Homily at the Mass for the Walk for Life West Coast; Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary the New Eve Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, January 20, 2024 — Readings: Rev 21:1-5a; Is 61:10a-d, f, 11; 62:2-3; Jn 2:1-11 The entrance chant for our Mass today – “All the earth will worship…
Our visit to Medjugorje was much more than we anticipated. We went on this Pilgrimage knowing that Mary, as the Mother of Jesus and Queen of Heaven, is the greatest intercessor to her Son Jesus. Also, Medjugorje is a place where if one opens his or her heart, that person can experience the “enlightenment of…
Dearest Brothers and Sisters, May the Lord give you Peace! Tonight’s Gospel echoes the voice of a deep feeling, which I believe we all share: “there was no room for them” (Lk. 2:7). As it was for Mary and Joseph so it seems for us today that there is no room for Christmas. For too…
Book Review of Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, by McChrystal, U.S. Army (Ret.) with Silverman, Fusell and Collins. General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Army Retired, took command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force in the Middle East in 2003 and transformed it from a hierarchical organization built on efficiency…
Book review of The Marketing of Evil, by David Kupelian In the turbulent sea of modern literature, there occasionally emerges a lighthouse of insight that pierces through the darkness of misinformation and guides us towards the shores of truth. David Kupelian’s “The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised As…
One of the titles by which we address Our Blessed Mother in the Litany of Loreto is Mirror of Justice (Speculum Iustitiae). The title reminds us that we see in Mary the image of how to live in obedience to God’s law and so grow in the likeness of Christ, that is, grow in the…
CNA—At a congressional hearing on Thursday, Nov. 30, members of Congress and human rights activists urged Nicaragua dictator Daniel Ortega to immediately release imprisoned Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who they said is being mistreated and possibly tortured. U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Hearing The hearing, which was held by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global…
Word on Fire—Now that I’ve had a bit of time to readjust to my normal rhythm and to think through the rather extraordinary experience of the last month in Rome, I would like to share some impressions of the Synod on Synodality, even as I will endeavor not to violate the pope’s request that we…
In his sixth pastoral letter on male spirituality, Maronite Bishop Gregory Mansour says that “fatherhood is expected of all men, whether biological, natural, or spiritual.” In the Oct. 12 letter titled “The man of God is a man for others: Some themes in men’s spirituality,” Mansour, said that there are “some worrisome trends” in the…
Book Review: The Way of Mercy: A Spiritual Pilgrimage Through Catholic Poland, by Stephen Binz The Way of Mercy by Stephen J. Binz is a profoundly moving and spiritually enriching journey through the heart and soul of Poland’s Catholic heritage. In this book, Binz skillfully combines history, biography and spirituality to offer readers an in-depth…
November 23, 2023 Famed English writer Samuel Johnson once said, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.” Well, another year has zipped by and we are again facing the one day of the year when nobody puts up a façade of worrying about calories—Thanksgiving. To enrich the dialog at your family table,…
For more than two decades, I’ve been a part of the career-transition ministry at St. Isidore Catholic Church in Danville, CA, helping more than 6,000 individuals, spanning different faiths and age groups, embark on their journey to the next phase of their lives since the Dot.com crash in 2002. Our programs focused on helping participants…
LifeSiteNews—The following is the official English statement from Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary of Astana, Kazakhstan, in response to the news that Pope Francis has removed Bishop Joseph Strickland from his Diocese of Tyler. “The one charge which is now sure to secure severe punishment is the careful keeping of the traditions of the Fathers.” These…
CNA—Beginning Aug. 4, 2022, Rolando Álvarez, the bishop of Matagalpa and the apostolic administrator of Estelí in Nicaragua, was prevented from leaving his residence by the Nicaraguan police. Two weeks later in the middle of the night, the police broke into the residence, abducted him, and took him to Managua, where he was held under…
Pat and I have recently returned from an incredible pilgrimage to Medjugorje and traveled by yacht along the Croatian coastline from Split to Dubrovnik. It was sponsored by the national office of Legatus. We joined a total of 40 pilgrims who were from across America on this journey. Getting to share this adventure while getting…
CNA—Just days before the Synod on Synodality kicked off its first round of meetings at the Vatican, a letter from Cardinal Joseph Zen was leaked to media, voicing serious concerns to cardinals and bishops worldwide about the gathering in Rome, and advocating for changes to the synod process as well as spirited discussions of the…
Following a report that Pope Francis and Vatican officials held a meeting earlier this month to discuss requesting the resignation of Tyler, Texas, Bishop Joseph Strickland, the prelate said on Wednesday he has not been contacted by the Vatican about such matters. In addition, Strickland said if Pope Francis were to remove him from office…
CNA—Addressing a packed audience of approximately 1,000 on the campus of Harvard University on Sunday, Bishop Robert Barron offered those in attendance a window into the “Catholic intellectual tradition” by emphatically proclaiming: “The glory of God is man fully alive!” The founder of the Catholic media apostolate Word on Fire, Barron is one of the…
Book Review of Fr. Gabriele Amorth: Rome’s Exorcist: The Official Biography, by Domenico Agasso. At the crossroads of profound spirituality and undeniable reality stands a towering figure: Father Gabriele Amorth. Domenico Agasso’s masterful biography, Fr. Gabriele Amorth: Rome’s Exorcist, unravels the enigma that was Fr. Amorth, an exorcist who dedicated his life to wrestling with…
Cardinal-elect Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, recently spoke with ACI Mena, CNA’s news partner agency in the Middle East, about increasing attacks on Christians by Israeli extremists, his hope for Christians in the Holy Land, and his surprise at being named a cardinal by Pope Francis. How widespread are the recent attacks against…
