Category: Advancing the Kingdom

(The following remarks were offered earlier this month as an introduction to NCCF’s first webinar) NCCF was incorporated in Delaware over twenty years ago and was co-founded by the Raskob Foundation and twenty other groups consisting of religious Orders and organizations. It was inspired by…

Pericope adulterae  is the term used to refer to the passage in St. John’s Gospel where the Pharisees present Jesus with the woman ‘caught in adultery’ and ask him if, according to Mosaic law, she should be stoned (Jn. 7:53 – 8:11). After writing something…

Generally regarded as a logophile my mother had a particular fascination for contranyms. She delighted in the fact that words such a sanction, dust, dress, and overlook could mean their opposites. Even so she instructed my siblings and me (or in today’s untutored grammar ‘my…

Members of a certain generation will recall fondly childhood tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Roundtable. These Arthurian romances recount the awakening within the royal realm of the revolutionary understanding that ‘might’ does not make ‘right’. Rather the reverse had to be…

The last ‘Advancing the Kingdom’ article featured the boundless outreach of the Archdiocese of the Military. In a similar vein a significant number of the donor advised funds administered by the National Catholic Community Foundation also benefit overseas endeavors and exemplify the international philanthropic outreach…

Today when one hears the term ‘field Mass’ what come to mind are liturgical events whose congregants are so numerous no enclosed edifice can contain them, such as papal Masses in stadiums or town squares. However, readers old enough to remember World War II films…

It is commonplace that the phrase ‘verbal abuse’ connotes the use of words by one person to harm another. I wonder if the phrase could also refer to our abuse of words themselves? This isn’t about the clever use of words – a delightful example…

Has anyone noticed how the Thanksgiving Holiday is becoming more holiday and less thanks giving?  How many of us regard Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday more as the beginning of a month-long consumption splurge than as an occasion for expressing our gratitude to God for…

“Heresy is an archaism”. Many today would agree with this statement and would not in the least be disturbed by it. For them the concept of heresy is an irrelevant curiosity stored in the Museum of History. Many others, however, are unaware of the term…

This strikingly apt phrase comes from Al Kresta’s book titled Dangers To The Faith: Recognizing Catholicism’s 21st-Century Opponents. While adherence to what’s termed mainline or institutional religion declines in our country ‘spiritual hoboism’ is on the rise. One reads that the fastest growing denomination, especially…