The voice of my childhood pastor, Father Kerwin, was just short of Edward R. Murrow in wartime England. Except instead of saying “This…is London,” he would declare five minutes before Mass began: These…are the announcements. Grave proclamations in his deep, chastening, black-coffee voice that could refreeze a melted glacier: Ladies’ Circles, Holy Week schedule, parking Read more
The Eucharistic prayer is the most important and least understood prayer in the Catholic Mass. Most Catholics see it as the priest’s prayer that is centred on the consecration of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Many priests use Eucharistic Prayer II, the shortest of the 13 versions of the Read more
Catholic traditionalists attached to the Old Latin Mass have their rosaries beads in a knot again over Pope Francis’ latest move to strictly curtail use of the Tridentine Rite, the complex and heavily rubricised ritual that pre-dated the liturgical reform mandated by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The pope, on February 20, ordered the Dicastery Read more
When Billy Graham died in February at the age of 99, commentators offered duelling perspectives. Was the world-famous evangelist “the last high-profile bipartisan evangelical,” as some eulogized? Or had America’s Preacher started a strain of Gospel-infused white nationalism that still exists today? But if Graham is either the foil or forefather of current evangelical politics, Read more
If you are the parent of a LGBTQ child, I hope that the following thoughts, which I’ve accumulated as a psychotherapist over the past 35 years, can help resolve some misunderstandings, and help you and your child enjoy a more loving relationship. See what works for you and leave the rest behind. In his beautiful book Read more
To understand the Eucharist, we must remember that Jesus and his first disciples were all Jews. We might even say the first Christians were Jewish heretics because, unlike their fellow Jews, they believed Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. After Pentecost, the Jewish Christians continued to go to the temple to pray. If they were Read more
One could easily lose count of how many books have been published — or about to be published posthumously by Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI. And there are the books by those bishops and cardinals who refer to the late pope and former doctrinal chief in support of their views on the issues at the center of Read more
When Cardinal McElroy, the bishop of San Diego, proposed in a recent America essay that the church’s ongoing synodal process demonstrates a need to be more welcoming of women and L.G.B.T. people, he set off a wave of criticism from some bishops, priests and lay Catholics who believe the church should continue to defend its Read more
An effective teaching tool of Jesus’ were the parables. When the people He was engaged with couldn’t figure out the meaning of what was being taught, He would use parables to bring the Gospel truth into everyday life circumstances. All 47 parables provoke us to look at our attitudes towards each other. Do we behave Read more
Because evangelising is not saying, ‘Look, blah, blah, blah’ and nothing more. There is a passion that involves everything: the mind, the heart, the hands, going out… everything, the whole person is involved with this proclamation of the Gospel, and for this reason we talk about the passion for evangelising. After having seen in Jesus Read more