By Russell Shaw Not long after St. John XXIII’s social encyclical Mater et Magistra made its appearance in 1961, a wisecrack began making the rounds among Catholics who’d taken umbrage: “Mater, si; magistra, no”—mother, yes; teacher, no. In other words, the Church has a maternal relationship with her members but is not their teacher on matters of an economic, political, and social nature. While this was what passed for cleverness back then, the cleverness, such as it was, was of... Read more
By Very Rev. Robert Barron C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their colleagues in the Inklings wanted to write fiction that would effectively “evangelize the imagination,” accustoming the minds, especially of young people, to the hearing of the Christian Gospel. Accordingly, Tolkien’s Gandalf is a figure of Jesus the prophet and Lewis’s Aslan a representation of Christ as both sacrificial victim and victorious king. Happily, the film versions of both The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia have... Read more
by Zeger Polhuijs This Easter, I celebrated Holy Week with the Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome. During the Easter vigil, the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere was packed. As the crowd joyfully sang, the procession entered the church, with priests and acolytes carrying a number of large icons as well as a procession cross and a Bible. The liturgy was celebrated with much solemn attention to detail, and ended with exuberant clapping and singing. In addition, a message was... Read more
By Very Rev. Robert Barron Cardinal Francis George, who died last week at the age of 78, was obviously a man of enormous accomplishment and influence. He was a Cardinal of the Roman Church, a past president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Archbishop of one of the largest and most complicated archdioceses in the world, and the intellectual leader of the American Church. A number of American bishops have told me that when Cardinal George spoke... Read more
By Randy Hain How do we integrate our faith with our work? If you think about it, most of us will likely spend the majority of our adult (awake) lives in the workplace. A typical eight-hour work day accounts for a third of the total day, with the other two-thirds devoted to sleeping, family, friends, faith, and so on. In the practice of our faith, do we consider the workplace as an opportunity to be open about our Catholic faith... Read more
by Leticia Velasquez It was August 2000 and my brother, the environmentalist, casually mentioned that he would be attending the Hillary rally in our hometown of Northport, Long Island. My ears picked up. “What rally?” I asked, “There has been no mention of it on the news.” It turned out the rally was “by-invitation-only,” and if I showed up, I would be “crashing” the party so to speak. My enthusiasm as a pro-life activist had him concerned. “Don’t get arrested!”... Read more
by Colette M. Liddy Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Gemma Galgani, a woman who was known for her smile. She was born on March 12, 1878, in Italy near Lucca. It has been said that Saint Gemma had a smile for everyone. She raised her seven siblings after her father died. Saint Gemma on earth was chronically ill; she experienced ridicule for her mystical experiences;contracted tuberculosis; was given the gift of the stigmata for a few years and... Read more
By Russell Shaw Is the devil real? Here is Msgr. Ronald Knox on that: “It is stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the devil, when he is the only explanation of it.” Monsignor Knox, eminent British convert, author, retreat master and translator of the Bible, may have been indulging in irony. But irony doesn’t change the fact that the devil and his demonic associates exist. I came across the Knox quote in Manual for Spiritual Warfare,... Read more
By Cassandra Poppe My four year old little boy was slowly moving away from the burn barrel, completely engulfed in flames from his waist to his head. “On the Way of the Cross, you see, my children, only the first step is painful. Our greatest cross is the fear of crosses. . . . We have not the courage to carry our cross, and we are very much mistaken; for,whatever we do, the cross holds us tight — we cannot... Read more
by Joyce Hart As a Director of Faith Formation, part of one’s ministry includes preparing children and adults, particularly in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA), for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Penance, or mostly known as Confession. It has its challenges, especially within the RCIA; one wonders whether the Catechumens will ever receive the Sacrament after their Baptism. Of course we are taught that Confession is only necessary in the case of mortal sin, or as an... Read more
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