The reader is likely well aware of what is commonly known as the “vocations crisis” in the Church. Vocations to the priesthood and religious life are at a historic low, even as Gen Z flocks to Catholicism. To say we are in unprecedented times is simultaneously a trite insight and a gross understatement. That there…

This year marks the ten-year anniversary of the martyrdom of Jacques Hamel, the 85-year-old French priest who was brutally murdered on July 26, 2016, by two Muslim men inspired by the terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, otherwise known as ISIS or ISIL. During the Prayers of Petition, the two men,…

Yesterday the world was busy in its pleasures, and the very children of God were taking a joyous farewell to mirth: but this morning, all is changed. The solemn announcement, spoken of by the prophet, has been proclaimed in Sion: the solemn fast of Lent, the season of expiation, the approach of the great anniversaries…