My name is Sister Robin of the Blessed Sacrament. Born in a beautiful suburb of Philadelphia named Wynnewood as Robin Stratton, and the firstborn of five children, I entered Carmel in 1958, a year after graduating from high school. I have lived as a Discalced…
Author: Dana Robinson
Happenstance?
St. Patrick’s Church is a small architectural jewel nestled in the heart of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Because it is celebrating its sesquicentennial this year St. Pat’s First Holy Communion ceremony this weekend was particularly special. Thirty well-groomed and well-rehearsed young boys and girls processed down…
ETSI DEUS NON DARETUR
Recently I was introduced to this Latin phrase by Fr. Robert Leavitt in his newly released book: “The Truth Will Make You Free: The New Evangelization for a Secular Age; A Study in Development” (www.litpress.org)). Any believers – any monotheists – concerned about the future…
Servants to All
Servants to All is a faith-based program and the Schuylkill County’s only emergency homeless shelter providing housing, case management, and material goods. Servants to All provides supportive services to homeless individuals in Schuylkill County and the surrounding counties in Pennsylvania. Established in 2012, the organization…
No why vs. Know why
Some time ago I asked a colleague if he knew how the date for Easter is set each year. As though it were a question beneath his dignity, he dismissed me with a curt reply: “Of course, it’s the Sunday after Good Friday”. Is such…
Pontifical Academy For Life
One of NCCF’s distinguished trustees has made available this translation of Pope Francis’ recent remarks to the Pontifical Academy For Life. This successor to St. Peter identifies our world’s situation as a ‘dangerous bewitchment’, one where the risk is that humanity will be technologized rather…
Epicenity
To commemorate his first Confession, I presented my grandson with a book of bible stories written for youngsters and beautifully illustrated. Days later I received a thank you note from Max (written with penmanship my own begins to rival) in which he expresses his appreciation…
"....and great was the fall of it."
During the civil war that nearly split our country President Lincoln quoted the biblical phrase: “a house divided will not stand”. He likened our nation to a house. Another familiar scriptural reference from St. Matthew concerns building a house on rock versus building one on…
The Church United at FOCUS' SEEK
By Fr. Jeff Ryan Miraflor, SJ. It isn’t a new revelation that the Church is in a crisis. Rampant clerical sex abuse. Bishops have lost our trust. Public squabbling. Endless scandals and media revelations. What has been the result? Division. People leaving the Church. People like…
Modern Marcions
“The new lies hidden in the old and the old is unveiled in the new”. This is how St. Augustine described the organic relationship between the Old and New Testaments. He explained how passages in the former implicitly presage passages in the latter. Examples would…