Free Republic

I loved watching re-runs of The Honeymooners when I was a kid. I appreciated the fact that they were more broke than my family and, like my parents, they met that circumstance with good humor. In the classic episode above Ralph sold his prized bowling ball to buy a Christmas present wife for his beloved wife Alice.   The late comedian Jackie Gleason when asked his religion would always say "Bad Catholic". He was once asked by a Paulist priest to appear on his television program and talk about religion which he did, stating to the priest that Catholicism...

In my Parish I work with the men of the Holy Name Society and also the women of the Sodality to ensure that the numerous sick in our parish are visited regularly. I try to visit the sick at least quarterly on a rolling basis to ensure they have had confession and anointing of the Sick. But, since I am without an assistant priest, as a general rule, I depend on them to bring communion regularly.We met as a group this past week and had an interesting discussion about a concern that a number of them expressed, that of reverence....

Once reserved for the dying, the anointing of the sick is now offered to any Catholic who needs healing from a serious illness Mary Ellen Segraves could sense the fear in her ailing mother Ceil's eyes the day after her knee surgery. But when Rev. Yaroslav Mendyuk approached her hospital bed to offer the sacrament of the sick, Segraves saw her mother light up. Following the priest's lead, Ceil Segraves crossed herself with a frail hand taped with tubes and closed her eyes as Mendyuk anointed her forehead and hands with oil and recited the blessing from his prayer book....

Fundamentals of Catholicism by Father Robert Altier Lesson 16: Baptism, Confirmation, and Anointing of the Sick The first sacrament we will consider is baptism because it is by baptism that a person becomes a member of the Church and participates in the divine life of Jesus Christ. Baptism is the sacrament of spiritual regeneration conferred by the application of water while consecrating the person to the Holy Trinity. Baptism, then, confers with it a spiritual regeneration, divine adoption, the beginning of eternal life, and conformity to Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection. By baptism we become children of God...