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HAT IS THE PURPOSE of sacred vestments, and what is their origin? These are questions that most ordinary Catholics probably could not answer. A very good (and very concise) explanation of liturgical vesture is given by Fr. Mauro Gagliardi, consultor to the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff (available from the Vatican webpage). His article is well worth a look. The Roman Rite could have developed in such a way that the Sacraments are celebrated by priests who dress in the clothes common to their culture, but it did not. Instead, a system of sacred vestments worn...

Every bride and groom hopes to strike gold and reach their 50th wedding anniversary. Every parent bringing home a baby from the hospital hopes their child reaches at least their 50th birthday and beyond. Every employee hopes their boss remembers their 50th anniversary of employment. Every florist hopes a husband buys fifty roses to honor the 50th birthday of his wife.

A Bad Day in the Pulpit for Jesus? A Homily for 14th Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope • July 4, 2015 • . The gospel today portrays the Lord Jesus as preacher and prophet. But as we shall see, even the greatest preacher in the world, Jesus, can find His powerful and precious words falling lifeless on the rock hard surface of many a soul. Yes, even His words can meet with resistance and hostility, indifference and ridicule. Indeed, the gospel today shows forth the ruinous result of rejection. My homily notes begin with the red text below. However,...

The twentieth anniversary of St. Pope John Paul II apostolic letter "Orientale Lumen" is an occasion to reflect on what can be learned from Eastern CatholicsTwenty years ago, in his apostolic letter Orientale Lumen (May 2, 1995), the late St. Pope John Paul II called on Roman Catholics to deepen their knowledge of and love for the Christian East. I was thinking of his exhortation as I recently returned from a colloquium in Canada on the future of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church (UGCC) in North America. Many, perhaps most, Catholics in North America are unaware of the UGCC and the...

Pope Francis not only will canonize Blessed Junipero Serra when he visits Washington, DC, in September. He is also preventing Serra’s statue from being removed from the US Capitol. At least for a while. Because of the Pope’s impending visit to the US, the California lawmaker who wants Serra’s likeness to be replaced in the National Statuary Hall with that of a lesbian space pioneer is delaying the vote in the Golden State’s legislature. Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, said he would wait until after Francis’ visit before pushing to have California represented in the historic gallery by astronaut...

Church ‘obsessions’ As the culture pushes abortion and sex outside of marriage, the Church is called to respond with truth Msgr. Charles Pope OSV Newsweekly 7/1/2015 Question: My sister-law is hostile to the Church and says that we are obsessed by sex and abortion and don’t care about the same things Jesus did, like the poor. Is there an effective answer to this charge? Name withheld, Newark, New Jersey Answer: The charge that the Church is “obsessed” with sex and abortion — and many today add homosexuality — is not sustainable. Any look at the Catechism of the Catholic Church...

This is a tough Vortex to speak. I’m as patriotic as the next guy. I remember being a young lad of 15 as my country celebrated its bicentennial back in 1976. I watched TV that day from six in the morning until well past midnight as the non-stop, commercial-free, wall-to-wall coverage on the giant national birthday party was broadcast from sea to shining sea. I watched the tall ships sail into New York harbor, saw the explosive fireworks show over D.C. I listened and sang my lungs out with a lump in my throat as Arthur Fielder conducted the Boston...

Monument to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (Photo: us.fotolia.com | stavrida); right: "Takedown" (2015) by Dr. Paul Kengor While most commentators credit the sexual revolution and the Stonewall uprising of 1969 as the “beginning” of the gay rights movement that led to last week’s Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision, the reality is that the roots of the movement to drastically change the definition of marriage can be traced back to 1848 and the publication of Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto. Proclaiming that the “abolition” of marriage and the family was central to the fundamental transformation necessary to implement a...

In his inaugural address to Congress President Washington said, “It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplication to that Almighty Being, who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States…No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the...

Ben Franklin is the prototype for the celebrity-as-politician. His autobiography is still in print; if he were alive, he’d be on Drudge’s columnists’ list, and command speaking fees that would turn Hillary Clinton green with envy. A popular T-shirt has a quote erroneously attributed to Franklin: ‘Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.’ But John Witherspoon? He wasn’t a fan of self-promotion, which was no less prevalent then. Today, in D.C., his statue stands at a tiny triangle where Connecticut Avenue intersects with N Street and 18th Street N.W. It is routinely ignored. At...

This 4th of July (which may be our nation's last 4th of July in peace), the majority of Americans throughout this land will be enjoying a day off with family and friends, eating, drinking (getting drunk), and making merry totally excluding the REALITY of our nation's founding and totally oblivious to where our godless nation is rapidly heading at present (Rev. 6-19). As long as we have our cell phones (which is our life), ignorance, pleasure, food in our stomachs and some partial remaining freedoms... all is good and tolerable in the "land of the free". Throughout the years I...

American Catholics, a very small percentage of the population of the 13 colonies, 1.6 percent, were overwhelmingly patriots and played a role in the American Revolution out of all proportion to the small fragment of the American people they represented. Among the Catholics who assumed leadership roles in the fight for our liberty were: General Stephen Moylan a noted cavalry commander and the first Muster Master-General of the Continental Army. Captains Joshua Barney and John Barry, two of the most successful naval commanders in the American Revolution. Colonel John Fitzgerald was a trusted aide and private secretary to General George...

Sir Nicholas Winton - BBC Programme "That's Life" aired in 1988 (1:29 min) Sir Nicholas George Winton, MBE, who just died last week at the age of 106, was a British humanitarian who organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish Czechoslovakian children on the eve of the Second World War in an operation later known as the "Czech Kindertransport."  An article in Time paying tribute to Winton, a Jew by descent who had been raised as a Christian, was traveling in German-occupied Czechoslovakia and recognize that many children would die. He found homes for the children and arranged for trains to carry them from Nazi-occupied Prague to...

My bride and I each year travel to Indianapolis for the Gen Con gaming convention which this year will be held on the last week in July. Indianapolis is a lovely city and we have enjoyed our visits there. Back in 1926 an Indianapolis parish priest, John C. Rager, demonstrated that the core of the Declaration of Independence has its roots in Catholic thought. It will suffice for our purpose to consult, in detail, but two Catholic churchmen who stand out as leading lights for all time. The one is representative of medieval learning and thought, the other stood on...

Walking as an Image of Faith Msgr. Charles Pope • July 2, 2015 • Most people, if asked, would say that they like everything in their life to be in perfect equilibrium, perfect balance. Losing balance physically is the prelude to a fall. Balance tends to be valued, not only in the physical sense, but also in the emotional, spiritual, and mental sense. To become mentally or emotionally “unbalanced” is a euphemism for mental illness or distress. Believing is leaning – Perfect equilibrium or balance is seldom to be found in the human person, but perhaps that is good, especially in the spiritual life. The...

Julius CaesarAfter my most recent visit to Rome I’ve been reading more about the history of Rome, and the parallels with twenty first America are fascinating.Many people know about the fall of the Roman Empire and follow the usual narrative that Rome collapsed from within because of moral decadence.Of course, the story is more complicated than that, and it begins not with the fall of the empire, but with the beginning of the Empire.The Roman Republic stood for about 500 years. The Senate was made up of patricians and plebeians. The patricians were the historic, aristocratic landed families. The plebeians...

A Study of Sloth in the Life of Lot Msgr. Charles Pope • July 1, 2015 •   In daily Mass this week (the 13th week of the year) we have been reading through Genesis. Tuesday’s reading highlights a significant spiritual problem: sloth, one of the seven deadly sins. Sloth is a sorrow, sadness, or aversion to the good things God offers. Rather than being joyful and zealous to obtain these gifts, the slothful person sees them as too much trouble to obtain and is averse to the changes such gifts might introduce into his life. This is clearly the...

Awesome or Awful? A Reflection on the Mosaic of Christ in Majesty at the Basilica in Washington Msgr. Charles Pope • June 30, 2015 • I’ve been spending quite a bit of time at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception here in Washington recently, due to ordinations and other special occasions. As I walk up the main aisle I never fail to be moved by the scene above the apse of Christ in majesty. (See one of my photos to the right.) I have discovered that very few people are neutral on this image of Christ seated in Judgment. People either love...

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide. On board in all directions there was the sound of running feet. It was clear there was something wrong. Before hearing anything, however, one had somehow sensed it. Some indiscernible threat had impacted and was quickly making its presence felt throughout the ship. At that moment a priest with breviary in hand was praying Night Office as he walked on the upper deck; nevertheless, as the alarms sounded he knew something had gone seriously wrong. The priest in question was Fr. Thomas Byles, and the ship’s...

For millennia the Catholic Church has consistently opposed unnatural vice. Here is a brief sampling of useful quotes from Saints, Doctors of the Church, Church Fathers and Ecclesiastical Writers who condemn homosexual vice in their writings. Please share this post with all your Catholic friends. 1. Athenagoras of Athens (2nd Century) Athenagoras of Athens was a philosopher who converted to Christianity in the second century. He shows that the pagans, who were totally immoral, did not even refrain from sins against nature: "But though such is our character (Oh! why should I speak of things unfit to be uttered?), the...