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April 19, 2015Third Sunday of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 Peter said to the people:“The God of Abraham,the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus,whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presencewhen he had decided to release him.You denied the Holy and Righteous Oneand asked that a murderer be released to you.The author of life you put to death,but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.Now I know, brothers,that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;but God has thus...

Traveling the Path to Catholicism Fr. William Saunders Q: Recently I saw a picture showing the Rite of Election at the cathedral. Would you please explain more about the Rite of Election and RCIA? When I was growing up, we did not have such a program.The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) is a formal program of catechetical instruction, ascetical practice (prayer and spirituality), and liturgies whereby adults — called catechumens — are formally admitted into the Church and receive the sacraments of initiation — baptism, confirmation, and holy Eucharist. (The sacrament of penance is received later since baptism...

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone at a press conference for the 2012 USCCB Fall General Assembly, Nov 13. Credit: Michelle Bauman/CNA. San Francisco, Calif., Apr 17, 2015 / 04:13 am (CNA).- A group of Catholics promoting a full-page advertisement asking Pope Francis to remove Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone don’t represent San Francisco Catholics and misrepresent the facts, the archdiocese has said. “The advertisement is a misrepresentation of Catholic teaching, a misrepresentation of the nature of the (archdiocese’s) teacher contract, and a misrepresentation of the spirit of the archbishop,” the San Francisco archdiocese said April 15. “The greatest misrepresentation of all is that the...

U.S. Supreme Court. Washington D.C., Apr 18, 2015 / 04:25 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. Supreme Court has continued its trend of decisions stopping enforcement of a federal contraception mandate against religious employers with moral objections. On April 15, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued an order barring the federal government from enforcing the mandate against Catholic Charities affiliates, Catholic schools and social service organizations in the dioceses of Erie and Pittsburgh. “Every time a religious plaintiff has gone to the Supreme Court for protection from the government’s discriminatory mandate the Court has protected them,” Lori Windham, senior counsel for...

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, at a press conference at the NAC on Feb. 27, 2013. Credit: Paolo Tiranti/CNA Vatican City, Apr 18, 2015 / 11:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a telegram to Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago, the Holy Father offered his blessing to all those who mourn Cardinal Francis E. George.“To all who mourn the late Cardinal in the sure hope of the Resurrection, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of consolation and peace in the Lord,” Pope Francis said in the April 18 telegram, according to Vatican Radio.The Holy Father praised the late archbishop...

Fr. Joseph Illo and Fr. Patrick Driscoll, Star of the Sea Catholic Church (Photo from Facebook)When Fr. Joseph Illo, the pastor at San Francisco’s Star of the Sea Catholic Church, announced his decision to train only boys to be altar servers, some parishioners and others protested.  Amidst the hullabaloo, the media jumped at the chance to criticize both Fr. Illo and his beleaguered bishop, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.Religion News Service quoted Fr. Illo, who explained his reasons for enacting the policy: The first…is that “boys usually end up losing interest (in altar service) because girls generally do a better job.”The second and...

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston / Flickr Francis Cardinal George, former Archbishop of Chicago, passed away today. Born in 1937, he was 78 years old. He had been fighting cancer for almost a decade.Widely admired for his insight and courage, he will be greatly missed.[See also: 6 Fascinating Videos from the Papacy and Death of St. John Paul II]A person’s death can be a good time to reflect on the person’s life. So here are 7 things you probably didn’t know about Cardinal George:1) He had polio as a kid – and it almost prevented him from becoming a priest He contracted the disease in...

As Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life (CICL), Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz of Brazil is responsible for overseeing the brutal destruction of one of the few flourishing institutes of consecrated life in the Church today, the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, on the direct orders of Pope Francis. Because the order founded by the saintly Father Stefano Manelli, lauded by both John Paul II and Benedict XVI, had dared to take advantage of Benedict’s liberation of the Latin Mass from its unjust imprisonment, it had to go. To recall Pope Francis’ words during the bizarre celebration...

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s effort to ensure that Catholic schools are Catholic has led one-hundred San Franciscans who describe themselves as “committed Catholics inspired by Vatican II,” to take out a full page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle asking Pope Francis to force Cordileone's resignation and appoint in his place an archbishop committed to “our values and your teachings.” It is worth asking to what extent those “values” and “teachings” align. Francis, who has spoken strongly in the past against gay marriage and transgender ideology, has also called for a church that is “poor and for the poor.”...

Around mid-April, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia –who once wrote a letter to Barack Obama beseeching the president to reconsider his foreign policies which enable the persecution of Christians in Syria — spoke again of the threat of Christian extinction in the Mideast during a meeting with Greek Defense Minister Panagiotis Kammenos. In the Russian Patriarch’s own words: "I regularly get reports of horrible crimes that are committed there against Christians, especially in northern Iraq. I have visited those places and I remember that there were many churches and monasteries there. The city of Mosul alone had 45...

Featured Term selected at random:JESUS CHRIST THE CONQUEROR Ancient title of Christ signifying his victory over sin, death, and the evil spirit. It appears in the familiar monogram IC XC NIKA, where I and C are the first and last letters of the Greek word Ihcuc (Jesus); X and C are the first and last letters of Xrictoc (Christ); and nika is the Greek word for "conquers." All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Lost in Cyberspace – As Seen in a Commercial By: Msgr. Charles PopeFor most people, the word virtual has come to mean the Internet or the computer world, as in “occurring or existing primarily online.”  But the word virtual has an original meaning that is actually quite descriptive of a modern problem.Prior to its application to the computer world, the word virtual meant “being something in effect, though not actually or expressly being such.” In other words, if something is virtual it has aspects of the real thing but is not the real thing. In the sentence “The man is a virtual goldmine...

But you, O God, are my king from of old; you bring salvation upon the earth. It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters. It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert. It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever flowing rivers. The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon. It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;...

How do you respond to challenges that seem beyond your capabilities? Some people feel overwhelmed with a sense of inadequacy, and therefore give up and walk away from the situation. Others approach the undertaking with confidence in themselves and their own abilities. For believers, neither one is the appropriate response—one exhibits a lack of trust in God, and the other displays pride. The apostle Paul described the right approach in 2 Corinthians 3:4-5. Our confidence is not in ourselves, but in Christ. There’s nothing within us that makes us competent for the opportunities God gives us. He alone is the...

Francis Cardinal George lost his long battle with cancer and died today. This is what I wrote about him back in 2012: Francis Cardinal George of the Archdiocese of Chicago is alleged to have predicted that for upholding the teachings of Christ he will die in his bed, his successor will die in a prison cell, and his successor will be executed in a public square in Chicago. Therefore, I am unsurprised that he has written an open letter exploring the “Chicago Values” cited by Mayor Emanuel when he decided to attack the free speech rights of Chick-Fil-A: Recent comments...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Samuel New International Version (NIV) 13 Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years. 2 Saul chose three thousand men from Israel; two thousand were with him at Mikmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent back to their homes. 3 Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the land and said, “Let...

EWTN Video Former Lutheran Minister Discusses Her Conversion Mon. Apr. 20 at 8:00 PM ET Tue. Apr. 21 at 1:00 AM ET Fri. Apr. 24 at 1:00 PM ET JAMIE AND JACK MCALEER Former Lutheran Jamie McAleer explains what made her seek out the Catholic Church, while Jack McAleer discusses what called him back. Hosted by Marcus Grodi.

April 18, 2015Saturday of the Second Week of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 6:1-7 As the number of disciples continued to grow,the Hellenists complained against the Hebrewsbecause their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said,“It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table.Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men,filled with the Spirit and wisdom,whom we shall appoint to this task,whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayerand to the ministry of the word.”The proposal was acceptable to the whole community,so...

A group of conservative Anglican leaders are reportedly meeting in London to discuss forming a “parallel” church that they feel would be more true to Anglican principles on positions like women bishops and gay marriage. The Independent reported that The Church of England is “at risk of an unprecedented schism” in light of the proposal by the Global Anglican Futures Conference, which seeks to counter what conservatives find is a liberal approach to social issues by the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury. […] Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said back in December 2014 that he fears the...

Do we cooperate in our salvation? Do our efforts make a difference? These questions lie at the heart of a centuries-old religious debate in Christianity. Classically, the Protestant reformers said, “No,” to these questions, arguing that we are saved solely and utterly by God’s grace, His unmerited favor. The Catholic Church replied that “faith without works” is dead and that faith alone is insufficient. This debate, with various twists and turns, has continued down through the centuries of Christian culture. At one point, there were complaints of “cheap grace,” where the exaltation of pure grace over works led to a...