Imagine God creating the universe. Darkness, a void, with the Spirit of God hovering over nothingness. Out of that darkness, He spoke the universe into existence… it was not by chance, it was not random, but rather full of meaning and with precise order. “Blessed be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,” wrote Saint Paul to the Ephesians. These words of Saint Paul are magnificent. … Read more
On the first day of school, I oftentimes opened my brand-new math textbook to the very last chapter. I enjoyed the thrill of looking at unfamiliar and seemingly extremely difficult math problems that posed questions I did not comprehend, and used figures I could not grasp. As the year drew to a close, it was extremely rewarding to study the last chapter and understand its lessons. After many months of study under a competent teacher, and learning one lesson at… Read more
Nine years ago, also on the 14th Sunday of Ordinary time, I began a new parish assignment at Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Augusta. I was excited because after many years of college and seminary, I was going to live at home… just twenty minutes from my mother. As I prepared for my first Sunday homily back home, where I would be preaching to many people who knew me ever since I was a child, I got a strong dose… Read more
Jesus walked the shores of the Sea of Galilee and invited young fishermen to follow him. He went to the tax collector’s booth and called Matthew to be a disciple. Jesus noticed Zaccheaus perched on a sycamore tree and invited himself to Zaccheaus’ house for dinner. He met the Samaritan woman at the well during the hottest hour of the day and through an extended conversation, changed the woman’s life. A quick survey of the Gospels rapidly illustrates that Jesus… Read more
Father James Altman of the Diocese of La Crosse, who was raised to the national spotlight last year for releasing a video titled “You cannot be a Catholic and a Democrat”, has been asked by his Bishop to resign as Pastor of Saint James the Less Catholic Church in La Crosse. He announced this during his Sunday homily on May 23, 2021. His Pentecost homily includes a blasting of bishops for having denied the sacraments during the past 15 months…. Read more
The Irwin County ICE Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia will close. This is a privately run Immigration Detention Center in South Georgia operated by LaSalle Corrections. Last year, horrifying reports of the involuntary sterilization of female inmates hit the news. A nurse who worked at the facility was the whistleblower. Before last year’s incident, the facility in Ocilla already had a bad reputation in the treatment of inmates. A priest of my Diocese used to be a chaplain there and… Read more
I recently read an article stating that the Diocese of Burlington in Vermont will soon lose four priests due to delays in the immigration system. The renewal process for the Religious Worker Visa for these priests has taken so long, that they will soon lose their authorization to work in the United States. The paperwork was filed on time, but between COVID closures and an overburdened (and inefficient) system, time has run out for the priests. Three are Filipino and… Read more
On a day like today, thirty years ago, my family boarded an American Airlines flight bound for Miami. As a nine-year-old boy, I could not grasp how significantly my life was irreversibly changing by the second as the plane flew farther away from Peru and closer to the United States. On April 20, 1991, I made my First Communion with my classmates. We had a beautiful family gathering at our house that afternoon. I recall attending Mass the next morning… Read more
Diocese of La Crosse Statement on Father James Altman
Yesterday, the Diocese of La Crosse, led by Bishop William Callahan, released a statement on the recent request made by the Bishop to Father James Altman to resign as Pastor of Saint James the Less Parish. In my previous post, I mistakenly stated that Father Altman had already resigned. I listened to the whole homily, and wrongly concluded he had resigned in response to the request. It has now become abundantly clear that he has not resigned and will fight… Read more