Way back in my Catholic school days, I could never figure out why folks in the Bible couldn’t figure out Jesus was the real Jesus. Pilot…clueless. Caiaphas…clueless. The Jewish mob…clueless. How could all these people miss Jesus? Couldn’t they see…
Real Jesus
In a Minute
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. (1 Corinthians 15: 51-52) “Minute, Mom.” If I had a penny for every time I heard that…
Music: God’s Arrow to the Heart
Most of my articles here at New Evangelizers have focused on apologetics: giving a logical and systematic defense and explanation of the faith. As a religion teacher, this has been the focus of my career, to remove the intellectual obstacles…
Art for the Soul
As a young girl, Nellie Edwards dreamed of becoming a fine art painter. Off and on, throughout her life, she tried to paint. “Every attempt was pretty pathetic,” she said. “I thought that maybe someday I would take lessons.” At…
Holiness of the Pharisees
Readings for February 16, 2014: Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Radio talk show hosts make a living on it. Show after show, they bring before our eyes stupid, unjust, and wasteful situations in order to incite outrage. We love to…
Fasting and Prayer: A Pathway to Peace
I’m on the winter blues bandwagon again! Yes, it’s still here in Chicago: heavy snowfalls, bitter cold and wind, and school closings. Last month I wrote how these humbling conditions can actually be a step in deepening our faith. However,…
Big Ideas Fast
I know y’all are too grownup for 6th-grade Catechism class, but everybody like pictures. And if they’re badly drawn then the viewer enjoys a frisson of superiority at the hapless artist’s expense. This is a photo of the second board from our…
The Forgiving Father
In my first post at New Evangelizers, I used the analogy of fatherhood to understand why God may allow pain and tolerate bad behavior. God is the source of fatherhood, so human fatherhood tells us something about God, and God’s…
Avoiding Generic Discipleship
This is the third post in a series examining concerns and cautions about evangelization voiced by Fr. Francis P. DeSiano, CSP, President of the Paulist Evangelization Ministries. Over the past few weeks, Fr. DeSiano has challenged us to ask some…
Be the Salt of the Earth
Readings for February 9, 2014: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time As a Catholic teen growing up in one of the most Catholic area of the U.S., I never would have considered abandoning my faith. But neither would I ever have…