What does it mean to be a saint? In ancient times, this could mean anyone who is a part of the Christian community. Today when we speak of saints, we are talking about those people of heroic grace and virtue…
Philanthropy vs. Sainthood
Catholic Pop Culture 2014
As I did last year, I shall recall any good things from the popular culture that are harmonious or helpful to Catholic culture. And as I wrote last year, it is not necessary to indulge a fascination with pop culture…
Plans of Man, Plans of God
Christmas is upon us. And there is no better time to remember how wonderfully unexpected it all was. To be sure, the Israelites were desperately waiting and expecting the coming of the Messiah. But God has a funny way of…
Love As If You Have No Hope
Ours is a faith of paradoxes. If you want to live, you have to die. God’s most powerful deed was becoming small. And when it comes to bring people to Christ, sometimes the best way to do this is to…
The Church Uses Live Ammo
I’ve observed a general feeling in much of the world today that looks at the Catholic Church as an outdated group with quaint, if not retrograde, beliefs that just can’t leave well enough alone. “Who cares if people of the…
Infectious Sin
We had an Ebola scare in my region of the country. Before all of the facts were out, there was a lot of confusion and nervous laughter as people joked about the disease all the while masking their fear. I…
Policy vs. Doctrine
The 2014 Synod has come to a close and more has been made of it in the media than most synods in recent history. Going into the synod, we knew that since the topic related to all things regarding the…
On the Necessity of Petition Prayer
In a previous article, I wrote about how there is no prayer too small to be brought before the throne of God. I wanted to follow up a bit more about the concept of petitionary prayer and why we need…
Rejection or Renewal: Which Will It Be?
A lot of Catholic bloggers and pundits have spilled a good deal of digital ink on the latest controversy to come out of the Archdiocese of New York: The St. Patrick’s Day parade will, for the first time, have marchers…
No Prayer Too Small
“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They…