May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus (Romans 15:5) — The 2018 “Summer of Sorrow” has proven to be a tumultuous time for the Church. The Barque of Peter has been rocked by scandal after scandal, and many Church leaders…
Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860 with only 39.8 percent of the popular vote and was so loathed that he had to take a night train secretly into Washington for his inauguration. The Salem Advocate in his own state of Illinois editorialized: “…he is no more capable of becoming a statesman, nay, even a moderate one,…
The selection of Saint Michael as our parish’s patron in 1857 certainly was inspired. Who could be a better champion in “Hell’s Kitchen” than that heavenly soldier wielding the sword, as the great statue in our church shows him? As angels are pure spirit and sublime intelligence, it is tempting for mortals of flesh and…
First Things—The medieval Jewish sage Maimonides counted 613 commandments, or mitzvot, in the Law that God gave his people, Israel. The 20th-century Jewish philosopher Emil Fackenheim, who escaped the Nazis’ genocidal clutches and devoted part of his scholarly life to pondering the moral meaning of the Holocaust, formulated what he called the 614th commandment: Give…
Unstructured time is an under-appreciated and wasted gift in today’s modern industrialized world. We are driven by activity and fill moments of silence with busyness. We are conditioned to equate “work” with virtue and are uneasy with solitude. Authors Raymond Kethledge and Michael Erwin in “Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude” challenge this modern…
On the ninth of October in 1845, Blessed John Henry Newman was received into the Catholic Church by the Passionist priest Blessed Dominica Barberi. On the 150th Anniversary of that meeting of saints, to the very hour, I had the privilege of offering Mass in the little room where it took place. Newman’s…
When I visited UC-Berkeley earlier this year and met with a large group of Catholic students for a discussion, the first question they asked me was, “What do I tell my Catholic friend who no longer practices his faith because of the scandals in the Church?” Many Catholics have had their faith shaken by the…
August 29, 2018—Dear Faithful of the Archdiocese, Last Sunday witnessed what many are calling a “bombshell” in the Church: the publication of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s “Testimony,” alleging corruption and coverup at all levels of the Church based on his long and extensive personal knowledge. I came to know Archbishop Viganò well during the years…
TESTIMONY by His Excellency Carlo Maria Viganò, Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana, Apostolic Nuncio —Rome, August 22, 2018, Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary In this tragic moment for the Church in various parts of the world — the United States, Chile, Honduras, Australia, etc. — bishops have a very grave responsibility. I am thinking in…
A rare gift is to be the pastor of a parish, and one of its greatest benefactions is a fatherly part in the lives of so many people. One thinks of the film “Good bye Mr. Chips” when the venerable schoolmaster sees in his memory’s eye all the lads he had taught over generations. That…
…Brace yourself for this. It’s not pretty. The pinnacle of a successful company, the quintessential activity that makes success possible, is a CEO’s weekly staff meeting. Yes. A staff meeting. Now, if you’ve read any of my books or essays, you know that I’ve talked about meetings before. So, you might be wondering, what’s changed?…
Issued August 27, 2018—In the first place, I would like to affirm my solidarity with Cardinal DiNardo and his statement on behalf of the USCCB, particularly in two respects: 1) In his statement, Cardinal DiNardo indicates that the recent letter of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganó, former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, “brings particular focus…
My Dear People of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, The recent reports of episcopal negligence and malfeasance in the face of clerical sexual abuse, coupled with some reports of bishops themselves guilty of sexual predation, have reopened old wounds and inflicted new ones on victims, their families, the Catholic faithful at large, and indeed, the…
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ of the Diocese of Madison, The past weeks have brought a great deal of scandal, justified anger, and a call for answers and action by many faithful Catholics here in the U.S. and overseas, directed at the Church hierarchy regarding sexual sins by bishops, priests, and even cardinals. Still…
A Review of Rev Joseph Roesch MIC’s “Fatima: A Pilgrimage with Mary” — “Fatima: A Pilgrimage with Mary” author Father Joseph Roesch, MIC, is the Vicar General of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a fraternal community of consecrated life in the Roman Catholic Church. He worked as an…
Continuing to share the pearls of wisdom from the Pilgrimage In The Footsteps of St. Dominic, as Catholic business men and women each of us has an obligation to witness (experience, reflect and share) to others about our Catholic faith. The first place our group stayed was in the walled town of Avila. In addition…
It is our custom to suspend my weekly column through the month of August until Labor Day. I do not take a vacation (for reasons I explained half a dozen years ago in an essay called “Vacation Trials and Tribulations,” available on the Crisis Magazine website.) Summer is supposed to be a time of repose, and that…
I, like many of you, have been disheartened by the unfolding scandal regarding now Archbishop Theodore McCarrick – a scandal we thought had been sufficiently handled in 2002 with the implementation of the Dallas Charter, which adopted a zero tolerance policy for sexual indiscretions with minors by priests and deacons. (It has come to light…
March 14, 2018
Award-winning journalist Sue Ellen Browder opened her presentation at this year’s Legatus Summit by saying, “If you don’t tell your story—no one else will.” Her topic, “How I Helped the Sexual Revolution Hijack the Women’s Movement,” was both eye-opening and alarming as she revealed how propaganda has driven the outcome on the abortion issue, including the U.S.
March 5, 2018
In March of 1937, Pope Pius XI issued two encyclicals within five days of each other. Mit Brennender Sorge condemned National Socialism, and Divini Redemptoris condemned Communism. These ideologies, attacking human dignity and replacing God with the power of the self-justifying State, were In March of 1937, Pope Pius XI issued two encyclicals within five days of each other. Mit…
