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September 4, 2014Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 1 Cor 3:18-23 Brothers and sisters:Let no one deceive himself.If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age,let him become a fool, so as to become wise.For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God,for it is written: God catches the wise in their own ruses, and again: The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you,Paul or Apollos or Cephas,or the world or life...

Benedict XV, circa 1915. Photo courtesy of the United States Library of Congress. Vatican City, Sep 3, 2014 / 01:21 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Despite a biography title labeling him the “Unknown Pope,”  Benedict XV had a tremendous impact on life of the Church, and his legacy of diplomacy and efforts for peace live on today. On Sept. 3, 1914 – 100 years ago today – Giacomo Giambattista della Chiesa was elected Bishop of Rome. della Chiesa, a longtime diplomat who had been Archbishop of Bologna since 1907, took the name Benedict XV when he was elected a little more than...

Fatima The Moors once occupied Portugal. The village of Fatima was given the Islamic name of the well-loved Princess of the nearby Castle of Ourem. She died at an early age after marrying the Count of Ourem and converting to Catholicism. Baptized with the Christian name of Oureana, she was named at birth "Fatima," like many other Moslem girls, in honor of the daughter of Mohammed. Of his daughter, Fatima, the founder of Islam, Mohammed, said: "She has the highest place in heaven after the Virgin Mary." It is a fact that Moslems from various nations, especially from the Middle...

This contradiction was laid bare recently when the Holy See, acting in secret, threw the protective cloak of diplomatic immunity over Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski — the papal nuncio in the Dominican Republic and an alleged serial abuser of minors. In a show of toughness, church officials defrocked Wesolowski and promised to try him according to the laws of Vatican City. In effect, though, church officials once again shielded a predator priest from civil jurisdiction.

September 3, 2014Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church Reading 1 1 Cor 3:1-9 Brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you as spiritual people,but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ.I fed you milk, not solid food,because you were unable to take it.Indeed, you are still not able, even now,for you are still of the flesh.While there is jealousy and rivalry among you,are you not of the flesh, and walking according to the manner of man?Whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another,“I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely men?...

Featured Term (selected at random:HIERONYMITES Also called the Jeronymites or the Hierohymitae. Groups of hermits who followed the way of life of St. Jerome (342-420), going back to the community of men and women who gathered around him in Bethlehem. They were later given the Rule of St. Augustine. Hieronymite nuns were founded in Spain in 1426. In the sixteenth century the order was one of the channels through which the Catholic Counter-Reformation found its expression. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Why did God allow for the striking-down of people in the Old Testament? How is this reconciled with the dogma of a loving God?Protestants and modern-day "Jews" don't have an answer for this -- one beyond dualism or "mystery", I mean. But the Church does. There is mortal sin, and there is venial sin (1 John 5:17). Mortal sin -- willful and of grave nature -- separates one from God, practically killing the soul. Venial sin -- all other -- must simply be cleansed, and it does not eternally separate us from Him. And this distinction is shown in the...

September 2, 2014Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 1 Cor 2:10b-16 Brothers and sisters:The Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.Among men, who knows what pertains to the manexcept his spirit that is within?Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.We have not received the spirit of the worldbut the Spirit who is from God,so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom,but with words taught by the Spirit,describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms....

Today's generation of nuns are progressive women, two things the Church isn't used to Nuns are an endangered species. They are dying and not being replaced. More Florida Atheist Kicked Out of City Meeting For Refusing to Stand During InvocationHate Crime Laws: What the Amish Beard Cutting Case Means for the Rest of UsBrits on Edge: Police Get Power to Seize Terror Suspect Passports NBC NewsSkiing Standoff Could Be Downhill Run for Park City NBC NewsMajor Shift: Germany to Arm Anti-ISIS Forces in Iraq NBC News If you think the news is bad now, a world without nuns would be...

Featured Term (selected at random:VATICAN CITY Official name, Stato della Città del Vaticano. It is the territorial see of the Papacy, determined by the Lateran Treaty of 1929. Situated within the geopraphic boundary of Rome, it covers an area of 108.7 acres and includes the Vatican Palace, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican Radio Station, and numerous other buildings that serve the Pope and the administration of the universal Church. Ultimate authority for Vatican City is vested in the Pope but actually administered by the Pontifical Commission for the State of the Vatican City. In generaly, the government is based on canon...

Hardly any Americans will know of Hilarion Alfeyev, 48, a Russian Orthodox bishop who acts as the "foreign minister" of his Church, but it is important that they do. He is a bridge between not just the Orthodox Church and Catholicism but a bridge between Russia and America. As a Catholic American, I first saw him 15 years ago on a cold December day in Moscow. Hilarion, then 33, was already a rising star in the firmament of the Russian Orthodox Church. He had done his graduate studies in philosophy at Oxford — rather rare for Russian Orthodox Church leaders....

September 1, 2014Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 1 Cor 2:1-5 When I came to you, brothers and sisters,proclaiming the mystery of God,I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.For I resolved to know nothing while I was with youexcept Jesus Christ, and him crucified.I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,and my message and my proclamationwere not with persuasive words of wisdom,but with a demonstration of spirit and power,so that your faith might rest not on human wisdombut on the power of God. Responsorial Psalm Ps 119:97,...

Traditional Catholic Priest by Fr. Peter Carota Search Main menu Skip to primary content HomeSample Page Post navigation← Previous Next → Bishop Schneider Says Traditional Catholics Are Not “Extremest”, But Rather The Hope For The Future Posted on August 29, 2014 by fc Bishop Schneider had an interview published in the June 6th 2014 CatholicHerald.co.uk, “We Are In The Fourth Great Crisis Of The Church“.  If you have the time please read the whole great article.  Here I have attempted to only highlight the main points in the article.In his interview he said we are in the fourth great...

The Stories of Our Lady of Czestochowa Sarah ReinhardI never wanted to be a mom. It was never in my goals or my plan for life.And yet here I am, watching my three-year-old “mow”as I type away in the comfort of a camp chair in the shade of the garage. Right now this kid is the focus of most of my photos and social media efforts. He’s immensely quotable, hilarious, and spontaneous. It’s something that I can’t help but share (lest it drive me crazier than I already am).But don’t get me wrong. Three is not my favorite age. And...

August 31, 2014Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Jer 20:7-9 You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped;you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.All the day I am an object of laughter;everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I must cry out,violence and outrage is my message;the word of the LORD has brought mederision and reproach all the day. I say to myself, I will not mention him,I will speak in his name no more.But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,imprisoned in my bones;I grow weary holding it in, I...

Featured Term (selected at random:NATURAL VIRTUE A good moral habit whose principles, object, and purpose are natural to the human person. This means any virtue whose existence in knowable by the light of natural reason and whose practice is possible (at least for a time) without the help of supernatural grace. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

I have argued before that, in their fullest, libertarianism and Catholicism are incompatible -- but to what degree are they so? Leaders of the libertarian movement have certainly said silly, anti-Catholic things. Ludwig von Mises, for example, compared Christ to the Bolshevists and also said, "..[I]t is the resistance which the Church has offered to the spread of liberal ideas which has prepared the soil for the destructive resentment of modern socialist thought" (Socialism, Chapter 29). Translation: opposition to liberalism of one stripe must be blamed for inspiring liberalism of another. Huh? Much of the conflict between libertarians and the...

August 30, 2014Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 1 Cor 1:26-31 Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters.Not many of you were wise by human standards,not many were powerful,not many were of noble birth.Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,those who count for nothing,to reduce to nothing those who are something,so that no human being might boast before God.It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus,who...

Newspaper: ISIS targeting Pope Francis Italian newspaper Il Tempo reports that Pope Francis is a target ISIS has "in the crosshairs." CNN's John Allen reports. Video at the site: http://news.msn.com/world/video?videoid=8e4b6392-0cfc-4a76-8d28-a18e1c856941

Featured Term (selected at random:CANONICAL LIFE A rule of life drawn up in ancient times for the clergy, mainly the cathedral assistants. Intermediate between the monastic life and secular priesthood, they lived in community. Many later become canons regular of St. Augustine (354-430), who introduced this mode of life into his own episcopal household. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.