All truth belongs of right to Christian thought, as the spoils of the Egyptians to the Hebrews. “Whatever has been well said anywhere belongs to us who are Christians” — because according to that saying of St. Ambrose, which St. Thomas (Aquinas) delighted to quote, “every truth, whoever said it, comes from the Holy Spirit.” -Jacques Maritain The spirit of Phariseeism never dies. -John C.H. WuOr you can forget what St. Ambrose, St. Thomas Aquinas, Jacques, and my friend John... Read more

She sits in the back of the classroom where I spend one night a week as a graduate student. We are a class of career-changers who felt the pull in midlife to share our knowledge with children. She’s raising her son on her own. A few times, her young son has joined us in class, playing quietly with his Gameboy while we adults share the frustrations and joys of our first years as teachers.She’s German and teaches German at a public... Read more

—Feast of St. John Teristus  Prior to finding Fr. Sullivan’s book The Visible Church, there is no way that I would have learned about the priestly vestments that will be discussed below. So again, for the clergy in the audience, this is nothing new. But for the rest of us, unless you are a player of the Facebook game called Priestville (I kid you not!), you’ve probably never heard of most of this stuff. As for me, I don’t have... Read more

—Feast of  St. Peter Damien  Today, the series on Sacramentals continues with the vestments worn by the clergy. As a rookie Catholic, I understood some of the significance of the vestments, the colors, etc. But if I had to take a quiz and answer the question, “True or False: Are vestments a sacramental?,” my answer would have been a guess, and I would have gotten this one wrong. Now if the quiz would have been about Marine Corps uniforms, from... Read more

—Feast of St. Peter Damian  For some of us in the United States, it is a federal holiday. We celebrate Presidents Day, where we commemorate the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. It is one of those minor holidays though, where not everyone gets the day off. If you are off today, and sleeping in, bully for you! If you aren’t, play these songs for a lift during your lunch break. The names of the first three artists I’m... Read more

I have my pastor to thank for this post. That’s because during his homily today, he mentioned a movie about an Irish Catholic priest stationed in Rome who, while fulfilling the obligations of his office, also used his office to smuggle Jews, and Allied soldiers, out of harms way after the Nazis occupied Rome. (more…) Read more

—Feast of Blessed Jacinta & Francisco Marto  Last night, a wild wind deposited me and our 11 year old at the door of a Catholic church. Once inside, we participated in Mass and heard the words of the gospel. Christ asks so much from us; we are to love our enemies. As the young priest celebrating the Mass pointed out in his homily, our enemies include our next-door neighbor who throws garbage on our side of the property line and... Read more

—Septuagesima Sunday Today I’m sharing more on sacramentals from Fr. John F. Sullivan’s little text book called The Visible Church. What is a sacramental? They are “objects set apart and blessed by the Church to excite good thoughts and to increase devotion, and through these movements of the heart to remit venial sin.” Today we turn to the symbol that all Christians know, love, and revere.It is the Cross, the instrument that was used to kill the Son of God.... Read more