Catholic by Choice

The close proximity in time between the Jewish Passover and the Christian Holy Week is no accident; one could write for volumes of its deeper meaning. However, as I prepare to enter into Holy Week as a Catholic Deacon, I was reminded of the question usually asked by the youngest at the Passover Seder, “why…

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, the Office within the Vatican which oversees all worship in the Church throughout the world, issued a decree on April 12, 2011 directing that the late Pope John Paul II be remembered in a memorial every year. Another Feast day in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic…

Bill Maher of HBO I spoke with Tom Peterson the founder of “Catholics Come Home”  about the horrid attack leveled against “Catholics Come Home” by HBO Talk Show Host Bill Maher on his television program. Maher had seen one of the commercials of “Catholics Come Home” and decided to reach into the pits of hell…

I preached all the Masses this past weekend at my parish. It is such a privilege to break open the Gospel and offer it to the faithful. Every time I do I become more aware of the great gift we have in the Living Word of God. I am also reminded of the need we…

Geraldine Ferraro died on Saturday in Boston, Mass. at the age of 75. She had been heroically battling multiple myeloma for twelve years. Thursday morning a private funeral Mass will take place at the Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer in Manhattan, New York City for family and friends. It will be off limits to the…

On March 25th Catholic Christians celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord. Our Gospel passage read at Mass is taken from the first chapter of St. Luke (Luke 1: 26 -38). The Evangelist recounts Mary’s encounter with the Lord’s “messenger”, which is what Angel means. Gabriel’s appearance and message to Mary and her…

In my early twenties I attended a conference sponsored by an enthusiastic movement which was flourishing in ecumenical Christian circles at the time. One of the workshop speakers was a Southern Baptist minister who had helped to found a large network of Christian communities which identified themselves as “non-denominational” churches. Born in Alabama and raised…

“Fear is useless; what is needed is trust.” Luke 8:50, Mark 5:36 Have you ever had the experience of awakening from a dream, paralyzed with fear, unable to speak or perhaps even move? Most people have. Some well intended people tell us that such dreams can be the result of stress or worry over circumstances…

He was raised in a Christian home in Britain toward the end of the fourth century. It was an age much like our own, gripped by a “culture of death” and filled with a spirit of lawlessness. Tragedy struck Patrick at sixteen years old when he was kidnapped by Irish Pirates and taken to the…

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.” (Luke 4:1)  “The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light.” (Gaudium et Spes, # 22,…

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