Category: Advancing the Kingdom

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…

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…

“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…

While its significance is ancient the phrase ‘Eucharistic coherence’ has appeared only recently in the life of the Church. Unless I am mistaken it was first used in the concluding document of the conference of the bishops of Latin American and the Caribbean held in…

Lamentable, isn’t it – the diminished presence in our vocabulary of the word whither? Is its desuetude another consequence of the culling homogenization of our culture, a process which with biting irony is labeled multiculturalism? Or, is it simply a response to time’s ravaging touch?…

Happy Birthday, Christians. Today, the Feast of the Pentecost, is the birthday of the Church. So, Happy Birthday to all you baptized members. May the coming year bring us closer to the Lord and to each other, and in doing so enable us to offer…

Citizenship is a liberal art.  If liberty is understood to be the freedom to avoid natural law rather than the freedom to embrace natural law the term ‘free society’ becomes a self-contradiction. Ruminate on these two provocative concepts which are found in Fr. John Courtney…

“Dumb Ox”. Each time I find myself several steps behind in conversations with our grandchildren I relate to this moniker given to St. Thomas Aquinas by his confreres. In fairness, in his case it had to do with his laconicism and physical size and not…

“The only access to Heaven is the servants’ door” With our dependence on labor-saving devices and DYI (do-it-yourself) technology household ‘help’ today, and therefore service entrances, are a relic of a bygone era. Will the concept of service itself experience a similar fate? The heroic…

Yes, it is misspelled, just as it is misunderstood. ‘Hierarchy’ derives from the Greek words for ‘sacred’ and ‘order’. With homophonic confusion many think the word refers principally to a ranking system of superiors and inferiors as in military or corporate management. With our democratic…