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Catholic Replies

May 25, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. Can you explain how the date for Easter is determined? It changes every year. — R.W., Massachusetts. A. Since the Council of Nicaea in 325, the date on which Easter falls is determined by the full moon. It is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon occurring after the vernal equinox, that is, the time of the year when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are everywhere of equal length. Since this is around March 21, it means that Easter can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25. There have been suggestions that Easter be celebrated on a fixed date every year, and the Church has not expressed an objection to that…Continue Reading

The Tenth Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum… “Any Experience Of Rupture Must Come To An End”

May 23, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Tenth Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum… “Any Experience Of Rupture Must Come To An End”

By ARCHBISHOP ALEXANDER K. SAMPLE (Editor’s Note: The Most Rev. Alexander Sample of the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., gave this homily for the Pontifical High Mass at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C., on April 28, 2018. (The occasion was a celebration of the tenth anniversary of Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic letter that encouraged the wider celebration of the Latin Mass. There at the basilica, the largest Roman Catholic church in North America and one of the ten largest in the world, Archbishop Sample celebrated a Solemn Pontifical Mass at the Throne in the presence of 4,000 faithful. (The clergy, religious, and altar servers alone numbered about 100, according to a report from…Continue Reading

The Oneness Of God

May 22, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Oneness Of God

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Solemnity Of The Most Holy Trinity (YR B) Readings: Deut. 4:32-34, 39-40 Romans 8:14-17 Matt. 28:16-20 In the first reading today, Moses addresses the people of Israel, challenging them to think about what they might believe about God and about themselves in relation to God. The problem for the Jewish people, having come out of Egypt, is that they had fallen prey to the culture around them and lost their belief in the truth that there is only one God. They had begun to believe in the Egyptian gods and Moses was trying to bring them back to the truth of the oneness of God. After pointing out some of the wonders the people had witnessed,…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… A Weird World Far From God

May 21, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… A Weird World Far From God

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK “Some say the Catholic Church has to become more like Protestants (e.g., married priests, women priests, abortion, gay marriage) to survive. A new ABC Poll shows that Protestant membership has declined 14 percent in the last 15 years! We Catholics had better look before we leap.” Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Diocese of Providence, R.I., shared this startling assessment via his Twitter account this month. What’s startling, though, is not what was said but who said it. Bishop Tobin has garnered increased attention on the social media platform for his uncharacteristic candor in a time when many bishops self-protectively hold their cards close to their chest. Our distinctive Catholic identity is under attack not from…Continue Reading

Replies To Objections To The Mass

May 20, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Replies To Objections To The Mass

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 29 In this article, we respond to objections against the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which non-Catholics are wont to raise in order to attempt to justify their many different doctrines about the Eucharist. They do not agree among themselves on a great many points of doctrine — see how many thousands of sects, churches, and denominations exist today — but in only one point they all agree: The Catholic Church is wrong! In Jesus’ times, the Jews were also divided into many sects, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, Zealots, etc., etc. They disagreed among themselves in many points of doctrine, but on only one point they agreed: Crucify Him! Amazing how history repeats itself: What…Continue Reading

Blessed Are The Merciful

May 19, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Blessed Are The Merciful

By DON FIER In last week’s consideration of the fourth Beatitude: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [justice], for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6), we saw that those being referred to are souls who intensely desire that their wills are in accord with God’s will. They want what God wants, and their desires are always satisfied. In the first volume of his commentary entitled The Gospel of Matthew (TGM), William Barclay observes that for many, the desire for goodness and justice is “wistful and nebulous rather than sharp and intense.” They are content with “a part of righteousness.” In this Beatitude, however, our Lord is describing “the hunger of a man who is starving for food,…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

May 18, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. While preparing for her Confirmation, my niece had to memorize the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, but not all of them were the ones I learned at my Confirmation. I recognized three of them — Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge — but the other four were different. Can you explain this? — M.C., via e-mail. A. For the last thirty or so years, certain substitutions were made for the traditional listing of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge remained the same, but Counsel became Right Judgment, Fortitude became Courage, Piety became Reverence, and Fear of the Lord became Wonder and Awe in God’s Presence. However, the revised Rite of Confirmation has restored the former names…Continue Reading

Holy Mass In Limerick, Ireland, October 1, 1979… Pope John Paul II: Defend “The Absolute Inviolability Of Unborn Life”

May 16, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Holy Mass In Limerick, Ireland, October 1, 1979… Pope John Paul II: Defend “The Absolute Inviolability Of Unborn Life”

(Editor’s Note: The text of this address by John Paul II comes from the Vatican’s website, w2.vatican.va. All rights reserved.) + + + A phobail dhilis na Mumhan, go mbeannai Dia dhaoibh. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, On this last day of my visit to Ireland, I come to you to celebrate with you the Holy Eucharist. I wish to seal once more, in the love of Christ Jesus, the bond that links the Successor of Peter in the See of Rome with the Church that is in Ireland. In you I greet once more all the People of Ireland, who have taken their place in the mystery of the Church through the preaching of St. Patrick and through…Continue Reading

Testify To And Glorify The Lord

May 15, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Testify To And Glorify The Lord

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Solemnity Of Pentecost (YR B) Readings: Acts 2:1-11 1 Cor. 12:3b-7, 12-13 John 15:26-27; 16:12-15 In the Gospel reading today, our Lord tells His apostles that at that time they were unable to hear the full truth, so He tells them the Holy Spirit will come to guide them into all truth. Beyond leading them into the fullness of truth, our Lord says the Spirit would also testify to Him and glorify Him. When the Holy Spirit was sent, according to our Lord’s promise, He led the apostles to speak of the mighty works of God. We are told about the sound like a strong driving wind and the apostles speaking in such a way the…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… “Let The Children Come” To Mass

May 14, 2018 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… “Let The Children Come” To Mass

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Many of us realized that Facebook was profiting on our personal information long before the legacy media made it explicit. They were forced to expose Mark Zuckerberg in reportage on his Capitol Hill testimony as part of the alleged Russian election-meddling saga. Whether or not investigations reveal that Russia influenced our political process in the last presidential race, there has been a lot of resulting collateral damage, and one of those is the charge that Facebook violated the privacy of millions of users. Facebook, however, wouldn’t have any of our information if we simply chose not to use it. But when family members chide one for missing out on baby and reunion photos or pet…Continue Reading