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Featured Term selected at random:WAR OF AGGRESSION Unjust military attack on the independence, territory, or any other rights of one nation or part of a nation by another policitcal power. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission. 

Honor to the Martyrs! A Declaration of Gratitude to the Martyrs of Our Day By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn the Divine Office last week we read a remarkable passage on the persecution of the Church. It seems proper to consider a portion of it in times like these; more on that in a moment.Of course in writing of persecution and martyrdom, I write as an American who, though experiencing a lot more scorn these days, does not have to endure grave threat for being a Catholic. But as I consider Catholics and Christians in places like Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Nigeria, the...

On May 2, Native American community members and Interfaith supporters, including clergy leaders, demonstrated outside of Mission Dolores in San Francisco to oppose the impending canonization of Junipero Serra by the Catholic church. Pope Francis has reaffirmed his decision to name Junipero Serra a saint, despite strong opposition from Native Americans who say the man is responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people when he helped to establish and then presided over the California mission system in the 1700s. "My ancestors were directly enslaved at Mission Dolores here, and at Mission San Jose in Fremont, and...

It may seem improbable to consider that St. John of the Cross, the Spanish Civil War, and JRR Tolkien have anything in common. However, all three share one important connection: the South African poet Roy Campbell, and therein lies a tale of intrigue, bravery and faith. This remarkable narrative is set against the upheaval of the Spanish Civil War of the 1930’s. There was much unrest in Spain leading up to the elections of February 1936, as ordinary Spaniards from various factions sought to oust the Republican junta. This tension evolved into full-blown riots that swept through the entire...

It seems that every year a new children’s story Bible comes out. The captivating artwork often makes the biblical stories come alive. There is one picture in a particular story Bi ble our family has that my two-and-a-half-year-old, Elijah, loves more than others. It is a picture of a flame coming down on the altar the prophet Elijah built for God. There was a time when my son refused to go to bed until he saw this picture. Every night he would say: “Fire! Fire! Show me the fire.”While the Israelites did not have children’s story Bibles filled with artwork,...

On the Paradoxical Connection Between Love and Law – A Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn the gospel today, Jesus cuts right across the modern Western tendency to oppose love and law, and law and joy. Though we oppose them, Jesus joins all three concepts and summons us to a new attitude. Let’s take a look.I. Connections – Jesus says, As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and...

History is filled with surprising anomalies that catch us up in contradictions. Sir Walter Scott wrote in his poem Marmion about the Battle of Flodden Field: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave / when first we practise to deceive!” The battle took place in 1513 while Henry VIII was in France fighting as a member of the Catholic League. His queen, Catherine, eventually to be divorced, organized the battle with success. Meanwhile, Pope Julius II styled Henry of England “The Most Christian King of France” and, although Henry would prove a disappointment in church matters, in 1521 the next...

...Latter-day Saint literature to a Mother in Heaven...Since the 1840s, this cherished doctrine has been an important, although relatively obscure, part of the Latter-day Saint understanding of the premortal origins and divine nature of mankind... As Elder Erastus Snow (Quorum of the Twelve, February 12, 1849–May 27, 1888) avowed: “What,” says one, “do you mean we should understand that Deity consists of man and woman?” Most certainly I do. If I believe anything that God has ever said about himself...I must believe that deity consists of man and woman...There can be no God except he is composed of the man...

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.