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Featured Term (selected at random:VOW OF POVERTY The vow by which a person freely gives up the ownership, or at least the independent use and administration, of temporal goods. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

The distinguished political philosopher Leo Strauss was supposed to have said that the only two things in life really worth talking about are God and politics. That’s because at a most fundamental level they are inextricably intertwined. A skewed notion of the very nature of God and whether man acknowledges him—or tries to substitute himself for God—is at the crux of the turmoil, fanaticism, and destructiveness of the politics of our day and of much of the last hundred years.This is seen well in two books of the last decade. Robert R. Reilly’s The Closing of the Muslim Mind...

Featured Term (selected at random:NOBLE GUARDS The highest ranking corps of the papal ministry service. It originated in the light cavalry that was a mounted guard for the Pope and had been reorganized many times. Pope Leo XIII gave them their modern name. The Pope appointed the commander, who was always a Roman prince. All members were to show a sixty-year line of nobility recognized by the papacy. They appeared with the Pope at public functions and left always with him. They were privileged to convey the tidings to newly appointed cardinals of their appointments. The Noble Guards were abolished...

Bl. Junípero Serra and the Holy Family Sean FitzpatrickOn September 25th, 1988, Pope St. John Paul II beatified a swarthy, Spanish, asthmatic priest of small stature who was a dazzling scholar, a tireless apostle, and the founder of many missionaries from San Diego to San Francisco—Junípero Serra, who walked the western desert to irrigate souls with the water that becomes a spring welling up to eternal life.Born Miguel Jose Serra Ferrer on November 14, 1730, in Petra, Majorca, Spain, this servant of God and God’s people became a Franciscan after a brilliant career as a scholar of philosophy, taking...

Iraqi refugees are seen in a camp near the northern city of Irbil June 12. Hundreds of thousands of people who have fled their homes in Mosul are left without access to aid, officials said. (CNS photo/Stringer, EPA) In a June 12th post, Michael J. Miller passed along the bad news that Christians were being driven out completely of the city of Mosul, which is located in northern Iraq and had an estimated population well over two million: After the capture of the northern-Iraqi metropolis Mosul by Islamist forces, all the Christians who were still living there have now...

Featured Term (selected at random:SEVEN HEAVENS A popular belief, never confirmed by the Church, that heaven is divided into seven levesl of beatitude, the highest being the seventh. The expression "seventh heaven" is a remnant of this belief. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

The Generosity of Catholic Family Planning Caitlin Marchand In a contraceptive culture it is little wonder that natural family planning is often in the Catholic spotlight.  Perhaps it is also little wonder that we accidentally slip into using the secular world’s terms or attitudes when discussing it.  It is well established to anybody willing to hear that NFP is a licit practice.  In fact, it is not merely an acceptable but second rate choice made by second rate Catholics but can and should be undertaken in such a spirit as to be equally receptive to God’s will and lovingly exercise...

Caliphate ("succession" in Arabic) is an institution first created in the 7th century after the death of the prophet Muhammad. Now revived by the jihadists of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis), this old-new political-religious entity has been given its own hashtag, #CaliphateRestored – a potent weapon in a digital propaganda war. Isis has shown itself to be a slick media operator in addition to its battlefield successes in Syria and Iraq. Other memorable hashtags –#SykesPicotOver and #BringbackmyHumvees – have encapsulated its achievements in erasing "artificial" colonial borders and humiliating both the US and Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's...

Featured Term (selected at random:GOLDEN SEQUENCE A name applied to the hymn Veni, Sancte Spiritus, et emitte coelitus (Come, Thou Holy Paraclete), which is sung on Pentecost Sunday. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

The normalization of polygamy would undermine our commitment to human dignity—our sense that each human being is to be valued as an end in him- or herself, and not merely as a means to others’ ends. Conservatives have long warned that the redefinition of marriage sought by the proponents of same-sex unions will prepare the way for a further redefinition of marriage to include polygamy. Some liberals have already done their part to fulfill this prophecy by assuming that the argument over same-sex marriage is over and by beginning to argue for a normalization of plural marriages. As I have...

Rome, Italy, Jun 28, 2014 / 04:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A new Italian edition of a book about the life of Father Michael McGivney tells the story of his extraordinary life as a parish priest, the inspiration that led him to found the Knights of Columbus, and the chronicle of his ongoing canonization process. “In reading this book, it will be clear that Father McGivney isn't only a model for American priests, but for all priests as well,” Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, stressed at a June 25 presentation in Rome. The Italian edition of “Parish...

Have you ever given it much thought about the phrase, “Lift Christ up with Praise?” Quite often you will hear a pastor use this phrase as he instructs you to give glory to God though His Son. But have you ever really consider what the significance of the phrase? Give me a moment of your time and allow me to introduce you to something very few Christians have actually ever considered when hearing this phrase, “Lift Christ up with Praise.” Most people know the verse, John 3:16, many have even memorized it. For me, that was the first verse...

NEW YORK — Every week day, several traditional Catholics in New York City gather for a 6pm traditional Latin Mass at the Church of the Holy Innocents, a Gothic-Revival structure in Manhattan’s Garment District. On Sundays, a 10:30am sung high Mass in the extraordinary form, which features a talented schola, attracts more than 200 worshippers. The traditional parish community also attends a Sunday Rosary and 2:30pm vespers service that consistently draws more people than the 12:30pm English-language Mass. “The Masses there are packed. They have sung Latin Masses at all major feast days and processions. What other church does that?”...

Featured Term (selected at random:OMEGA  The twenty-fourth and last letter of the Greek alphabet. Occurs in the Bible as Alpha and Omega (Revelation 21:6), where Christ refers to himself as the Beginning and the End. He is the Omega of the universe as the destiny of the human race and the final fulfillment of all creation. (Etym. Greek omega, the great [i.e., long] o., last letter of the alphabet.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Featured Term (selected at random:CHAINED BIBLES  An institution of the medieval Church to protect copies of the Bible from thievery. Before the advent of printing, the rarity of books made them available only to the wealthy. they were often locked away in chests. The Church, wishing to make the Bible available to all the faithful and still to ensure it against loss, chained it to a desk or lectern near a window. There even poor students had its use and it was in popular demand. Bias and ignorance have interpreted this chaining as proof that the Church withheld the Bible...

One of the ancient world’s most important cities was Megiddo, dating from at least the 5th century B.C. Its location on a hill overlooking the Valley of Jezreel in modern day Israel gave it strategic importance in history. In former days, it controlled the passage between two military and trade routes. One connected Egypt to the lands of modern day Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. The other connected Jerusalem to modern day Lebanon that opened the way by sea, in ancient times, to Italy and Spain. Throughout history, battles were fought and blood shed for control of Megiddo. In fact,...

Antakya (Agenzia Fides) - The cave church of St. Peter in Antioch is still closed and restoration work is not yet complete. But the prefecture authority has granted permission, however, to the Christians of Antioch, Iskenderun, Mersin and Adana to visit the cave church on June 29 to celebrate with a moment of prayer, the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. This was confirmed to Fides Agency by the Capuchin Franciscan Fr. Domenico Bertogli, pastor of the local Catholic Church of the Latin rite, editor of the news magazine entitled "Chronicle of Antioch". "There is still much...

100 million killed by the Chinese Empire to crush a rebellion by a false Messiah during the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) 80 million killed during the Muslin conquest of the Indian Subcontinent (chiefly, 12th-16th century.) 60 million died during World War I, triggered by anarchists. Includes influenza epidemic. 40 million died during Mao's Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) 35 million died during the Islamic conquest of Timur-e-Lang. 30 million died during the Mongol conquest of the Middle East and Central Eurasia, mostly after the conversion to Islam of the Mongol leadership. 30 million died during the collapse of the Yuan dynasty. 30...

In certain circles, it is popular to talk about the name Lao Tzu (or Laozi) having the dual meaning of "Old Master" and "Ancient Child." ...Another MeaningIn spoken Chinese, the two characters lao tzu can have another meaning when used in another context, but it's like absolutely nothing imagined by Western academics. In this other context, the tzu character looks the same but is pronounced in a different pitch. An English speaker probably won't be able to tell the difference. When pronounced this way, the meaning is 1) father and 2) a rude and crude way to refer to oneself....

Mass confusion is still extant pertaining to three key Christian words -- each related to "ministry" and those who serve God: "priesthood" "saints" "ordination" Each of these words have, unfortunately, been largely skewed by the historical Church: The first two by Roman Catholicism; the latter by Protestantism. 'Holy Priesthood...Royal Priesthood' No New Testament-based Church can neglect 1 Peter 2:4-9 and Revelation 1:5-6 plus Revelation 5:10 in its definition of "priesthood." In 1 Peter 2, the "holy priesthood" (verse 5) and the "royal priesthood" (verse 9) are described as a privilege presented to those who... ...come to Christ (verse 4); ...are...