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A Leaven In The World… Evangelizing The New Areopagus: Weddings

January 8, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Evangelizing The New Areopagus: Weddings

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Young people today often worship work, free time, or other people; anything from among a plethora of worldly realities other than the true God revealed in Jesus Christ. They might say they are Christians, as many do when asked today. They may not worship on Sundays or pray daily. But, of course, as the faith itself teaches, without works it is dead. We cannot be saved if our faith is nothing but words. Often this practically pagan reality becomes evident when marriage plans begin to materialize. Weddings necessarily involve family. Family involves those of faith as well as those having none. When the invitations begin to arrive with no indication of a church wedding, some…Continue Reading

Jesus Is God From Eternity

January 7, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Jesus Is God From Eternity

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER The Baptism Of The Lord (YR C) Readings: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 Acts 10:34-38 Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 In the Gospel reading we are told that after all the people had been baptized, and Jesus had also been baptized, while He was praying the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove. Then a voice from Heaven was heard saying: “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” This passage has been misinterpreted in several ways. First, there are those who claim Jesus did not know He was God, but when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him He realized He was God. Being God, the divine mind of…Continue Reading

The Authority Of Bishops… Celibacy Among The Early Christians

January 6, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Authority Of Bishops… Celibacy Among The Early Christians

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 7 I have heard from many a Catholic the idea that the early Church had no teaching on celibacy. It was supposedly a medieval imposition of the Latin Church upon the faithful. The early Christians, they say, took God’s commandment to “Be fruitful and multiply” seriously. But such people fail to see the context, the hints in the Old Testament pointing to a future celibacy, the difference between commandment and counsel, the teachings of Jesus Himself and especially of St. Paul, who explicitly recommends celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. The early Christians laid down their lives for Jesus Christ: They were martyred right, left, and center — crucified, burned alive,…Continue Reading

Vices Opposed To The Virtue Of Hope

January 5, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Vices Opposed To The Virtue Of Hope

By DON FIER In beginning our deliberation on the theological virtue of hope in last week’s installment, it was noted that human hope pertains to a certain confidence directed toward what is expected, but not yet present. As portrayed by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn in the third volume of Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church, natural hope is “a human attitude without which there can be no human life: the sick person hopes for recovery; the lover, for the return of the beloved; those afflicted by war, for peace” (p. 49). His Eminence goes on to state that “someone who has no hope left at all — if that is even possible — cannot live, either” (ibid., p. 50). This…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

January 4, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: In a recent column in the weekly bulletin of the Church of St. Michael in New York City, Fr. George Rutler first gave the bad news about the precipitous decline of women religious from 181,421 in 1965 to about 47,000 today, about 80 percent of them over 70 years of age. He blamed the decline on abandonment of “conventual life and even those religious habits. It was an abuse of the [Second Vatican] Council’s modest prescriptions for updating the consecrated life and, in fact, it often fostered dissent from the Faith itself.” Fr. Rutler then gave the good news that there is “a dramatic upsurge in Orders that live the traditional counsels, teaching, caring for the poor and…Continue Reading

Jamie Schmidt… Saying Farewell To A Catholic Heroine And Possible Martyr

January 3, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Jamie Schmidt… Saying Farewell To A Catholic Heroine And Possible Martyr

By FR. BRIAN W. HARRISON, OS (LifeSiteNews) — On November 26-27, I joined a great many others from the St. Louis and southwest Illinois areas in giving thanks to God for the life of Mrs. Jamie Schmidt, and paying our last respects to this noble woman who sacrificed her life rather than submit to sexual abuse. (See The Wanderer, December 13, 2018, p. 5A, for Fr. Harrison’s earlier article on the murder of Mrs. Schmidt. Also see LifeSiteNews for November 24, 2018, where his article first appeared. It is reprinted here with permission. All rights reserved.) Many LifeSiteNews readers will already have seen my recent posting telling the harrowing story of how this gentle and devout 53-year-old mother of three,…Continue Reading

God’s Epiphany Must Change Us

January 1, 2019 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on God’s Epiphany Must Change Us

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Solemnity Of The Epiphany (YR C) Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6 Eph. 3:2-3a, 5-8 Matt. 2:1-12 In the first reading the Prophet Isaiah speaks about events that would take place in Jerusalem. Being written after the exile, the original context may have been understood to mean that the people had learned their lesson during their time of exile and were serving the Lord so faithfully that not only would the Jews of the diaspora return to Jerusalem, but their fidelity would be a light that broke through the darkness of the Gentiles to bring them to the truth. If only it would have worked that way! Unfortunately, we know that many of the Jews did not remain faithful…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… AD 2019: Memory Makes Christ Present

December 31, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… AD 2019: Memory Makes Christ Present

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK May the Christmas Season be blessed for you with the joy of faith and sustenance of love in Christ the newborn Lord! Memories are a powerful aid to our humanity and our faith. At Christmas each year as families come together for worship and feasting they discuss their plans for family “traditions.” They carry forward their love and relationships through the rituals of various kinds which surround the sharing of visits, meals, or other common activities. Simple things such as the light of a candle flame, gathering around the warmth of the fire, taking out old photos, sending cards or giving gifts, communicate truths which may be difficult to truly express finally and fully with…Continue Reading

The Authority Of Bishops… Celibacy In The Epistles Of St. Paul

December 30, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Authority Of Bishops… Celibacy In The Epistles Of St. Paul

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 6 St. Paul’s teachings on marriage are second to none, especially in the Epistle to the Ephesians. There he praises marriage to the heavens, comparing it to the union between Christ and the Church, calling it “a great sacrament,” and encouraging husbands and wives to live a holy life, imitating Christ and His Church. Fine. But then, in the Epistle to the Corinthians, he said that “it is good for a man not to touch a woman.” Of course, he could not contradict himself, by praising marriage and encouraging celibacy at the same time. St. Paul understood very well the distinction between commandment and counsel, taking from Jesus’ exhortation to the rich young man…Continue Reading

The Theological Virtues — Hope

December 29, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Theological Virtues — Hope

By DON FIER As we continued our treatment of the theological virtue of faith in last week’s installment by looking at vices and sins opposed to this unmerited gift, which Christoph Cardinal Schönborn describes as “the gateway to divine life” (Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church [vol. 3], p. 46), we saw that unbelief is a most grave sin. In A Tour of the Summa, Msgr. Paul J. Glenn illuminates this teaching by stating that unbelief “severs a man completely from God and falsifies his very notion of God” (p. 193). Especially grave are sins which involve the rejection of what has already been received (e.g., formal heresy, apostasy). Truly, as Sacred Scripture attests, “without faith it is impossible…Continue Reading