A sub-category of News.
Being back in Southern California is always a bit of a culture shock, and never more than in the Summer. Pasadena could not be further from Europe in so many ways. But of course, it does have a charm of its own, and a plethora of local institutions that give it a unique character. The…
Why should we revere the Blessed Mother? Is it a requirement of faith that we do so? Isn’t it a bit of an anachronism, however, in an age determined on ecumenism, where the cry of unity requires that we respect the views of those who see her as a divisive figure? Mightn’t it be better,…
Divorce is a sensitive topic. Much of the serious Catholic discussion on the topic addresses receiving Communion or even how American Catholics are 6 percent of global Catholics but 60 percent of annulments. The evidence shows that divorce significantly threatens the faith of both divorced Catholics and their children, underscoring the urgent need for parishes…
Once the First Council of Nicaea (325) concluded, the rule for determining the date of Easter was established: “Easter is to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon after the vernal equinox.” What is the symbolic significance of these astronomical reference events? Many years ago, Father Gregory Hesse (1953–2006), a Chestertonian…
For over a decade, I’ve found myself drawn, almost unintentionally, into the role of what I would describe as a theological obituarist. I never intended to focus on death, yet I’ve been repeatedly drawn to reflect on what the lives and deaths of public figures reveal about mortality, judgment, and the soul’s yearning for transcendence….
Most weeks, I spend an hour or so standing on a public right-of-way facing a nearby Planned Parenthood clinic. I pray the Rosary and hope that the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that I hold might touch the heart of a client or worker entering that office a few parking spots away. It’s a…
The texts for this 7th Sunday after Pentecost in the 1962 Missale Romanum, the Vetus Ordo, challenge us to examine the alignment between the profession of our faith and the actual fruit borne in our lives. “By their fruits you shall know them,” the Lord says in today’s Gospel (Matthew 7:15–21). This is a proffered…
Preface and Precis: This is a sermon warning against false prophets. The Gospel of this TLM Mass (Matthew 7:15-21) is, inexplicably, not to be found on any Sunday or Solemnity in the Novus Ordo Mass. This sermon also offers a supplementary context and commentary: Our Lord’s admonition against corrupt leadership “matures” into warnings against the…
A survey of the presence of the Catholic Church in South America will invariably focus on the largest nations, Brazil and Argentina, with reference also to countries such as Peru, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, and Venezuela. It is unlikely, however, that Uruguay will feature very prominently, or at all, in surveys of the Catholic presence in…
As you read this, 166 men have ridden their bicycles 1,691 miles. And among those miles, they have climbed 127,950 feet through the rugged mountains of the Pyrenees and the Alps. Come the final laps in Paris this Sunday, they will have ridden 2,075 miles, with 172,240 feet of climbing. That is 32 miles of…
