The authors of Vox Nova want to explain to our readers one detail of our new relationship with Patheos. Patheos is a commercial venture, and as such we get paid by them for the traffic generated by our blog. Vox Nova, however, started as and remains a labor of love, and we do not want to profit from our writing. Therefore, we wanted everyone to know that all proceeds from this blog will be donated to various Catholic charities. Read more
Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact But maybe everything that dies someday comes back. –Bruce Springsteen, “Atlantic City” I take Mom to lunch on Wednesdays, and afterward this week we took a drive around the San Francisco Bay Area, and everywhere we went the hills were bursting with new life – the deciduous oaks were budding out in brilliant vermilion, wildflowers crowded the edge of the road we took through the Berkeley Hills and fruit trees made blizzards of petals... Read more
Dear Patheos Readers, Greetings. I am writing this on Palm Sunday, though by the time you read it, Holy Week will be in full swing, and the Triduum will be fast approaching. Most likely you are reading these words on a screen, but I am writing them longhand in my journal. I’m sitting on a swinging glider in a park in Bellevue, Iowa, a gorgeous town overlooking the Mississippi River. I’m seven weeks shy of age 34 – thus old enough... Read more
Vox Nova is pleased to welcome a guest post by Sr. Christina M. Neumann, OSF, a Franciscan sister from North Dakota. She regularly blogs for her community at Our Franciscan Fiat. As Catholics, we’re all familiar with meatless Fridays this time of year, but have you ever heard the rule about “no ham during Lent?” I work at St. Anne’s, an assisted living facility, and takes turns with one of my fellow Sisters in playing organ for daily Mass... Read more
Vox Nova is very pleased to relocate from our original home to become part of the Patheos Catholic Channel. We are grateful to Sam Rocha, the editor here, for his invitation, and are looking forward to making our own contribution to the discussions that go on here. To our old readers, we hope that you will continue to follow us here and join in the discussions. To our new readers, welcome! Vox Nova is nearly 10 years old, and though... Read more
Over the past several months and years Pope Francis has often been heard speaking about the devil and the reality of the spiritual battle we find ourselves in. This week on Thinking Faith, Eric and Brett discuss the reality of the devil. Do we really still believe in some creature called Satan? Is this just a symbol of evil and sin? And what would his place be in the spiritual life and in our Catholic tradition? Throw some salt over... Read more
Today I had an experience that every adult U.S. citizen should be made to undergo. Gathered in a university cafeteria with a large group of students and community members, I was paired up with a young social work student and given a folder. It contained our names – Lucía and Juana Delgadillo – and information about us: I was Juana, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen trying to help my 20-year-old sister Juana, who had been brought by our parents to the... Read more
I smiled with excitement as the plane landed on the runway and taxied toward the gate. It was March break (which as a teacher I anticipate just as eagerly as my students do), and I was looking forward to ten days in two cities I love: Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I was to present at my first academic conference in three years, and Montevideo, Uruguay, where I to participate in the presentation of a dear friend’s poetry book, which I’d... Read more
Maybe because of the areas where much attention has been drawn of late, something stood out to me in the collect of this morning’s Ash Wednesday mass. The prayer begins, Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service… The word “campaign” immediately brought to my mind a political or advertising campaign (which have become almost the same thing these days). The contrast made me smile, as I realized we were entering a season of... Read more
Today’s Gospel reading offers us a clear challenge. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who... Read more
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