Today’s station church is named after the fourth bishop of Rome, Saint Clement, who lived in the late first century.  Clement is well known for having written a letter to the church of Corinth replying to their request for guidance in resolving internal affairs.  In the letter Clement mentions the “sudden and successive calamitous events” the church of Rome has lived, singling out the executions of Saints Peter and Paul.  Of interest also is his mention of Saint Paul traveling... Read more

  This is Pope Benedict XVI’s final Sunday Angelus address at Saint Peter Square, Vatican City. The final paragraph is a must read. On the second Sunday of Lent, the liturgy always presents us with the Gospel of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The evangelist Luke places particular emphasis on the fact that Jesus was transfigured as he prayed: his is a profound experience of relationship with the Father during a sort of spiritual retreat that Jesus lives on a... Read more

This beautiful church in a beautiful area of Rome not often visited by tourists, Santa Maria in Domnica has the distinction of being one of Rome’s ancient diaconias, a distribution center of food and assistance for the poor.  Each diaconia was overseen by one of Rome’s seven deacons. A tradition tells that on the location of the church once stood the house of the wealthy Roman Cyriaca from where Saint Lawrence, one of Rome’s martyred deacons, would distribute alms to... Read more

Last week, the Gospel passage placed Jesus in the desert, hungry and tempted.  We felt compassion for him; we experienced a glimpse of his humanity. Today’s Gospel passage places Jesus on a mountaintop, dazzling and glorious.  We feel excitement for him; we experience a glimpse of his divinity. What a contrast.  Is it contradictory?  Not at all.  Actually, you cannot have one without the other. These two Gospel passages together describe the Lenten experience.  Lent is a time to meditate... Read more

Last week, the Gospel passage placed Jesus in the desert, hungry and tempted.  We felt compassion for him; we experienced a glimpse of his humanity. Today’s Gospel passage places Jesus on a mountaintop, dazzling and glorious.  We feel excitement for him; we experience a glimpse of his divinity. What a contrast.  Is it contradictory?  Not at all.  Actually, you cannot have one without the other. These two Gospel passages together describe the Lenten experience.  Lent is a time to meditate... Read more

From antiquity Roman Christians have celebrated the day Saint Peter first arrived to Rome and presided over the Christian community.  Early records show that Romans remembered this event on January 18th.  Records also show that by the early fourth century another celebration linked to Peter called the Chair of Peter was celebrated in the city on February 22nd.  Both days became great celebrations of Rome’s first bishop, January 18th celebrated at a cemetery on the Via Salaria outside the city and... Read more

A small church in downtown Rome marks the site of the martyrdom of one of Rome’s beloved patron saints, Saint Lawrence.  Saint Lorenzo in Panisperna is today’s Lent Station Church of Rome. In the year 258 the Roman Emperor Valerian led a persecution of Christian leaders putting to death Pope Sixtus II along with his seven deacon assistants, Saint Lawrence among them. As deacon he was in charge of the temporal goods of the Church and oversaw the care for... Read more

A very ancient tradition still thrives in Rome, the Lenten Station Churches. During the pontificate of Pope Gregory the Great (6th century) each day of Lent was linked with a particular church of the city. In the olden days the Bishop of Rome would visit each church on its particular day as a means to foster unity within the Roman Church. In modern times, the Pope no longer visits every church during Lent, but does celebrate Mass on Ash Wednesday... Read more

I love Stephen Colbert not only because he always makes me laugh, but also because he is not afraid to defend the Catholic Church in his highly viewed show. He makes a great defense for the Eucharist and the Priesthood in this interview with Garry Willis who recently published a book titled Why Priests? A Failed Tradition.  Colbert amazingly points to several flaws in Willis’ understanding of the sacraments and the Church in general. Garry Willis identifies himself as Catholic,... Read more

Pope Benedict began his weekly Wednesday audience last week by offering a brief explanation for his retirement: “I did this [retiring] in full freedom for the good of the Church, after having prayed at length and having examined my conscience before God, well aware of the seriousness of the act, but equally conscious of no longer being able to carry out the Petrine ministry with the strength that it requires.  I am supported and enlightened by the certainty that the... Read more