Recently I had a student ask the perennially controversial question “Why can’t women be ordained priests?” Even though this has been declared as a closed question by Pope St. John Paul II, it still recurs over and over. There are…
Sacramental Matters
Reflections on Veronica’s Veil
The sixth Station of the Cross is Veronica wiping the face of Jesus. While this story does not appear in any of the Gospel accounts of the Passion, it has become an important source of meditation when thinking about the…
Are the Gospels Historical?
Christianity is an historical religion. We make claims of history. Unlike other religions from the ancient world, the central story of our faith is based in fact, not myth. If you were to ask an ancient Roman about when Hercules…
Why We Must Prioritize the Unborn
“The threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself because it takes place within the sanctuary of the family and because of the number of lives destroyed…” The US Catholic Bishops made the above statement…
Evangelization Begins with Love
If you are anything like me, watching the news about our country is very upsetting. We are all Americans and yet we often appear more and more divided. To be honest, I have spent less and less time watching the…
Start Over with Jesus
Every year we make New Year’s resolutions. When the calendar resets, we often take that as a moment to hit the reset button on our lives. There is nothing magical about the change in date, but it speaks to the…
The Gift of Christmas Time
A few years ago, I took a test to see what my “love language” is. Your “love language” means that this is the main way in which you give and perceive love with others. For some, their “love language” is…
Does God Have Free Will?
CS Lewis in his influential book The Problem of Pain makes an argument that explains the presence of evil in the world as a consequence of free will. In his chapter on “Divine Omnipotence,” Lewis states “Again, the freedom of…
Refuting New Abortion Arguments
In the last few decades, I believe that we have been winning the culture war on abortion. When I first started teaching, I would say that the majority of my students were in favor of abortion. As the years have…
The Long Defeat and Final Victory
JRR Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings once wrote: “I am a Christian, and indeed a Roman Catholic, so that I do not expect ‘history’ to be anything but a ‘long defeat’ – though it contains (and…