Conflicting destinies

Has ethical preaching supplanted eschatological preaching? Are we so caught up in making the most of now that we forget we are created to live in eternal beatitude with God? Even after the fracture of Christendom around the middle of the last millennium heirs of…

Given or taken

Years ago in some philosophy course at college I recall reading one author’s prophecy that mankind (so we were called then) will someday have to choose between totalitarianism and charity. Put metaphorically, will the wheels that make the world go around be greased by resources…

Cross Catholic Outreach

Cross Catholic Outreach: Celebrating 20 Years of Service to the Poor “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” the late Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, famously wrote. It’s good advice. And by that measure,…

Post hoc exsilium

Recently I read that fewer than half of Italy’s Catholics believe life is eternal, that is that there is ‘life after death’. How many of us in our country who identify ourselves as Christians are of like mind?  What, if any, are our thoughts on…

Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations

Many young men and women are called to religious lift but are prevented or delayed because of student debt. OPENING THE DOORS TO VOCATIONS The Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations exists for one purpose: to support vocations to the priesthood and religious life by removing the obstacle…

The consolation of truth

One sometimes hears the phrase ‘the consolation of hope’. It is soothing in its implication, particularly so in such troubled times as ours. Less frequently encountered is the phrase ‘the consolation of truth’. Equally salubrious, this latter expression is perhaps more forceful. The consolation of…

The GIVEN Institute

The GIVEN Institute (“GIVEN”) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to activating the gifts of young adult women for the Church and the world. You may be thinking, “why such a specific demographic?” but this is a response to an ache in our society. GIVEN recognizes…

Is ‘self-service’ an oxymoron?

Much has been written of late about the risks we incur by our increasing dependence on technology. As the song puts it: “Is it a boon or a bane?”. From the perspective of Christian social doctrine one might ask if technology enhances or jeopardizes the…

An invitation, not a condemnation

He is recognized as a poet, an author, a dramatist, a philosopher, a humanist, a world leader, a pope, and now a saint. How fortunate for us that we are his contemporaries. It is an understatement that Pope John Paul II was a prolific and…

Freedom in our toxic culture

“Against the tsunami of our toxic culture”. This quote from a recent article by Fr. Paul Scalia could be an invitation to observe Independence Day from a new perspective. As residents of the freest nation in history perhaps it is fitting for us to ask…