Sorry, but I’m about to rock your pleasant workday. Since I returned from my trip to Rwanda with Catholic Relief Services, I read the news headlines with a new type of intensity. It seems I can no longer sip my…
A Call to Action in the Central African Republic
Don’t Think Like an Atheist
We live in a much different society than in ages past. Modernity tends towards skepticism in a way that no other age has. In this regard, it is important to meet the questions of the day and the people in…
Unbound
I discovered Neal Lozano’s book, Unbound: A Practical Guide to Deliverance, when our covenant community planned an Unbound Conference with him. About 50 of us learned how to cooperate with the Lord to gain freedom from the influence of evil…
Practical Parent Evangelization
By nature I am a practical person in most aspects of my life. When it is time for parent meetings to go over the reception of sacraments I use that as an opportunity to teach the parents as well. Why…
The Presentation, Feast of Mission
Readings for February 2, 2014: Feast of the Presentation of the Lord I recently led a group of pilgrims to Jerusalem. As we stood at the foot of the Temple Mount and remembered the Presentation of Jesus, several people had…
Create a Clean Heart in Me, O God
Have you ever felt like King David in today’s psalm? Here is a man who seems to have it all, to be a smashing success. The rags-to-riches story of a shepherd-boy-turned-king is something we usually only see in movies. He…
The Gift of Ordinary Time
Ordinary Time a gift? Man, that’s not a gift; it’s just the regular, run-of-the-mill Catholic mass season. Wait just a minute! Ordinary Time doesn’t mean mundane or dull in the way we modern Americans think of things as “ordinary.” The…
Michael Novak on His Journey from Liberal to Conservative
A few weeks ago I finished reading the latest book by Michael Novak, Writing from Left to Right: My Journey from Liberal to Conservative. (My review of that book is here.) I also had the opportunity to interview Mr. Novak about…
Curiosity and Human Nature
When we look at the celebrations of the Church we need to remember that there is logic to everything. When and how we celebrate things is not simply random. The last Feast of the Christmas octave is an ending, but…
Elitism: To Be or Not to Be?
“Is evangelization inevitably elitist?” asks Fr. Francis DeDiano, CSP, president of the Paulist Evangelization Ministries. Good question. In the light of our Catholic faith, I think the answer is a clear no. In fact, the call to evangelize helps us…