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Sixth Sunday of Easter John 14:23-29 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in Christ’s name, will teach his disciples everything. The Holy Spirit is the love shared by the Father and the Son. We have access to this holy heart of God only because the Father sent the Son into the world, into our dysfunction, even to the limits of godforsakenness—and thereby gathered all of the world into the dynamism of the divine life. Those who live in Christ are not outside of God as petitioners or supplicants; rather, they are...

The Gospel for Sunday has a number of “sayings” of the Lord Jesus, which together amount to a kind of litany of love. It is a setting forth of the gifts that He, by His grace, is accomplishing and will accomplish in us. Let’s consider the wonderful gifts of grace.I. Power – Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever loves me will keep my word.”Here is a fundamental theology of grace: keeping the commandments and mandates of the Lord’s Word is the fruit of His love, not the cause of it. The Lord says that if you love Him, the keeping...

May 22nd 2022 6th Sunday of Easter St. Columba's cathedral, Oban, Scotland Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White If the Ascension of the Lord is going to be celebrated next Sunday, the alternative Second Reading and Gospel shown here (which would otherwise have been read on that Sunday) may be used today.First readingActs 15:1-2,22-29 ©It has been decided by the Spirit and by ourselves not to burden you with any burden beyond these essentialsSome men came down from Judaea and taught the brothers, ‘Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved.’ This led to disagreement,...

TRENTON, NJ – Last week, in light of the leak of a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to turn abortion rights over to the states, Governor Phil Murphy doubled down on his commitment to keeping abortions legal in New Jersey. Murphy’s administration issued a swift statement to combat the federal court’s decision. “With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade – a decision that would have significant consequences for reproductive rights throughout the country – Governor Phil Murphy announced renewed efforts to secure abortion rights and bolster access to reproductive health care in New Jersey,” Murphy...

Fifth Week of Easter John 15:18-21 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus warns us to expect persecution. But do not be afraid, because in Jesus Christ, we are connected to the very power of God, to that which is here and now creating the universe. No matter how much violence and mayhem is going on, we have a place of safety. How wonderfully Jesus expresses this: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." The body passes, but the soul, that place where you are in contact with the living God, lasts forever. So...

Here is a List of Bishops Speaking Out in Support of Archbishop CordileoneNOTE: This is a developing story. Readers are encouraged to come back again for updates.CV NEWS FEED // After Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced he will bar House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, from receiving Communion in her home Archdiocese of San Francisco, a growing number of other American bishops and archbishops have voiced their support for the decision.As of Friday evening, nine prominent Catholic churchmen had weighed in with support for their brother bishop.Bishop Donald Hying, Diocese of Madison, WIThe Diocese of Madison issued a statement from Bishop Donald...

We have arrived at the Sixth Week of Easter and continue to bask in the glow of the story of the growth of the early Church in Acts, the vision of heaven from the Book of Revelation, and the consolation of Jesus’ words to the Apostles in the Upper Room from John. It’s a trifecta of glory in these Readings. If last Sunday we noted a “kingdom of love” theme, this week we notice an emphasis on the idea of the “kingdom of peace.” In Acts (1st Reading) we see the measures that were necessary to keep peace in the...

[Catholic Caucus] Church Unity Is "Illusion," Church Must "Appreciate" Homosex - Presiding German BishopThe Church's teaching on homosexuality must be "changed,” presiding German bishop Georg Bätzing told DeutschlandFunk.de (May 20).He believes that “homosexuals living in relationships" should not be "discriminated" but be considered "an opportunity that is treated with respect.”Bätzing has not yet performed a homosexual “blessing,” but he defends it: “The practice exists, and I will not discipline anyone who performs a blessing.” In real life, God calls practiced homosexuality an abomination (Sacred Scripture).Besides, Bätzing is fighting for women priests but knows from several conversations that Francis decidedly holds...

The first reading from Sunday Mass this week (5th Sunday of Easter) is very Catholic, and it’s too informative to just pass by. It presents a Church as rather highly organized and possessed of some the structures we know today in full form. Granted, some of these structures are in seminal (seed) form, but the are there.One can detect qualities of the original kerygma that are at variance with what some modern thinkers declare should be the methodology of the Church. The soft Christianity of many today, who remove the cross and replace it with a pillow and who insist...

May 21st 2022 5th Saturday of : Memorial of St. Christopher Magallanes Catedral Guadalajara Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White First readingActs 16:1-10 ©'Come across to Macedonia and help us'From Cilicia Paul went to Derbe, and then on to Lystra. Here there was a disciple called Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess who had become a believer; but his father was a Greek. The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy, and Paul, who wanted to have him as a travelling companion, had him circumcised. This was on account of the Jews in the locality where everyone knew his...

SAO PAULO (CNS) — A Catholic prelature in Brazil's Amazon has decreed that its parishes will not accept donations from any person or company that displaces minorities or damages the earth. Bishop José Ionilton Lisboa de Oliveira of Itacoatiara has prohibited parishes, pastoral communities, groups and movements linked to the prelature -- similar to a diocese — from receiving financial resources from those he says "damage the Amazon." "We decree, for an indefinite period, that in parishes, communities, pastorals, groups and movements of the Prelature of Itacoatiara, we will not receive financial resources, in currency or other goods, from politicians,...

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 20, 2022 / 14:41 pm Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver released a statement Friday in support of San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s decision to deny Communion to Nancy Pelosi because of her persistence in supporting abortion. “I support and commend my brother bishop for making this courageous, compassionate, and necessary decision,” Aquila said. “I know Archbishop Cordileone to be a shepherd with the heart and mind of Christ, who truly desires to lead others towards Christ’s love, mercy, and promise of eternal salvation.” Cordileone’s announcement came out Friday at 3 p.m. EDT and explained that the...

Vatican City, May 13, 2022 / 12:20 pm Pope Francis said on Friday that members of the Anglican Communion are “valued traveling companions” as Catholics take part in a worldwide synodal process. Speaking to the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Dialogue Commission (ARCIC) on May 13, the pope said he hoped that Anglicans would contribute to the two-year initiative leading to the Synod on Synodality in Rome in 2023. He said: “As you know, the Catholic Church has inaugurated a synodal process: for this common journey to be truly such, the contribution of the Anglican Communion cannot be lacking. We look upon...

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will not be allowed to receive communion due to her staunch support for abortion rights, according to the congresswoman’s Roman Catholic archbishop. San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone sent a letter on Thursday to Pelosi, D-Calif., a practicing Catholic, informing her that she had been warned to either “repudiate your advocacy for abortion ‘rights’” or “refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion.” “I am hereby notifying you that you are not to present yourself for Holy Communion and, should you do so, you are not to be admitted to...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Grech: Civil War Among Bishops "Is Synodality"The Synod on Synodality is an „unprecedented event,” homosexualist Cardinal Mario Grech, the Synod's general-secretary, told Christopher Lamb (podcast, May 19).Previous synods were prepared by the Vatican but the ongoing will be formed by the submissions of the bishops’ conferences, Grech claims. He insists that “it is not true that nothing will change. I can tell you there is already a change.”.Regarding the usual underwear topics and female ordination, Grech replied that “nothing should be left under the carpet“ - as if sex hasn't been rotting on the ecclesiastical carpet for...

FIFTH WEEK OF EASTER JOHN 15:12-17 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us his friends. Psychologists tell us that a true friend is someone who has seen us at our worst and still loves us. If you have encountered me only on my best days, I have no guarantee that you are my friend. But when you have dealt with me when I am most obnoxious and you still love me, then I am sure that you are my friend. The old Gospel song says, “What a friend we have in Jesus!” This is not pious sentimentalism; it is the...

20 May 2022Friday of the 5th week of Eastertide San Bernadino de Siena Church, Xochimilco, Mexico City Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White.First readingActs 15:22-31 ©It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by us not to burden you beyond these essentialsThe apostles and elders decided to choose delegates to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; the whole church concurred with this. They chose Judas known as Barsabbas and Silas, both leading men in the brotherhood, and gave them this letter to take with them: ‘The apostles and elders, your brothers, send greetings to the brothers of pagan...

Spain’s coalition government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez intends to propose a bill that would legalize abortion without parental consent for 16 and 17 year old children. Sources in the Ministry of Equality have confirmed to the EFE news agency that the text is in the last phase of negotiation in the government, formed by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and Unidas Podemos, and that the Council of Ministers are expected to approve it May 17. After approval by the cabinet, the bill would be introduced to the Congress of Deputies. The draft bill would eliminate a three day waiting...

The Italian forensic team that found the remains of two priests killed during the genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1918. (Credit: Courtesy Father Luis Escalante.)ROME – After several days of searching, the remains of two Syrian Chaldean martyrs, killed for their faith by the Ottoman Empire, were found last week in a chapel outside the Christian village of Qaraqosh in Iraq’s Nineveh Plain. Syrian Catholic Father Yusuf Jabo Sakarya of Mosul, and Father Behnam Hanam Mikho Khozymi, a monk belonging to the order of the Brothers of Saint Ephrem, were murdered by Turkish gendarmes on June...

Homophobia was an "unholy line of tradition" in the Catholic Church, says Archbishop Heiner Koch of Berlin Archbishop Heiner Koch of Berlin has asked forgiveness for the church's discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation. Homophobia was an "unholy line of tradition" in the Catholic Church, Koch said May 17 during an ecumenical service in the Protestant Twelve Apostles Church in Berlin. The German Catholic news agency KNA said he called for respect for the dignity of every human being, regardless of their sexual orientation, and announced that the Archdiocese of Berlin would take measures to ensure this. The...