I recently was informed that this column is now sent to more than 7,000 recipients. It is a fair guess that more than a few are development directors in the business of raising funds for worthy causes and important institutions and that some others are…
Category: Advancing the Kingdom
The Sacred Family
Recently, the Nazareth Initiatives Fund has been opened at the National Catholic Community Foundation to support the apostolate of the Pontifical Council for the Family. The charismatic president of this council is Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia and as the attached write-up demonstrates his global efforts are…
Be Not Afraid! Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent
The following homily was delivered by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, on December 21st, 2014. God’s Holy Word, which we just heard, and the sermon that follows, are supposed to be good news. Some days that’s tough to give, this…
….the beauty of Holy Matrimony….
“The values and virtues of the family – its essential truths – are the family unit’s strengths and are not open to challenge. Rather, it is our own way of life that we must re-examine. It runs a continual risk of being ‘infected’ by worldly…
Languid Indifference
Two passages struck me this past weekend, from quite disparate sources. The Old Testament reading for the first Sunday in Advent is from chapter 63 of Isaiah: “Why, Yahweh, do you let us wander from our way and let our hearts grow too hard to…
…what if he came today?
Two millennia ago our Lord appeared among us as the son of a carpenter. Suppose the Incarnation occurred today instead. With what profession or trade would the Son of God associate himself? Would he be a professor? ‘Christ the Teacher’ has a familiar ring to…
… knowing full well the dangers involved ...
A half century ago (can you believe it?) in 1963 Father Eymard Gallagher, the Edmundite Missions Director in Selma, Alabama, included these words in his letter to Bishop Toolen of Mobile in which he requested permission “actively to help the Negro people in their struggle…”…
The bishops take a stand
Once again, the world’s eyes are on Africa. This time the Ebola endemic raises our alarm. Each time I read about its expansion and morbid conquests, the bishops of Africa come to mind. So many of the ills that beset that resource-rich continent are avoidable.…
Imago hominis
One of the many beliefs Christianity sustains from our Jewish roots is that precious disclosure in Genesis, at the opening of the Torah, that man is created in the image of God. How mind-bogglingly powerful this is! The Creator with infinite irrepressible love allows us…
Bishops, secure your miters
Like it or not, one of the peskier facts of life is semantic drift. Consider the evolution in meaning of such words as ‘liberal,’ ‘unique,’ ‘gay’ or ‘egregious.’ Well, ladies and gentlemen, hold onto you hats. Bishops, secure your miters. The new springtime heralded…