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The Catholic Church, from at least the second century, has claimed that Christ was born on December 25. However, it is commonly alleged that our Lord Jesus Christ was not born on December 25. For the sake of simplicity, let us set out the usual objections to the date of December 25 and counter each of them. Objection 1: December 25 was chosen in order to replace the pagan Roman festival of Saturnalia. Saturnalia was a popular winter festival and so the Catholic Church prudently substituted Christmas in its place. Reply to Objection 1: Saturnalia commemorated the winter solstice. Yet the winter solstice...

Featured Term selected at random:GREAT PROMISE The twelfth of the traditional twelve promises made by the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-90). It declares: "I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays of nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment." Along with the other promises, the Great Promise was implicitly approved by the Church in...

Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There! A Brief Consideration of the Importance of ExperienceBy: Msgr. Charles PopeI want to give two thumbs up for good old-fashioned experience, just experiencing life to its top … just having an experience! Too often in today’s hurried age and also in this time of 24×7 news, we rush past experience right to analysis. Too often we insist on knowing immediately what something “means” and what to think about it. This rush to think and analyze often happens before the experience is even over. And, of course, analyzing something before all the facts are...

May I make two requests? Love me, but remember that you cannot be more merciful than God. It isn’t mercy to affirm same-sex acts as good. Don’t compromise truth; help me to live in harmony with it.Over thirty years have passed since same-sex attraction rushed up from deep within my twelve-year-old frame. This attraction was unbidden and unwanted, yet simultaneously forceful and compelling. As a Christian, the conflict between my sexuality and my faith would become the deepest and most intense of my life. Now in my forties, I’ve gone from being closeted to openly lesbian to celibate to heterosexually...

The Treasure of Singleness Tyler Blanski It can be difficult to be a single Christian. I remember watching as one by one my friends would marry, start families, and settle down. The cards would come just before Christmas with news of another baby or a new home, and I would set them on the table in my empty apartment and sigh. As a Christian, my newsfeed was like one long drawn out toast to holy matrimony, and I was getting tired of holding up my glass. The Kingdom of God is like a wedding feast, and the baptized faithful had so...

Featured Term selected at random:CALIFORNIA MISSIONS The parish centers established among the American Indians by Catholic missionaries from Spain. Three sets of missions were founded, in sequence, by the Jesuits and Dominicans in Lower California (now Mexico), and by the Franciscans in Upper California (now the United States). The Jesuit missions and the years of their foundation, beginning from south to north, were: San José del Cabo (1730); Santiago de las Coras (1721); San Juan de Ligní (1705); Nuestra Señora de los Dolores del Sur (1721); Nuestra Señora del Pilar (1720); Santa Rosa or Todos Santos (1733); San Luis Gonzaga...

Come Lord Jesus! A Meditation on the Stunning Glory of Being Gathered to Christ on the Last Day By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn Advent, as we continue to meditate on the Parousia (the magnificent Second Coming of the Lord), we do well to allow our imaginations to be engaged in contemplating the glory that awaits those who are faithful, to meditate on the joy and ecstasy of the culmination of all things!Though we have soberly meditated on the need to be ready and on the great danger that many who are not serious may be lost, for those who ARE ready, what glories...

St. Juan Diego: Ordinary Son of Mary Daniel StewartJuan Diego was born in 1474 in a place called Cuautitlán. Once a part of the Aztec Empire, Cuautitlán was conquered by the Spanish and is now in present day Mexico City. Born before the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Juan Diego was an indigenous Mexican who was given the name Cuauhtlatoatzin at birth. When Franciscan missionaries arrived, Cuauhtlatoatzin and his wife were some of the first indigenous people to convert. At baptism, they were given the names Juan Diego and Maria Lucia. Juan Diego was not a slave but...

The Synoptic Problem The order of the Gospels in our printed Bible is that sanctioned by Tradition. The first three Gospels are frequently called the Synoptics (from the Greek terms syn "together," and opsis "view"). When placed side by side and brought under one view, these three Gospels present a striking resemblance and appear as one narrative. Not only are many of the same events and speeches recorded in each, but the order and manner in which they are narrated is nearly the same. The problem as to the origin and relation of the first three Gospels, presented by...

Featured Term selected at random:THREE CHAPTERS A sixth-century controversy involving Pope Vigilius and Emperor Justinian. The emperor had condemned three subjects: 1. the person and writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia; 2. certain writings of Theodoret against St. Cyril of Alexandria; and 3. the letter of Ibas of Edessa to Maris. Since all three were pro-Nestorian, the Emperor hoped in this way to conciliate the Monophysites. The Pope at first refused to ratify the Emperor's condemnation, but under compulsion later approved it. This was interpreted in the West as an act of weakness, and the Pope withdrew his approval. Soon after,...

The Catholic Church must help parents stand by their gay children, Pope Francis said in a new interview about his papal ministry. The pontiff’s comments come a day after Francis urged top church officials to pay attention to the “signs of the times” and listen to ordinary Catholics, according to The Independent. “We come across this reality all the time in the confessional: a father and a mother whose son or daughter is in that situation. This happened to me several times in Buenos Aires.... We have to find a way to help that father or that mother to stand...

The “Great Gettin’ Up Morning” as Described in an Unlikely Advent Hymn By: Msgr. Charles PopeHere in the heart of Advent, we are considering how prepared we are for the Lord to come again. Either He will come to us or we will go to Him, but either way we must prepare. In today’s post I’d like to consider some teachings about the Day of Judgment, from an Advent hymn that most do not know is an Advent hymn. Tomorrow I would like to consider the great Parousia, wherein the saved enter into glory with the Lord.Regarding the “Great and...

December 8th is the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.It celebrates an important point of Catholic teaching, and in most years it is a holy day of obligation.Here are 8 things you need to know about the teaching and the way we celebrate it. 1. Who does the Immaculate Conception refer to? There’s a popular idea that it refers to Jesus’ conception by the Virgin Mary.It doesn’t.Instead, it refers to the special way in which the Virgin Mary herself was conceived.This conception was not virginal. (That is, she had a human father as well as a human mother.) But it was special...

Featured Term selected at random:HOLY GRAIL The legendary cup identified with the chalice used by Christ at the Last Supper from which the Apostles received the Precious Blood. The quest for it has been the basis of many popular stories. One of the most popular was the legend that Joseph of Arimathaea brought the Holy Grail to England. This became the theme of numerous Arthurian romance. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Matrimony or Bust – Another Glimpse at the Why and How of Traditional Marriage’s Demise By: Msgr. Charles PopeAll the way back in 1973, George Guilder published a book called Men and Marriage. He expanded and republished it in 1986. In his book, Guilder argued that our culture was marginalizing men, to its great peril. He articulated the critical role that marriage has in helping men focus their sexual energies in a creative and beneficial way. Women have their nurturing role rather clearly defined in the very design of their bodies. But men’s role in the raising of children and in society...

To assess the impact of community service on personal wellbeing in a mid-west church-based population a prospective survey was distributed evaluating self-reported community service, the perceived benefit of the service and its association to personal wellbeing. There were 309 participants. Those who served in some capacity had better scores on survey questions including: contentment, peace, joy, purpose and community acceptance, but not better self-perceived mental or physical health. Church going adults, who are serving in some capacity in their church or community, may demonstrate heightened personal wellbeing compared to those who are not assisting others.

Investigate the Abortion Industryby Eve TushnetMarla Cardamone smiles shyly from her photograph. Christi Stile is laughing in hers. But beneath their pictures, their mothers testified to the pain and grief of having a daughter killed or gravely injured by abortion. Cardamone died at age 18. Stile, 26, has been in a coma for eight years following a botched abortion. They are two of the reasons Priests for Life President Father Frank Pavone called for a "full investigation of the abortion industry," in full-page advertisements that ran in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. The advertisement charged that abortion...

The Fire Next Time – A Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent By: Msgr. Charles PopeAn old spiritual says, God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, but the fire next time. The second reading in today’s Mass speaks to us of the “Fire next time” and again reminds of the need to be ready for the coming of the Lord. This homily focuses especially on that Second reading wherein St Peter reminds us of a passing that will come for us all, sooner or later. And since Advent is a time to prepare by prayer and repentance, we do...

The Virgin BirthIt is a matter of Catholic faith that Mary was a Virgin at the conception and at the birth of Christ, and that she always remained a virgin after the birth of Christ. (The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was declared in 1854, and is based on Catholic Tradition & the following information.) The virginal conception of our Lord denotes a conception without the cooperation of a human father. The thrice holy germ in Mary's womb, out of which the Chief of the human race was fashioned, received from the miraculous activity of the Holy Ghost its...

Pope Benedict XVI. Photo Credit: Mazur. Vatican City, Dec 4, 2014 / 03:16 pm (CNA).- News broke weeks ago that a new volume of Benedict XVI's collected works was being released in German with an updated version of a 1972 essay, which no longer suggests that the divorced and remarried can receive Communion, as it once did. But thanks to Sandro Magister and his translator Matthew Sherry, the full text of his “Retractatio” is now available in English. As CNA reported Nov. 25, Joseph Ratzinger published an essay in 1972, while a priest of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising,...