As colloquialisms go, “reaching out’ is relatively new. It has actually been awarded entry in Merriam Webster as a ‘verbal phrase’, the meaning of which is ‘to make an effort to do something for other people’. Catholics in the United States are fortunate. Several…
Author: Dana Robinson
New Haven, 1882
It would be difficult to find a Catholic, or for that matter an American, who has not heard of the Knights of Columbus. It was founded as a fraternal society by Father Michael McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut in 1882. Its purpose was to bring…
An Environment of Encounter
Because it has grown so rapidly over the past two decades readers are most likely aware of Damascus. Those of us on the lookout for the ‘new springtime’ predicted for the Church by St. Pope John Paul II will be pleased to learn more about…
Limited Freedom
“Free to choose but not free not to choose”. In his recently published book The Hell There Is Msgr. Charles Pope forcefully warns us against our insouciant (if not nonexistent) regard for what awaits us after our earthly sojourn. We are at liberty to choose…
Slope or Precipice?
“The falcon cannot hear the falconer, things fall apart. The centre cannot hold”. William Butler Yeats wrote these lines in 1919 in “The Second Coming”, his celebrated poem prompted by the ravages of the First World War. Now, a century later, persistent echoes of his…
Restless Discipleship
Cardinal Robert Prevost has been elevated to the Chair of Peter. He is an American, a one-time head of the Augustinian Order, and a missionary who spent twenty years ministering to the poor in Peru. Is it a surprise that he chose as his papal…
Sensus In-Fidei
The white smoke has arisen. A new pope has been elected. Around the world hope is reinforced. One would be hard pressed to gainsay the need for it in the native land of Pope Leo XIV. Conventional wisdom has it that the USA is ‘post-Christian’.…
The ‘Non-denoms’
“Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out”. This was once a popular aphorism. Even so, while its popularity today is lost, its significance isn’t. What brings this fact to mind is the rise of what is called ‘non-denominational Christianity’. What is non-denominational…
It Starts With ‘You’
Lately, the sudden preoccupation with pronouns has received much media coverage. Unfortunately, this attention has not been aroused by concern over that annoyingly ubiquitous grammatical violation ‘between you and I’, but rather it is due to the conflation of the words ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. Perhaps…
Little Sisters of the Assumption
It is common knowledge that as religious Orders diminish in numbers the institutions they have founded and operated are faced with the challenge of perpetuating their particular charism as laity assume the responsibilities of ownership and management. Think of schools and hospitals established by the…