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Featured Term (selected at random):BATH-SHBEBA The wife of Uriah the Hittite. She was coveted by King David, who connived with his military leader, Joab, to send Uriah into such a dangerous part of the battlefield that he would be killed. His plot succeeded, and then he made Bath-Sheba his queen. A child resulted from this unholy union, but Yahweh was angered by the king's shameful conduct (II Samuel 11:14-27). The prophet Nathan appeared in David's court and delivered a stinging rebuke. David's repentance was expressed eloquently in Psalm 51, and he willingly offered penance for his crime, but the...

May 23, 2013   Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 Sir 5:1-8 Rely not on your wealth;say not: “I have the power.”Rely not on your strengthin following the desires of your heart.Say not: “Who can prevail against me?”or, “Who will subdue me for my deeds?”for God will surely exact the punishment.Say not: “I have sinned, yet what has befallen me?”for the Most High bides his time.Of forgiveness be not overconfident,adding sin upon sin.Say not: “Great is his mercy;my many sins he will forgive.”For mercy and anger alike are with him;upon the wicked alights his...

Dr. James Hitchcock was a guest recently on EWTN's "Bookmark" to talk with host Doug Keck about his book, History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium (Ignatius Press, 2013). Here is the video of that interview, in which Dr. Hitchcock discusses several different eras of history, some ancient and modern heresies, and common misunderstandings about the Church and her history: EWTN Bookmark - 2013-04-21 - James Hitchcock - YouTube Video The Catholic Church is the longest-enduring institution in the world. Beginning with the first Christians and continuing in our present day, the Church has...

Atheists should be seen as good people if they do good, Pope Francis has said in his latest urging that people of all religions, and none, work together. The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics made his comments in the homily of his morning mass at his residence, a daily event at which he speaks without prepared comments. He told the story of a Catholic who asked a priest if even atheists had been redeemed by Jesus. "Even them, everyone," the pope answered, according to Vatican Radio. "We all have the duty to do good," he said. "Just...

CHICAGO, May 22 (UPI) -- Six men who charge they were victims of former priest Donald McGuire have settled a sex abuse lawsuit against Chicago Jesuits for $19.6 million. The payout averaging $3 million a person is the largest individual amount awarded in the history of the U.S. Catholic sexual abuse scandal, lawyers for the victims told the Chicago Tribune. Settlement of the lawsuit against the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus names a number of Jesuit superiors who for four decades kept McGuire's crimes a secret and enabled him to abuse more young men, victims' attorneys said. Internal...

Featured Term (selected at random):ARCHBISHOP A bishop who presides over one or more dioceses. He may call the bishops to a provincial council, having the right and duty to do so, and he may act as first judge of appeal over a decision of one of his bishops. His immediate jurisdiction, however, pertains solely to his own diocese. He is often styled "metropolitan" because of the importance of his see city or ecclesiastical province. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Writing for The Atlantic in September of 2012, Hanna Rosin argued that the “hookup culture” so prevalent on college campuses and in the lives of young adults is “an engine of female progress—one being harnessed and driven by women themselves.” She wrote: To put it crudely, feminist progress right now largely depends on the existence of the hookup culture. And to a surprising degree, it is women—not men—who are perpetuating the culture, especially in school, cannily manipulating it to make space for their success, always keeping their own ends in mind. For college girls these days, an overly serious suitor...

May 22, 2013 Wednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 Sir 4:11-19 Wisdom breathes life into her childrenand admonishes those who seek her.He who loves her loves life; those who seek her will be embraced by the Lord.He who holds her fast inherits glory;wherever he dwells, the LORD bestows blessings.Those who serve her serve the Holy One;those who love her the LORD loves.He who obeys her judges nations;he who hearkens to her dwells in her inmost chambers.If one trusts her, he will possess her;his descendants too will inherit her.She walks with him as a strangerand...

Is Pope Francis an exorcist? The question has been swirling ever since Francis laid his hands Sunday on the head of a young man after celebrating Mass in St. Peter's Square. The young man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, convulsed and shook, and then slumped in his wheelchair as Francis prayed over him. (snip) Fueling the speculation is Francis' obsession with the devil, a frequent subject of his homilies.

Pope Francis asked those gathered for the Pentecost Vigil Mass at the Vatican to chant Christ's name instead of his own, highlighting his role as Christ's vicar on earth. "From now on no more 'Francis,' only 'Jesus,' alright?” he asked rhetorically during the Pentecost Vigil Mass said May 18 at Saint Peter's Square...."I want to hear you shout out 'Jesus, Jesus is Lord, and he is in our midst.'" ...The Pope told how his grandmother was the first to pass on the faith to him, and insisted that a person's faith begins through their family. "I received my first Christian...

Featured Term (selected at random):LEPER WINDOW A low window in the chancel wall of a church, found in medieval architecture. Often it was iron barred or shuttered. It was to enable lepers who had to remain outside the church to attend Mass. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

The following is the homily Katherine Jeffords Schori read in Caracas, Venezuela. The topic is the passage from Acts, wherein Paul drives out what the bible plainly identifies as a demon from a girl. The beauty of this place is legendary. It is beautiful – and fragile, for its beauty depends on a dynamic balance among the parts of this island system. Many people don’t notice beauty around them until it’s gone. When we go somewhere that looks very different, often it takes a long time to appreciate that it has beauty, even though it’s a different kind of beauty....

May 21, 2013 Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 Sir 2:1-11 My son, when you come to serve the LORD,stand in justice and fear,prepare yourself for trials.Be sincere of heart and steadfast,incline your ear and receive the word of understanding,undisturbed in time of adversity.Wait on God, with patience, cling to him, forsake him not;thus will you be wise in all your ways.Accept whatever befalls you,when sorrowful, be steadfast,and in crushing misfortune be patient;For in fire gold and silver are tested,and worthy people in the crucible of humiliation.Trust God and God will help you;trust in...

Statism: Pope Francis seemed to have an economic blind spot, to say the least, when he urged more "state control" to cut global poverty Thursday. On the contrary — the biggest poverty-killer in history is free enterprise.Before we go further, let us say that we know that the pope does seem to have the best intentions and his devotion to the poor is indisputable. But it appears he has been infected by the local economic pathologies of his homeland, Argentina, and its liberation theology among the Jesuits, at least when he warned ambassadors about "the tyranny of money" and called...

Featured Term (selected at random):LOW MASS A term formerly used for a Mass celebrated without music. The priest read, instead of sang, all the prayers of the Mass. Unknown in the early Church, it was also called a private Mass. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

May 20, 2013   Monday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 Sir 1:1-10 All wisdom comes from the LORDand with him it remains forever, and is before all timeThe sand of the seashore, the drops of rain,the days of eternity: who can number these?Heaven’s height, earth’s breadth,the depths of the abyss: who can explore these?Before all things else wisdom was created;and prudent understanding, from eternity.The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdomand her ways are everlasting.To whom has wisdom’s root been revealed?Who knows her subtleties?To whom has the discipline of wisdom been...

I took piano lessons for 6 years in elementary school and junior high. It never came easy for me and I always had to practice to master even simple pieces. Every spring we had the dreaded recital where about 30 of us would perform from memory for our families. It was hard to know who was more uncomfortable on these evenings–those of us on the stage or our parents who had to endure our missed notes and shaky re-starts. I only had one rule about the music I played at recital: it had to be written in the key of...

Vatican City, May 18, 2013 / 09:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis spoke today about how gossip by Christians is a “slap� to Jesus “in the person of his children.� “All three - disinformation, defamation and slander - are sins! This is sin! It is to slap Jesus in the person of his children, his brothers,� the Pope said May 18 in the chapel of St. Martha’s House. The topic game up in Pope Francis’ homily because of the day’s Gospel reading from John 21 in which Peter asks if John will be alive when Jesus returns to earth. ?“What...

Anne Hendershott, an eloquent opponent of the Obama administration, states that she has reason to believe she was targeted by the IRS for an audit following publications that were critical of President Obama and Catholics who supported him. Aleteia, a Catholic publication, reports that Hendershott, a Catholic scholar, sociology professor at Franciscan University at Steubenville, Ohio, and columnist for the Wall St. Journal, may have been harassed by the IRS for specifically opposing the policies of the Obama administration. “I have no proof of it being a political audit,” Hendershott said. “Only the curious circumstance surrounding it. My husband...

May 19, 2013 Pentecost Sunday - Mass during the Day   Reading 1 Acts 2:1-11 When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,they were all in one place together.And suddenly there came from the skya noise like a strong driving wind,and it filled the entire house in which they were.Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,which parted and came to rest on each one of them.And they were all filled with the Holy Spiritand began to speak in different tongues,as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heavenstaying in Jerusalem.At...

May 19, 2013 Pentecost Sunday - At the Vigil Mass   Reading 1 Gn 11:1-9 The whole world spoke the same language, using the same words.While the people were migrating in the east,they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.They said to one another,“Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire.”They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar.Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a cityand a tower with its top in the sky,and so make a name for ourselves;otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.” The LORD...

Featured Term (selected at random):REVIVFICATION Belief that all the sacraments, except the Eucharist and penance, confer the grace originally available, once the obstacle preventing the grace is removed. It is assumed that a person wants to receive the sacrament but lackes the proper dispositions, mainly the state of grace for sacraments of the living and adequate contrition for sacraments of the dead. When one attains the state of grace or arrives at sufficient contrition, the grace of the sacraments is "revived" without repeating the sacramental rite. The validity of baptism, confirmation, matrimony, and orders is always certain in these circumstances....

[ . . .] Perhaps because the Obama speech to Planned Parenthood coincided with Gosnell’s homicide trial, the president did not utter the word “abortion” once. But the timing notwithstanding, that omission was hardly surprising in an address that may have set a new standard for deliberate misrepresentation of reality. For it requires willful moral blindness about reality to say that “what Planned Parenthood is about” is helping “a woman from Chicago named Courtney” make sure she could start a family, by providing “access to affordable contraceptive care to keep her healthy” in the face of a fertility-threatening disease. Today,...

May 18, 2013   Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter   Reading 1 Acts 28:16-20, 30-31 When he entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself,with the soldier who was guarding him. Three days later he called together the leaders of the Jews.When they had gathered he said to them, “My brothers,although I had done nothing against our peopleor our ancestral customs,I was handed over to the Romans as a prisoner from Jerusalem.After trying my case the Romans wanted to release me,because they found nothing against me deserving the death penalty.But when the Jews objected, I was...

IntroductionROY WENZL & TRAVIS HEYING What soldiers say Kapaun did is so heroic that it defies believability. Some people regard the meek man as one who will not put up a fight for anything but will let others run over him .... In fact from human experience we know that to accomplish anything good a person must make an effort; and making an effort is putting up a fight against the obstacles. - Father Emil Kapaun Emil Kapaun — priest, soldier and Korean War hero — is a rare man. He has been awarded the Medal of Honor, the...

May 17, 2013 Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter   Reading 1 Acts 25:13b-21 King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesareaon a visit to Festus.Since they spent several days there,Festus referred Paul’s case to the king, saying,“There is a man here left in custody by Felix.When I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and the elders of the Jewsbrought charges against him and demanded his condemnation.I answered them that it was not Roman practiceto hand over an accused person before he has faced his accusersand had the opportunity to defend himself against their charge.So when they came together...

The Baltimore Catechism Revised Edition (1941) Part Three: The Sacraments and Prayer Prayer Lesson 37 from the Baltimore Cathechism475. What is prayer? Prayer is the lifting up of our minds and hearts to God.Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens. (Lamentations 3:41)476. Why do we pray? We pray: to adore God, expressing to Him our love and loyalty; to thank Him for His favors; to obtain from Him the pardon of our sins and the remission of their punishment; to ask for graces and blessings for ourselves and others. Watch and pray,...

A Priest for Forty HoursBy Thomas Peters This incredible story came to me first via family.St. Joseph Parish in Maumee, Ohio posted this note to their Facebook page on Wednesday (it has already been viewed and shared thousands of times since then): As many of you know, our seminarian Deacon Scott Carroll has been battling cancer for some time. Although Scott looked forward to joining his classmates for ordination on June 22, 2013, it became clear this week that an earlier ordination might be prudent.On Wednesday morning, Bishop Blair ordained Fr. Scott to the Order of Presbyter. The ordination...

VATICAN CITY, May 16 (UPI) -- Pope Francis Thursday blamed the global economic crisis on "the cult of money" and urged reform to promote the common good and help the poor. Speaking to newly accredited ambassadors to the Vatican, the pope said money "has to serve, not to rule," Catholic News Service reported. He told his audience humanity has "created new idols" and said growing social and economic troubles result from "our relationship with money and our acceptance of its power over ourselves and our society." The pope said the "golden calf of old has found a new and heartless...

The problems with the IRS extend beyond playing politics with conservative groups seeking a tax-exempt status. I have never made this public before, but given the heightened interest in the way the IRS has conducted itself, the time has come to disclose what happened. Just weeks after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, I was notified by the IRS that the Catholic League was under investigation for violating the IRS Code on political activities as it relates to 501(c)(3) organizations. What the IRS did not know was that I had proof who contacted them to launch the investigation: Catholics...

Milan (AsiaNews) - Some 1,700 years have passed since Emperor Constantine granted Christians the right to believe in God, yet "the persecution of Christians has not ceased;" thus, "the Church of Christ will never cease to generate martyrs" until God "enlightens everyone, so that they understand that peace, reconciliation, tolerance, meekness, and mercy can only have a positive effect on human society in general, especially in terms of deeds and words." Religious freedom and the journey of a divided Church " towards unity according to the Lord's command" are central to the thoughts Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I expressed this morning...

Pope Francis has called on world leaders to put an end to the "cult of money" He said free-market capitalism had created a “tyranny” and that human beings were being judged purely by their ability to consume goods. Money should be made to “serve” people, not to “rule” them, he said, calling for a more ethical financial system and curbs on financial speculation.

Featured Term (selected at random):INTELLECTUAL VISION Supernatural knowledge in which the mind receives an extraordinary grasp of some revealed truth without the aid of sensible impressions. Thus St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) wrote of his seeing "the humanity of Christ with the eyes of the soul." These visions take place either through ideas that are already acquired and that are then co-ordinated and interpreted by God, or through infused ideas, representing divine things, that are thus better perceived than a person would otherwise perceive them. At times the visions are obscure and their object is only dimly understood; at other times...

As we all know, in far too many cases in years past, priests were accused of sexual abuse by genuine victims—and these crimes were simply swept under the rug, by church officials who eschewed their God-given responsibility to take appropriate action. This is an established, ugly fact that is not up for debate! It’s true that there’s often more than one legitimate way for an ecclesiastical superior to deal with these problems; but doing nothing, preferring to ignore the issue in the hope that it will simply go away, never has been or will be an option, ever. Note that...

May 16, 2013   Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter   Reading 1 Acts 22:30; 23:6-11 Wishing to determine the truthabout why Paul was being accused by the Jews,the commander freed himand ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to convene.Then he brought Paul down and made him stand before them. Paul was aware that some were Sadducees and some Pharisees,so he called out before the Sanhedrin,“My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees;I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.”When he said this,a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and...

Don't tell me the left doesn't survive primarily on luck. On Friday, April 12, the legacy media was on the ropes. A spectacular uproar, of a type never before seen, had erupted over media refusal to cover the trial of Kermit Gosnell, the serial killer lucky enough to own an abortion mill. The story they were attempting to bury involved his trial for a homicide by medical malpractice (one of several such), the murder of four healthy infants (out of hundreds of similar killings), the abuse of human remains, and assorted associated felonies. Gosnell had been enabled by official malfeasance...

Startling allegations are emerging in the midst of the Internal Revenue Service scandal. Dr. Anne Hendershott, a devout Catholic and a noted sociologist, professor and author, says that she believes she may have been one of the IRS's targets. Hendershott claims that the IRS audited her in 2010 and demanded to know who was paying her and "what their politics were." LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Hendershott says she received a phone in May of that year in which she said she was being audited. A letter that followed on May 19, 2010 solidified the IRS's request to meet...

Featured Term (selected at random):FAMILY ROSARY International movement promoting recitation of the Rosary by the members of a family at home. Encouraged by the popes, the practice was singled out for special recommendation by Pope Paul VI in his Apostolic Exhortation in 1974 on devotion to the Blessed Virgin. "There is no doubt," he declared, "that after the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, the high point which family prayer can reach, the Rosary, should be considered as one of the best and most efficacious prayers in common that the Christian family is invited to recite" (Marialis Cultus, 54)....

COLUMBUS, May 14, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – The Central Ohio Association of Catholic Educators (COACE) is backing the diocese in its decision to fire a homosexual teacher, according to a letter sent to the teacher. Gym instructor Carla Hale, 57, was fired from her job at Bishop Watterson Catholic High School last month after an anonymous parent wrote to the Diocese of Columbus to complain that in an obituary for Hale’s mother, Hale was listed as a surviving family member together with her longtime lesbian partner, Julie.

One for the Brick by Brick file.I had a note from a friend in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, where the great Bishop Robert Finn presides.At St. Andrew the Apostle on the north side of KC, Fr. Vince Rogers has installed a new brand new Communion rail!My friend wrote: He has installed altar rails in most of not all of the parishes in which he has served over the past 15-20 years.He noted in his homily this morning, “So, why do I do this everywhere I go? It started when I was a seminarian at the NAC. Mother Teresa...

May 15, 2013 Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter   Reading 1 Acts 20:28-38 At Miletus, Paul spoke to the presbyters of the Church of Ephesus:“Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flockof which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers,in which you tend the Church of Godthat he acquired with his own Blood.I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you,and they will not spare the flock.And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truthto draw the disciples away after them.So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night...

Featured Term (selected at random):MYSTICI CORPORIS CHRISTI Encyclical of Pope Pius XII, published in 1943, on the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ. The Church is a body because she is a visible, living, and growing organism, animated by the Spirit of God. She is a mystical body because her essential nature is a mystery, and all her teachings, laws, and rites are sacramental sources of grace. And she is the mystical body of Christ because he founded the Church. He remains her invisible Head and through him all blessings are communicated to her members, and through them to...

BOSTON COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT STATEMENT Cardinal Sean May 10, 2013 Because the Gospel of Life is the centerpiece of the Church’s social doctrine and because we consider abortion a crime against humanity, the Catholic Bishops of the United States have asked that Catholic institutions not honor government officials or politicians who promote abortion with their laws and policies. Recently I learned that the Prime Minister of Ireland, the Hon. Mr. Enda Kenny was slated to receive an honorary degree at Boston College’s graduation this year. I am sure that the invitation was made in good faith, long before it came to...

May 14, 2013 Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle   Reading 1 Acts 1:15-17, 20-26 Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers and sisters(there was a group of about one hundred and twenty personsin the one place).He said, “My brothers and sisters,the Scripture had to be fulfilledwhich the Holy Spirit spoke beforehandthrough the mouth of David, concerning Judas,who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus.Judas was numbered among usand was allotted a share in this ministry.For it is written in the Book of Psalms: Let his encampment become desolate,and may no one dwell in it.and:May another take...

The Blessed Virgin Mary is venerated under this title following apparitions to three shepherd children — Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco — in Portugal in 1917. The message of Fatima includes a call to conversion of heart, repentance from sin and a dedication to the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially through praying the Rosary. This optional memorial is new to the USA liturgical calendar and is inscribed on May 13. According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Robert Bellarmine. He was famous throughout Europe as a theologian,...

May procession at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Littleton, CO.

Featured Term (selected at random):ANDREW A fisherman and follower of John the Baptist. He was in John's company when he saw Jesus for the first time and stayed with him for the rest of the day. Convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, he took his brother, Simon Peter, to meet him the next day. This was the occasion on which Jesus told Andrew's brother that from being called Simon his name would be changed to Cephas, meaning the Rock (John 1:35-42). The two brothers were the first apostles chosen by Jesus; they accepted his summons to become fishers of men and...

May 13, 2013 Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter   Reading 1 Acts 19:1-8 While Apollos was in Corinth,Paul traveled through the interior of the countryand down to Ephesus where he found some disciples. He said to them,“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”They answered him,“We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”He said, “How were you baptized?”They replied, “With the baptism of John.”Paul then said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance,telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,that is, in Jesus.”When they heard this,they...

EXPLAINING THE IDEA OF INFALLIBILITY Father William Saunders Time magazine made Pope John Paul II "Man of the Year." In the article, a survey was included which asked about infallibility. I think the survey questions and other statements were confused. Would you please explain the idea of infallibility?—A reader in Woodbridge Before delving into the question of infallibility, we must be certain as to how we understand truth. As Catholics, we believe in an absolute, immutable truth rooted in God. This truth has been perfectly revealed in Christ, for He is the Word who became flesh (Jn 1:14), and...