“He will fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting” (Job 8:21). Today is St. Patrick’s Day. A day of joy and celebration
“Mine is the immense happiness of working, suffering, loving . . . my part is too beautiful. ” Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart When
Even in this time of Lent in the Church, the world rolls on without any serious attention to God. Even within the Church, we often
Some counter-cultural attitudes are actually pretty widespread. An obvious example is an attitude towards Hallmark holidays like Valentine’s Day. Shirking the yoke of corporatized romance,
What are your plans for Valentine’s Ash Wednesday? Sex and Death The combination was bound to happen eventually; it will happen again in 2024
A few weeks ago, I stumbled across the conversion story of Venerable Hermann Cohen (also known as Father Augustine Marie of the Blessed Sacrament) and
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Particular moments and in life are too grand to be
This past January, thanks to the collaboration of Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO) and the Jesuits, the forearm of St. Francis Xavier came to my city,
Our Lord said that He was “meek and humble of heart.” Matthew 11:29. Mary sings in her Magnificat that “my soul proclaims the greatness of
On May 1, 2018, the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia will celebrate their jubilee: that’s 150 years since the first Benedictine sisters, originally from Bavaria,
“And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it” (Matthew 16:18). At this point in time, it can easily be said that all things
For maybe a few weeks or so during the Advent and Christmas seasons and into the New Year, many people take Charles Dickens’ message in
At 36, Father Richard “Sixtus” O’Connor found himself assigned to the Nuremberg Trials to minister to twenty-one prisoners who had been charged with war crimes
A typical well to do middle-class family lives in a prosperous country. They are an intact family with a mother, father and three children. The
“Shaun, please come see me. Thanks.” An email from my boss popped up, so I went over immediately. Walking into her office she noticed my
The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, on October 31, 2017, is finally over. For many Catholics, the ‘celebration’ may have been a bit drawn out.
By all accounts, Father John J. Brady was a modest man. The nation’s press had dubbed the Catholic priest “the fighting chaplain of the Fifth
As I was making my way into the Catholic Church about 5 years ago, my priest at the time said something that still echoes in
When a country is at war, citizens stand behind their troops fighting the enemy. Communities organize to collect food, clothes and other essentials to make
In a previous essay, I recognized St. Thomas the Apostle and his feast day July 3rd. Last month had another saint’s feast day that has
Dying is not a popular topic for discussion. But considering that everyone who dies leaves some kind of legacy behind, maybe we should at least
Those in today’s present darkness cannot comprehend the crucified Savior. It is the same today as it was in the first century A.D., those who
