Category: Advancing the Kingdom

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…

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 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…

Dear Reader: The arrival of Christmas is a perennial reminder that as a result of the Incarnation we are all children of God and therefore possess an indelible dignity marked by ’radical equality’.  I urge you to read these remarks by Archbishop Paglia, President of the…

When was the last time you heard this expression, so common just a generation ago? It seems to have dropped from our vernacular. My impression is that grace before meals is also on the decline. If so, one wonders how families, unused to such prayer,…

Pure evil. I heard these words spoken in reference to one of the murderous events that have occurred in our nation over the past month. While emotionally I resonate with the sentiment they express, intellectually I question the syntactical accuracy of these two words. How…

I had blood drawn this week for a routine physical exam. Though I arrived in time for my appointment I was obliged to wait a half hour in a sitting room with a dozen others. I didn’t mind the delay as I had brought reading…

I’ll tip my cap to those of you who recognize the name of this saint and know the name of the Congregation he founded.  (No fair consulting the Magi).* One treasured benefit of being involved with the NCCF community is meeting individuals and communities who…

Instead of taking the bus I sometimes drive to work, a change that allows me to study bumper stickers. Recently I came across this one: “American Values Are Progressive Values”. I thought about this and now wonder if the correct articulation of the bumper’s intended…

It may be a neologism. I have never come across it but an awareness of its significance and relevance has grown in me these past few years. Has any of you encountered the word ‘technarchy’? Monarchy is the rule of one; oligarchy the rule of…