Last week the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) convened a strategic conversation of 3,500 Catholic leaders on forming missionary disciples to truly animate the Church, so that the “joy of the Gospel,” as Pope Francis has written, might resonate, shine, and…
#CatholicConvo: The Joy of the Gospel in America
Does Life Feel like a Chore?
Sunday Readings for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 9, 2017 I once knew a woman who called herself “a recovering Catholic.” It seems that as a child, she was taught a religion that was all about guilt. Impossible demands…
The Underrated Virtue of Nice
In mystery author Agatha Christie’s biography, she wrote about her father’s death. Many of those present at the funeral said the same thing about the late Mr. Miller. “He was a nice man.” She went on to state that niceness…
When the Mere Mention of Sin Becomes the “Sin”
Have you found that the mere mention of the word “sin” can be taken as a sign from others that you are somehow intolerant? Our culture relegates the concept of sin to a religious term that only extreme ideologues would…
Sins of Omission
You’ve heard the phrase in the title. I bet you have even formed a little catalog in your head of what is included. There are probably things in your list that include a lot of “forgetting”. You know: I forgot…
The Fantasy of a Judgment-Free Zone
The ad for a national fitness center franchise promised that for $10 a month I could enter a judgment-free zone. It gave the hours where I could escape the judgmental world around me to enter a place where no one…
10 Commandments in the Modern World Pt 9 – Relationship Boundaries
Commandment 9: Thou shall not covet thy neighbors wife. In the version of the 10 Commandments found in the book of Exodus place both objects of covetous desires, your neighbor’s wife and his goods, into the same commandment. The version…
True Freedom
The Fourth of July always seems to make people stop and reflect on the core values of our culture. One of these values is freedom. We talk about political freedom, religious freedom, and economic freedom. Listen to or read any…
Conversion: Moment and Process
This week our Church celebrates two great missionaries–Peter and Paul. Often when we talk about conversion in the Christian life, there can be almost a rivalry between the idea of our life-changing conversion as a particular moment (i.e. I remember on such-and-such…
I DARE YOU!
You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are…