CNA w/ edits—A major gas station chain in Brazil is building chapels for the Blessed Sacrament on the country’s highways as an “oasis” for travelers. It is normal for travelers to stop at a gas station to fill a vehicle’s gas tank and maybe grab a bite to eat or take some time to rest,…
The last eight weeks have been amazingly unconventional! Nothing since March 2020 has been conventional. Covid-19 has turned everything upside down and made it topsy turvy. An amazingly unconventional time! From the ways we have operated—and had to pivot and re-think—our businesses, handled employee issues, been unable to visit in person with family and friends,…
The Eleventh Annual Napa Catholic Conference was held July 22-24, 2021, with an impressive lineup of Catholic speakers on the theme “All Things Made New.” The conference included Mass and a wide range of talks, including religious and spiritual topics, lots of commentary on current Church and world events, apologetics and some very practical subjects…
Book reviews of “The Catholic Guide to Miracles” and the “Diary of an American Exorcist” I fully embrace the reality of a spiritual dimension to life. It cannot be proven with science, but it can be observed and for some, experienced. I am grateful for having numerous spiritual guides and experiences over many years that…
There’s a lot of laughter around the conception of Isaac…some of it is subtle, and some of it is falling-on-the-floor-laughter laughing. In yesterday’s reading, Abraham falls down laughing when God yet again promises him a son through Sarah. And if you think about it, you could see why that would be very funny. For years…
CNA—More than 50 years after the death of Padre Pio, one of the last journalists to interview the saint has reflected on the saint’s hope and suffering. Renzo Allegri, the author of the biography “Man of Hope,” visited the Italian saint a year before he died in 1968. He said Pio’s suffering was difficult to…
Of the many scientific contributions made by priests, including Father Copernicus’s heliocentrism and Father Lemaître’s “Big Bang” theory, some would rank higher the invention of champagne by Dom Pérignon. Something close to champagne had already been invented by monks near Carcassonne in the Abbey of Saint Hilaire in 1531. They were Benedictines like Pérignon,…
The Catholic Thing—Today we begin the liturgical season defined by hope. The preface for Mass says that we dare to hope. Indeed, hope seems a more daring venture than ever. And yet for precisely that reason, it holds more importance than ever. In keeping with Chesterton’s famous aphorism — Hope means hoping when things are…
A Houston mattress salesman again turns his showroom into a refuge for flood victims, reportedly rescuing about 120 people from flooding caused by Tropical Storm Imelda so far. In the process, Gallery Furniture owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale and Houston rapper Trae Tha Truth joined forces Thursday to help flood victims. “We got through Harvey,”…
