Category: Advancing the Kingdom

“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…

In spite of its feeble attempt this pun bears some significance. One and a quarter century ago, in 1893, Timothy Harringon, a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, along with two other laymen and the pastor at St. James Parish founded a Catholic Club…

In a nation which claims (or at least used to) a Judeo-Christian heritage the public response to the horrors recently perpetrated in El Paso and Dayton and earlier in places like Pittsburgh and Columbine is remarkable.  Politicians, actors, news anchormen, and even journalists identify white…

Recently I came across an article that has provoked considerable thought. The author reminds his readers that “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” and he wonders if we Americans have replaced the hard work of seeking wisdom with the easy allure of…

A cogent but little-known example of advancing the Kingdom is the work of an Institute created 102 years ago by Pope Benedict XV: Pontificio Instituto Orientale, or the Pontifical Oriental Institute (PIO) located in Rome. Since 1922 it has been entrusted to the Jesuits. According…

Mothers are usually right. They are able to arrive at the appropriate conclusion without having to rely on logic. Perhaps because they have the greater responsibility of raising children, especially in the early childhood years, Providence has bestowed on them of a higher degree of…