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Pope Francis has given a Belgian religious order until the end of August to stop offering euthanasia to psychiatric patients. Brother Rene Stockman, superior general of the order, told Catholic News Service the Pope gave his personal approval to a Vatican demand that the Brothers of Charity, which runs 15 centres for psychiatric patients across Belgium, must reverse its policy by the end of August. Brothers who serve on the board of the Brothers of Charity Group, the organization that runs the centers, also must each sign a joint letter to their superior general declaring that they “fully support the...

Fr. Don Miller, OFM Image: The Glory of Saint John Francis Regis | Church of Our Lady of Andance, Ardèche, France | Camillo RusconiSaint John Francis Regis Saint of the Day for June 16 (January 31, 1597 – December 30, 1640)  Saint John Francis Regis’ Story Born into a family of some wealth, John Francis was so impressed by his Jesuit educators that he himself wished to enter the Society of Jesus. He did so at age 18. Despite his rigorous academic schedule, he spent many hours in chapel, often to the dismay of fellow seminarians who were concerned...

Beware the Sins of the Pious - A Reflection on the Ways Satan Uses Even Good Things to Entrap Us Msgr. Charles Pope • August 8, 2017 • What is temptation? It is the work of Satan to drag you to Hell. He can read you like a book, play you like piano. Do not exaggerate his power—but do not underestimate it either.Some of Satan’s subtlest work is done in the area of religious observance. There, he can cloak himself in the lamb’s clothing of piety, but, wolf that he is, distort it through excess or defect, thereby destroying...

August 9, 2017 Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Nm 13:1-2, 25–14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35The LORD said to Moses [in the desert of Paran,]"Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan,which I am giving the children of Israel.You shall send one man from each ancestral tribe,all of them princes." After reconnoitering the land for forty days they returned,met Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the children of Israelin the desert of Paran at Kadesh,made a report to them all,and showed the fruit of the countryto the whole congregation.They told Moses: "We went into the...

Which Do You Prefer: Melons and Leeks, or the Bread of Heaven? Msgr. Charles Pope • August 7, 2017 • The first reading for daily Mass on Monday (18th week of the year) was taken from the Book of Numbers. It features the Israelites grumbling about the manna in the wilderness:Would that we had meat for food! We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now we are famished; we see nothing before us but this manna (Numbers 11:4-5).While it is easy...

August 8, 2017 Memorial of Saint Dominic, Priest Reading 1 Nm 12:1-13Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on the pretextof the marriage he had contracted with a Cushite woman.They complained, "Is it through Moses alone that the LORD speaks?Does he not speak through us also?"And the LORD heard this.Now, Moses himself was by far the meekest man on the face of the earth.So at once the LORD said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam,"Come out, you three, to the meeting tent."And the three of them went.Then the LORD came down in the column of cloud,and standing at the entrance...

Getting Unbound: A Reflection on Deliverance Ministry Msgr. Charles Pope • August 6, 2017 • There is wide interest today in the topic of exorcism. The publication in 2010 of Matt Baglio’s The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist and the subsequent movie and interviews with Fr. Gary Thomas have sparked some of this interest. Prior to this, books such as An Exorcist Tells His Story, by Fr. Gabriele Amorth, had paved the way.Frankly, another reason for the interest is that as our world becomes more secular, families disintegrate; the outright celebration of sinful practices spreads and there...

August 7, 2017 Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Nm 11:4b-15The children of Israel lamented,"Would that we had meat for food!We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt,and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks,the onions, and the garlic.But now we are famished;we see nothing before us but this manna." Manna was like coriander seed and had the color of resin.When they had gone about and gathered it up,the people would grind it between millstones or pound it in a mortar,then cook it in a pot and make it into loaves,which tasted...

Marriage and baptism are not bourgeois rites of passage. We need to make them easierThere are plenty of things for which I thank God: good friends, the health of my children, the glorious tenth anniversary of Summorum Pontificum, the fact that the Detroit Tigers will not be trading their star pitcher Justin Verlander. Another is the fact that my wife and I were never made to attend a Catholic marriage preparation course.If we had been members of a parish where the mind-numbingly dull half-year of expensive weekend retreats had been required, we would have gone through with it, obviously. Offering...

Learning to See - A Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration Msgr. Charles Pope • August 5, 2017 • The Transfiguration, Raphael (1520)The Feast of the Transfiguration is ultimately about vision. The Lord brought Peter, James, and John up a high mountain in order that they might come to see. Even the word that describes this day bespeaks vision. It is from the Latin transfiguratione. Trans means “across,” and by extension, “change.” Figura means “shape” or “form.” The suffix -ation creates a noun from the underlying verb. Putting it all together, transfiguration was the process by which Christ...

August 6, 2017 Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord Reading 1 Dn 7:9-10, 13-14As I watched: Thrones were set upand the Ancient One took his throne.His clothing was bright as snow,and the hair on his head as white as wool;his throne was flames of fire,with wheels of burning fire.A surging stream of fireflowed out from where he sat;Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him,and myriads upon myriads attended him.The court was convened and the books were opened. As the visions during the night continued, I saw: One like a Son of man coming,on the clouds of heaven;When he...

Doctors of the Church Monsignor Charles PopeQ. What is the process for determining how someone is declared a Doctor of the Church? Sam, via social mediaA. The Doctors of the Church are teachers of the faith who have demonstrated exemplary holiness and have deepened the whole Church’s understanding of the Catholic faith. They must be officially declared doctors by a papal proclamation. Such men and women also are known particularly for the depth of understanding and the orthodoxy of their theological teachings. Though their teachings are not infallible, being a “doctor” means that they contributed significantly to the formulation of...

August 5, 2017 Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Lv 25:1, 8-17The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,"Seven weeks of years shall you count–seven times seven years–so that the seven cycles amount to forty-nine years.Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, let the trumpet resound;on this, the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blast shall re-echothroughout your land.This fiftieth year you shall make sacredby proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants.It shall be a jubilee for you,when every one of you shall return to his own property,every one to his own...

What Is It That Most Distracts Us? Msgr. Charles Pope • August 3, 2017 • credit: dydcheung, FlickrWe think of distractions as coming mostly from the world around us, but is that really true? Consider the following, drawn from the stories of the early desert Fathers and monastic experience:Sometimes there would be a rush of noisy visitors and the silence of the monastery would be shattered. This would upset the disciples; not the Abbot, who seemed just as content with the noise as with the silence. To his protesting disciples he said one day, “Silence is not the absence...

August 4, 2017 Memorial of Saint John Vianney, Priest Reading 1 Lv 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37The LORD said to Moses,"These are the festivals of the LORD which you shall celebrateat their proper time with a sacred assembly.The Passover of the LORD falls on the fourteenth day of the first month,at the evening twilight.The fifteenth day of this month is the LORD's feast of Unleavened Bread.For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.On the first of these days you shall hold a sacred assemblyand do no sort of work.On each of the seven days you shall offer an oblation...

Training for Testimony is Missing in Many Parishes Msgr. Charles Pope • August 2, 2017 • 2 Comments credit – Jaclyn Lippelmann, Catholic StandardCatholicism has glorious liturgical and intellectual traditions, but because we have not excelled in training Catholics to give joyful witness to wonder of the Lord and our faith, they are among the best kept secrets around.In certain denominations, giving witness is a major focus, and congregants are well-trained for it both through personal testimony (witness talks are common in Protestant liturgies) and in their musical tradition. Pastoring in African-American parishes for most of my priesthood has...

August 3, 2017 Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ex 40:16-21, 34-38Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded him.On the first day of the first month of the second yearthe Dwelling was erected.It was Moses who erected the Dwelling.He placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars,and set up its columns.He spread the tent over the Dwellingand put the covering on top of the tent,as the LORD had commanded him.He took the commandments and put them in the ark;he placed poles alongside the ark and set the propitiatory upon it.He brought...

Who is Really on Trial in Our Life? Msgr. Charles Pope • August 1, 2017 • Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI possesses a keen ability to summarize the ideas and problems of our times both cogently and succinctly. Consider the following assessment of our age that he made during a 2015 interview:For the man of today…. things are, in a certain sense, inverted, or rather, man no longer believes he needs justification before God, but rather he is of the opinion that God is obliged to justify himself because of all the horrible things in the world and in the...

August 2, 2017 Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ex 34:29-35As Moses came down from Mount Sinaiwith the two tablets of the commandments in his hands,he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiantwhile he conversed with the LORD.When Aaron, then, and the other children of Israel saw Mosesand noticed how radiant the skin of his face had become,they were afraid to come near him.Only after Moses called to them did Aaronand all the rulers of the community come back to him.Moses then spoke to them.Later on, all the children of...

Finding the Church in a Bach Fugue Msgr. Charles Pope • July 31, 2017 • credit: Jaclyn Lippelmann, Catholic StandardMany of you have likely read the classic description of the Church from the 1951 novel Dan England and the Noonday Devil, by Myles Connolly. It is a wonderful reminder that the Church is not an institution, but a Body, made up of members who, each in his own unique way, give witness to the one Body, which is Christ. Here is an excerpt from the book: What is the Church?The Church to me is all important things everywhere. It...