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Columns

Palm Sunday in Rome

By John Thavis
VATICAN CITY – Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI warned that technological progress must not lead people to think they can “become God.” About 50,000 faithful waved olive branches and palm fronds in St. Peter’s Square April 17 at the start of the liturgy that commemorated Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem […]
4/18/11
Reading Time 2 min

Old, New Testament, same God

By Mary Beth Bonacci
Have you ever wondered about the “Wrath of God”? Seriously, doesn’t it get a little confusing sometimes? God is supposed to be the ultimate incarnation (literally) of love. We grew up making rainbows and collages about how “God is love.” His love for each of us is supposed to be tender, eternal and all-encompassing, right? […]
3/2/11
Reading Time 4 min

A patron saint for the sick

By Thomas Craughwell
In the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, “Health of the sick” is one of the many titles under which we invoke Our Lady. In 1992, inspired by this title, Pope John Paul II established the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes as the World Day of the Sick. The story of the apparition of […]
2/9/11
Reading Time 3 min

Is it true, kind, necessary?

By Elizabeth Foss
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was a young mom with a preschooler and a new baby and another mother I’d met working at a small magazine called Welcome Home invited me to her house to watch her family in action. She was a Catholic woman, a few years older than me, whom […]
2/1/11
Reading Time 3 min

Same-sex attractions: The Church’s pastoral response(1)

By Fr. Paul Scalia
For the past four weeks this column has set forth the Church’s teaching (which is simply the natural law) on homosexuality. We must know the doctrine and first principles in order to address this issue accurately, always keeping in mind that doctrinal and moral truth is necessary for love. We must speak the truth in […]
10/20/10

Same-sex attractions: The Church’s pastoral response

By Fr. Paul Scalia
Part I – Sexuality and homosexuality One of the greatest issues before us now is that of homosexuality. The phenomenon of homosexuality is nothing new. But now we face something completely new in the history of the world: the demand that homosexual relationships be approved as normative and recognized as “marriages.” Such approval would radically […]
10/6/10
Reading Time 5 min

Called to holiness

By Mary Beth Bonacci
“I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints; the sinners are much more fun.” – Billy Joel. “For God, each person is absolutely unique. Holiness is the not the realization of a given model of perfection that is identical for everyone. It is the emergence of an absolutely unique reality that God […]
10/6/10
Reading Time 4 min

Spiritual friendships form a bond like no other

By Therese J. Borchard
I’ve long known the truth of Martin Buber’s line: “When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them.” It’s the same message that Jesus speaks in Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.” I have always […]
9/8/10
Reading Time 2 min

A patron saint for dogs

By Thomas Craughwell

The dog with the loaf of bread in its mouth has become St. Rocco's emblem, appearing beside him in virtually every picture or statue of the saint.

8/5/10
Reading Time 2 min

A patron saint for arthritis and rheumatism

By Thomas J. Craughwell

Two apostles bore the name James. The St. James we are discussing is called "the Greater" because with his brother St. John and St. Peter he was a member of Our Lord's inner circle. These three apostles were alone with Christ when He raised Jairus' daughter from the dead and cured St. Peter's mother-in-law. They were the only apostles to witness the Lord's glorious Transfiguration and the only apostles to watch with Him (until sleep overcame them) during His bitter agony in the garden.

7/15/10
Reading Time 3 min

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