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Featured Term selected at random:BAPTISMAL VOWS Profession of the Christian faith by an adult candidate for baptism or by the sponsor in the name of the infant to be baptized. The solemn renewal of these promises is a widespread act of piety usually at the close of a mission or retreat or when receiving First Communion or the sacrament of confirmation. It is a part of the Eucharistic liturgy at the Easter Vigil and on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. BAPTISMAL WATER. The water used for the administration of the sacrament of baptism. For the valid conferral...

This year marks the 750th anniversary of the death of St Simon Stock I wonder what you were thinking when you dressed this morning. Had you already laid out your clothes for the day? Did certain expectations dictate your choices? The simple fact is that how we dress can say a lot about who we are, what we do, how seriously we take life and its tasks. I have clear memories of one Christmas, when a child, having received a soldier’s outfit as a present and I can remember to this day the sense of pride and purpose that...

Stating that “there is no fourth secret nor are there other hidden secrets,” Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, delivered a lengthy address on the Fatima apparitions at the Pontifical University Antonianum on May 7. The 20th century, said Cardinal Amato, was expected to be a time of “reason and brotherhood,” but instead saw the beginning of an era of Christian persecution: “the Armenian genocide, the Mexican repression, the Spanish persecution, the Nazi massacres, the Communist extermination, and, in this first part of the third millennium, Islamist persecution.” “The message of Fatima in...

Featured Term selected at random:OBSCURANTISM Concerted opposition, on principle and from religious motives, to justified intellectual development. A familiar charge against Christians by rationalist critics who charge the faithful with fear of enlightenment lest they weaken their beliefs. (Etym. Latin obscurus, dark; unintelligible.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

It is the Decision of the Holy Spirit and Us – On the Council of Jerusalem and the Catholicity of the Early Church By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn the first reading at today’s Mass is recounted the Council of Jerusalem, which scholars generally date to around 50 A.D. It was a pivotal moment in the history of the Church, since it would set forth an identity for the Church that was independent of the culture of Judaism per se, and would open wide the door of inculturation to the Gentiles. This surely had a significant effect on evangelization in the early...

On May 6th, 1527 -- 488 years ago today -- military troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, sacked the ecclesiastical capital of Western Christendom, la città eterna, Rome. Sacking Rome was the "thing to do" (as they say) for much of Western history. Everybody who was anybody did it at some point: the Visigoths in 410, the Vandals in 455, the Ostrogoths in 546, the Normans in 1084. By the time that Charles's imperial forces got around to it, sacking the eternal city had almost become passé. Though religious tensions ran high in 1527 -- Reformation being in the...

Pentecostals were relatively isolated from mainstream Protestantism in the early twentieth century. When the Assemblies of God and other Pentecostal churches were invited to become founding members of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in 1942, it was a watershed event that paved the way for increased cooperation between Pentecostals and other theologically conservative evangelical churches. In 1947, Pentecostal Evangel Editor Stanley H. Frodsham recounted how participation in the NAE seemed to be a fulfillment of prophecy. Frodsham recalled that, years earlier, "a mature Pentecostal saint" made the following prediction: "The time will assuredly come when God will unite...

Vatican City, May 6, 2015 / 04:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- During a private audience on Tuesday, Pope Francis advanced the causes of canonization of 12 potential saints, two of whom were martyred by communist revolutionaries in Laos in 1960. The May 5 audience with Cardinal Angelo Amato also formally approved the canonization of Bl. Junipero Serra – which had already been scheduled for Sept. 23. The two martyrs recognized were the Servants of God Mario Borzaga and Paul Thoj Xyooj, who were killed in hatred of the faith in April 1960. Born in Italy in 1932, Fr. Borzaga joined the...

Featured Term selected at random:NATURAL SECRET A truth or fact that should be kept confidential because the obligation not to reveal arises either from the natural law or form the very nature of the case, and its disclosure would cause a grave injury to another. Revealing a serious and shameful secret sin would be the violation of a natural secret. Natural secrets bind under grave sin. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission. 

BROD, Kosovo (RNS) The Catholic priest followed the village elders up a narrow road that curved between the green hills in the tiny hamlet of Gjonaj in southern Kosovo. As the priest, Don Albert Jakaj, 36, emerged from the wooded path, he saw the light gray stone church, believed by locals to be a thousand years old, surrounded by tall pine trees. Jakaj had traveled to Gjonaj at the request of Avni Ademi, 35, a local who contacted the priest to get his opinion on the origin of the church and to validate his belief that the church belongs to...

Pondering Prudence and Its “Parts” – A Reflection on the Sometimes-Misunderstood Virtue of Prudence By: Msgr. Charles PopeAs a follow-on to yesterday’s post on the spiritual work of counseling  the doubtful, I would like to say a little more about prudence.Prudence is often misunderstood by those who reduce it to mere caution or reluctance to act. It is true that sometimes prudence indicates caution and that hasty action is seldom prudent. However, sometimes it is prudent to act quickly. Having long discussions about the best way to put out a house fire before acting is not prudent. Quick, expedient action is the...

Featured Term selected at random:DEONTOLOGISM The theory associated with Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), that only acts done from a motive of duty have moral value. It is a stern moral philosophy, close to Stoicism, which holds that virtue is its own reward and therefore "duty for duty's sake" is man's highest moral imperative. (Etym. Greek deon, that which is obligatory + logia, science, knowledge.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Counsel the Doubtful – A Meditation on the Third Spiritual Work of Mercy By: Msgr. Charles PopeAt first glance, counseling the doubtful may seem rather similar to instructing the ignorant. However, teaching has learning as its goal while counseling aims to assist with decisions. Certainly giving counsel often includes some aspects of teaching, such as providing information and perspective, but its primary purpose is to assist a person in coming to a decision. This distinction is contained in the root meanings of the words “counsel” and “doubtful.”The English word “counsel” comes from the Latin consilium (con (with) + silium (a decision)). So to...

Authorities are looking into the claims of a local craftsman who raised concerns over the condition of at least 10 mosaics at the Hatay Archaeology Museum, the Hurriyet Daily News website reports. Mehmet Daskapan first spoke out in an interview with a local paper in February, but the news was only picked up by mainstream Turkish media on Monday. "Valuable pieces from the Roman period have been ruined," Mr Daskapan told the Antakya Gazetesi website at the time. "They have become caricatures of their former selves. Some are in an especially poor condition and have lost their originality and value."...

Featured Term selected at random:LITURGICAL KISS Touching with the lips as a mark of reverence during ceremonies of public worship. The frequency of this gesture has been reduced since the Second Vatican Council, but it is still prescribed. The priest must kiss the altar as he begins and concludes the Mass, and he is to kiss the lectionary after reading the Gospel. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Definition of Sola Scriptura Sola Scriptura: the reformed Protestant belief that the Scriptures alone are the final and only infallible authority for the Christian. This does not mean that Scriptures are the only authority (nuda or solo Scriptura), as Protestants believe in the authority of tradition, reason, experience, and emotions to varying degrees (after all, “sola scriptura” itself is an authoritative tradition in Protestantism). It does mean that Scripture trumps all other authorities (it is the norma normans sed non normata Lat. “norm that norms which is not normed”). Controversy of Sola Scriptura Sometimes people get the idea that sola...

In recent years, more often and more priests celebrate the so-called Divine Liturgy of St James the Brother of God. The celebration of this liturgy and its sudden appearance in the life of our Church on the one hand shows the secular spirit that pervades many clergy, and on the other hand it serves the plan of the "reformists" of our liturgical life, the self appointed saviors of the Church. The plan is simple: this liturgy has been "baptized" by the reformists as "archaic." However, when it is performed, it is performed in a manner envisioned by the reformists, so...

There is a myth which is endlessly repeated ... I groan every time I read it ... about the liturgical reforms of S Pius V. It goes like this: (1) He wished to standardise and centralise. So he ordered everybody to use his new edition of the Roman Missal (but he did permit those with rites more than 200 years old to keep them). This is pretty well the opposite of what his legislation ordered. He: (2) Ordered those with such old rites to keep them. But, if they positively wanted to adopt his new edition instead, he permitted them...

A Brief Directive for Church Leaders from the Acts of the Apostles By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe second reading from today’s Mass is very Catholic and too informative to let pass without comment. It presents a highly organized Church, possessing some of the structures we know today in full form. Granted, some of these structures are in seminal (seed) form, but they are there.We will also notice qualities of the original kerygma that are at variance with what some modern thinkers declare should be the methodology of the Church. The soft, cross-less Christianity of many today, who replace the cross with a pillow and...

Moscow, May 5, Interfax - The remains of Grand Duke Nikolay Nikolayevich Romanov and his spouse Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolayevna have been reburied in Moscow to the sound of funeral tunes and artillery gun firings. The remains of the princely couple arrived from France on April 27 and were reburied at the Chapel of the Transfiguration at a military cemetery in the Russian capital. "The Duke and the Duchess have returned to their Homeland, their names are acquiring a worthy place in the Russian public memory," State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin, who chairs the Russian Historical Society, said at the...