A sub-category of News.
“What’s in a name?” asks Shakespeare’s Juliet. From a biblical standpoint, the answer is: quite a lot. Time and again the Scriptures underscore the saving power of the divine name as well as God’s intense interest in human names. The Catechism reflects this perspective when it reminds us that “God calls each one by name….
This October, my uncle Msgr. Thomas Wells has been resurfacing like a ghost of warm memory from the past. At a golf tournament held in his honor, through invitations to speak at his former parishes, and in chance encounters with his old friends, I’ve been told stories of how he impacted lives. After arriving early…
Above: Holy Mass at the High Altar in St. Peter’s (behind the main altar). All photos by Don Elvir unless noted. “Ooh la, la!” In many ways the instinctive and sotto voce reaction of the parish priest of St. Peter’s Basilica to the immense crowd he saw on Saturday could be an apt representation of…
The seraph Abdiel has stood up against Satan’s lies to his subordinate angels and warned him to seek pardon from the Father and the Son while there is yet time. But Satan replies with haughtiness and contempt, telling Abdiel he had better get lost: “Fly, ere evil intercept thy flight.” Abdiel must bear up alone…
“Lady Poverty,” as St. Francis called her, is the choice bride of the holiest of saints. In fact, all Christians must aspire to a form of poverty in accordance with our state in life. For religious, it is the first of the three religious vows, and for good reason. Yet material poverty is not forcefully…
Since Vatican II, there has been a renewed interest in documents from the Tradition not just from researchers, but Catholics trying to make sense of what is happening in the Church. The fruit of that is several documents not particularly well known to Catholics in the past appeared in books (and much later), on the…
The royal families of Europe were falling one by one. Secularist atheistic materialism was on the rise. In the wake of the gory First World War, Pope Pius XI looked out over a world in chaos. Industrialization and imperialism, aggravated by political alliances, had ignited the hideous war with its trench warfare, modern artillery, and…
Born in 1883, Gertrude Hill was a child of privilege. She was the youngest daughter of 10 children sired by James J. Hill, one of the richest and most powerful men in America, who made his fortune laying down a railroad from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington, a distance of more than 1,700 miles….
Above: the Sacred Heart of Jesus enthroned as King in the heart of society. The noise of the world is loud, at times unbearable, and it rattles not only our bodies but our souls, which too many of us choose to ignore. I’m not only referring to music, social media, and podcasts, but also to…
Above: prayer service with His Holiness and His Majesty King Charles III of England. Vatican Media. A “meeting of equals,” an “end” to a 500-year “divide,” and a breakthrough in ecumenical relations – such were the reactions of the world’s press to the historic state visit by the British Monarch to the Holy See yesterday….
