The term “parochial” is frequently used in a condescending sense, but no one today can get away with thinking that to be parochial is to be isolated from reality. As I write, the Navy hospital ship “Comfort,” last seen here on the Hudson River after the World Trade Center horror, is passing by our rectory…
I could never have fathomed all the things that have happened in our country during March 2020. I must admit that particularly over the last two weeks, I have been in somewhat of a “funk” because of the Coronavirus pandemic and all the uncertainty surrounding it. The news cycles on TV have been bad for…
I have a rule never to begin a paragraph with a first-person pronoun. I do this not because it would be inappropriate to use the monarchical “We,” as in “We have a rule,” or the princely “One,” as in “One has a rule,” but because self-reference confines the argument to personal experience. That is somewhat…
A frivolous amount of media dust has arisen regarding a proper name for the virus turned pandemic. Some say it’s wrong if the name offends anyone. Others callout leaders for not being politically correct in the name they use. But there’s no ethical merit in naming a thing according to whether or not it offends.…
CNA—Cardinal Peter Turkson sent a message Wednesday encouraging Catholics to see the sacrifices required to slow the spread of coronavirus as a chance to deepen their relationships with God and their neighbors. “Prayer is our strength, prayer is our resource. Here then is the favorable moment to rediscover the fatherhood of God and our being…
Amid increasing spread and panic regarding coronavirus COVID-19, Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued the following statement on behalf of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB)—ed. With the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus, we are confronted once more with the fragility of our…
Review of Upstream: The quest to solve problems before they happen, by Dan Heath — As the coronavirus crisis (COVID 19) subsides, there will be many dissecting our failure to anticipate and prepare for it, despite warnings that a pandemic was not a question of “if” but “when.” There will also be many who, with…
Geniuses often are thought to be absent-minded. Archimedes was so preoccupied with a mathematical diagram he was constructing during the invasion of Syracuse in Sicily in 212 BC, that he told a Roman soldier about to slay him: “Let me finish my numbers.” He was not professorially absent-minded, but present-minded. His obligation to truth took…
March 19, 2020
On March 19, we will celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph. The Litany of St. Joseph invokes his intercession under the titles Spouse of the Mother of God, Foster Father of the Son of God, and Head of the Holy Family. St. Joseph is called the Glory of the Domestic Life and Pillar of Families. In this Year of the Family, it is fitting that…
On September 10, 1919, General Pershing led his returning troops up Fifth Avenue before crowds numbering two million. In front of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, he dismounted from his rambunctious white horse “Captain” to greet Cardinal Mercier, who had arrived in New York by ship the night before. The General made a point of expressing his…
Pastoral Message for the Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan Archbishop Socrates B Villegas March 10, 2020 The epidemic of godless fear of the unknown is spreading and we must return to the basics of our Catholic faith. Let us not leave God out of the threat of COVID 19. Our first combat gear against all sickness…
Materialism, fantasy and false worship were the temptations Satan thrust at Christ, and he is tempting our nation the same way. These seductions are a formula for Socialism, which Winston Churchill in 1948 defined as “The philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.” A poorly educated generation succumbs to adolescent…
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of every human being.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13) Many of the headlines and pundits over the past 20-30 years state the same mantra, that “this country has lost its moral compass”, or that we…
A Review of Alex Berenson’s “Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence” Over the past 35 years we have seen a sea-change in attitudes on recreational marijuana drug use. According to Pew Research an overwhelming majority of U.S. adults (91%) say marijuana should be legal either for medical or recreational use…
Ernest preachers use their personalities to lead people to Jesus without obstructing him with themselves. They may honestly boast that they have been given the best information to convey, and we have it in the form of what we call the Bible—that is, the Biblia, or Books. At the start of Lent, our Lord makes…
I used to dread Ash Wednesday because of the endless lines of people coming for ashes. By the end of the day, priests look like coal miners. Sociologists may condescendingly consider the phenomenon of crowds coming for ashes, when they do not enter a church at other times of the year, a habit of tribal…
In case you haven’t noticed, we are in a big year for Texas and national politics – it’s election season. Here are some questions to ponder: How can I best know for whom to vote? As a Catholic, are there some voting guidelines we can follow? What authority do Church leaders have regarding politics…
The Philadelphia Inquirer, CNA, CBJ—Archbishop Charles Chaput has been a diocesan bishop for 31 years. For most of that time, his people have known where to find him on Sunday afternoon or evening: Hearing confessions and offering Mass at Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul. Chaput celebrated his last Sunday Mass as a…
The names of the Franciscan friars Berard of Carbio, Otho, Peter, Accursius and Adjutus, are not as familiar as that of Francis of Assisi, who said that they had become the prototypes of what he called the Friars Minor. After his own failed mission to convert the Muslims of Egypt during the Fifth Crusade in 1219,…
Luke the Evangelist is the patron saint of artists because he paints pictures with words. In describing the scene of old Simeon in the Temple encountering Jesus, Luke wrote that he “took him up in his arms” (Luke 2:28). That word picture of an old man holding a forty-day-old baby, reminds one of the 1490…
