Category: Advancing the Kingdom

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…

These are the opening words of what many contend is the most theologically revolutionary document of the Second Vatican Council, the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions promulgated by Pope Paul VI in October 1965: “IN OUR TIME, when day by…

Allow me to follow up on an article that appeared here a year or so ago about the organization: American Federation Pueri Cantores. I forward the attached write-up by Dr. Jacqueline Leary-Warsaw, the Dean of the Rome School of Music Drama and Art at the…

Recently I was privileged to meet the rector of a major seminary. This wise priest pointed out a gap he perceives in seminary training today, one which wasn’t so relevant generations ago. Traditionally graduates of seminaries were assigned to parishes to assist older pastors for…