As a Catholic priest, I am asked to give people a blessing all the time. “Father, we are travelling this week, please give us a blessing,” or “Father, my son is having a hard time at school, could you give him a blessing.” To give a blessing is to invoke God’s presence and grace in the life of a person, so that God can provide wisdom, strength and guidance. When I visit the hospital, it is not uncommon to have a... Read more
The Latin Patriarchate which oversees the Catholic Churches in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Cyprus, which includes Holy Family Church in Gaza City, issued the following statement today, after the Israeli Army shot with a sniper and murdered two women within the parish church compound. “Around noon today, December 16th, 2023, a sniper of the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where the majority of Christian families have taken refuge since the... Read more
En el libro del Apocalipsis, San Juan describe a una mujer envuelta por el sol, con la luna bajo sus pies y con una corona de doce estrellas en la cabeza. Estaba en cinta y a punto de dar a luz y gemía con los dolores del parto. Un enorme dragón viene a devorar al hijo de la mujer, pero ese niño es llevado hasta Dios a un trono para reinar sobre todas las naciones. La serpiente que tentó a... Read more
Durante mi último año de estudios en Aquinas High School en Augusta, visité por primera vez la iglesia melquita de San Ignacio de Antioquía ubicada en Merry Street. Mi profesor de religión era feligrés de San Ignacio y nos invitó a la Divina Liturgia un domingo por la mañana. Como un católico de dieciocho años que solo había ingresado a una iglesia no católica dos veces en su vida, me quedé extremadamente sorprendido por la belleza de la pequeña iglesia.... Read more
My senior year at Aquinas High School in Augusta, I visited Saint Ignatios of Antioch Melkite Church on Merry Street for the first time. My religion teacher, who was a parishioner of Saint Ignatios, invited us to attend the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning. As an eighteen-year-old Catholic who had only entered a non-Catholic church twice in his life, I was stunned by the beauty of the quaint church. Every inch of its walls and ceiling was covered with icons.... Read more
The Diocese of Tyler, Texas announced on its website today: “Bishop Joseph Strickland has been relieved of pastoral governance of the Diocese of Tyler and Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin has been appointed Apostolic Administrator of the diocese.” Though shocking that a Bishop would be removed from his Diocese, it should not be shocking when considering the events that lead up to it. Last summer, Rome conducted as Apostolic Visitation of the Diocese of Tyler. Cardinal DiNardo of Houston stated... Read more
Before starting the Vigil Mass for Palm Sunday in 2013, I decided to check the headlines on a Catholic news website. My heart sank as I read towards the bottom of the page, “Syrian priest kidnapped as war rages on.” During my time in seminary, I became a good friend of two Armenian-Catholic seminarians from Aleppo, Antoine Tahan and Michel Kayal. Throughout the three years that we studied together in Rome I compared the conditions that awaited me in the... Read more
My mother arrived to pick me up from my friend’s house on a Saturday afternoon. As she briefly exchanged some words with my friend’s mom at the front door, I heard a woman’s voice screaming words difficult to understand. It wasn’t clear right away from where she was approaching. My mom and I took a few steps back from the door and saw an elderly woman running down the middle of the road from the direction of the main street. ... Read more
Bishop Hartmayer called me to his office in Savannah sometime during March 2014. Not long before, we had briefly spoken about the possibly of naming me pastor later that year, so I drove to Savannah anticipating a conversation about my first pastorate. To my surprise, the assignment I received was significantly different. He named me Vocation Director, Assistant to the Bishop, and Chancellor. I balked at the idea of wearing so many hats, and feared the responsibility of heading the... Read more
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¿Permite la Iglesia uniones entre personas del mismo sexo?
Como sacerdote católico, los fieles me piden a menudo una bendición. “Padre, estamos viajando esta semana, por favor denos una bendición,” o “Padre, mi hijo está pasando por un momento difícil en la escuela, ¿le puede dar una bendición?” Impartir una bendición implica invocar la presencia y la gracia de Dios en la vida de una persona, así Dios puede proporcionar sabiduría, fuerza y guía. Cuando visito el hospital, ocurre seguido que una persona no católica me ve vestido de... Read more