Category: Advancing the Kingdom

As colloquialisms go, “reaching out’ is relatively new. It has actually been awarded entry in Merriam Webster as a ‘verbal phrase’, the meaning of which is ‘to make an effort to do something for other people’.   Catholics in the United States are fortunate. Several…

It would be difficult to find a Catholic, or for that matter an American, who has not heard of the Knights of Columbus. It was founded as a fraternal society by Father Michael McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut in 1882. Its purpose was to bring…

“Free to choose but not free not to choose”. In his recently published book The Hell There Is Msgr. Charles Pope forcefully warns us against our insouciant (if not nonexistent) regard for what awaits us after our earthly sojourn. We are at liberty to choose…

“The falcon cannot hear the falconer, things fall apart. The centre cannot hold”. William Butler Yeats wrote these lines in 1919 in “The Second Coming”, his celebrated poem prompted by the ravages of the First World War. Now, a century later, persistent echoes of his…

Cardinal Robert Prevost has been elevated to the Chair of Peter. He is an American, a one-time head of the Augustinian Order, and a missionary who spent twenty years ministering to the poor in Peru. Is it a surprise that he chose as his papal…

The white smoke has arisen. A new pope has been elected. Around the world hope is reinforced. One would be hard pressed to gainsay the need for it in the native land of Pope Leo XIV. Conventional wisdom has it that the USA is ‘post-Christian’.…

“Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out”.  This was once a popular aphorism. Even so, while its popularity today is lost, its significance isn’t.  What brings this fact to mind is the rise of what is called ‘non-denominational Christianity’. What is non-denominational…

Lately, the sudden preoccupation with pronouns has received much media coverage. Unfortunately, this attention has not been aroused by concern over that annoyingly ubiquitous grammatical violation ‘between you and I’, but rather it is due to the conflation of the words ‘sex’ and ‘gender’.  Perhaps…

A cross and a crucifix, Easter Sunday and Good Friday, pastors and priests: the parallel distinctions in each of these three dyads is worthy of reflection on this Holy Thursday, especially as they relate to the sacrament of Holy Orders. A cross is a crucifix…

Is the fact that this once popular phrase has fallen into disuse significant? The expression means stubbornly or recklessly determined, and its implication is a course of action destined for disastrous failure.  One might ask: “Are we hell-bent?” If so, it is sobering to be…