Friday 24th January 2020

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Focus On The Light

January 22, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Focus On The Light

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Third Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 8:23-9:3 1 Cor. 1:10-13, 17 Matt. 4:12-23 In the first reading today, Isaiah tells us that “God first degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,” but then tells us everything is turned around for the people in these lands and that “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” St. Matthew, in the Gospel reading today, tells us this passage is fulfilled by our Lord leaving Nazareth and going to live in Capernaum, which is in the region of Zebulon and Naphtali. St. John tells us that Jesus is the light and that the light came into the darkness and the…Continue Reading

Cardinal Pell Transferred To New Maximum-Security Prison

January 21, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Cardinal Pell Transferred To New Maximum-Security Prison

MELBOURNE, Australia (CNA) — George Cardinal Pell has reportedly been transferred out of the Melbourne prison in which he has been incarcerated for more than a year after a drone illegally flew over the prison grounds. According to the Herald Sun newspaper, Pell was moved out of Melbourne Assessment Prison after a drone flew over the prison garden in an apparent attempt to capture footage of him working in the prison garden. A spokesperson for the Australian Justice Department confirmed the drone flight in a statement released to media on January 13. The cardinal has now been transferred to a maximum-security prison southwest of the city. Pell had been in the Melbourne prison, located within the downtown area of the…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

January 17, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: In an effort to promote eucharistic adoration, we published the following article in our parish bulletin. Feel free to use it in your own parish. Come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. These familiar words from a Christmas carol remind us of our obligation to offer adoration to the Lord. To be sure, we are also to thank Him, to petition Him for favors, and to make reparation for our own sins and the sins of others. But our principal duty is to adore and worship God, primarily by participating in Holy Mass every weekend, if not every day, and by receiving Jesus worthily in Holy Communion. However, another way of giving the Lord what is due…Continue Reading

God Wants Us To Be Great Saints

January 15, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on God Wants Us To Be Great Saints

BY FR. ROBERT ALTIER Second Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 49:5-6 1 Cor. 1:1-3 John 1:29-34 In the Gospel reading today we have two statements by St. John the Baptist regarding the identity of Jesus. First, he states that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Second, he testifies that Jesus “is the Son of God.” In between these two statements St. John reiterates what he was told by God Himself, saying that Jesus is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. These three statements are all interdependent. Theoretically, many people can be identified as lambs of God. We could say that the martyrs are, in a sense,…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Parents Are The First And Best Teachers

January 14, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Parents Are The First And Best Teachers

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The option to home-school is the overwhelming trend among our traditional Catholic families. Why? They want to have larger families if able, usually more than the social minimum of two or three, out of a deep adherence to the faith and its integral practice. Tuition at Catholic schools is increasingly prohibitive under the budgetary strain of large payroll burdens. Religious women living community life and vows of poverty are largely out of the education business and lay teachers have taken their place. Fair wages and insurance are in accord with Catholic teaching and they are not ungenerous. Home-schooling is a lessened drain on the family budget, which is definitely a draw. But there’s more. Take…Continue Reading

Bishop Strickland’s Column . . . The Real Presence Of Jesus Christ In The Eucharist

January 13, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Bishop Strickland’s Column . . . The Real Presence Of Jesus Christ In The Eucharist
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By MOST REV. JOSEPH STRICKLAND In our last column we considered what Catholic sacramental theology refers to as the Sacramental Economy. I quoted the Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church entitled The Sacrament of Charity (Sacramentum Caritatis). In paragraph sixteen, now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote: “The fact that the Church is the ‘universal sacrament of salvation’ shows how the sacramental economy ultimately determines the way that Christ, the one Savior, through the Spirit, reaches our lives in all their particularity. The Church receives and at the same time expresses what she herself is in the seven sacraments, thanks to which God’s grace concretely influences the lives of…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

January 10, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. How can so many Catholics justify their support for the pro-abortion Democratic Party? I believe many are confused and have accepted Democratic propaganda that Republicans are somehow less compassionate to the poor. Nobody seems to question how promoting abortion is consistent with charity and compassion. This confusion dates back at least 40 years or so, to Joseph Cardinal Bernardin and his “seamless garment.” However, I do not write to debate how best to help those around the world who are less fortunate. There should be no debate that Christ calls us to an individual, personal obligation toward “the least of our brethren.” Throughout history, Christian communities have organized themselves to provide more help than individuals can provide. Think of…Continue Reading

Conform To Our Lord In Thoughts And Actions

January 8, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Conform To Our Lord In Thoughts And Actions

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER The Baptism Of The Lord (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 Acts 10:34-38 Matt. 3:13-17 In the second reading today St. Peter is in the home of the Gentile, Cornelius, to whom an angel had appeared. Peter was also instructed by the Lord to go to the home of Cornelius. After grasping the situation, St. Peter says “You know the word God sent to the Israelites . . . what has happened all over Judea. . . .” He goes on to specify the beginning point as the “baptism John preached” then speaks of the anointing of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. St. Peter is beside himself trying to explain what is happening.…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… 2019: Voices Of Truth Silenced

January 7, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… 2019: Voices Of Truth Silenced

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK In the year just concluded anyone with no actual experience of the Church, and with exposure limited to its portrayal on the Internet, would think truth and tradition are on the downturn. The fact remains, however, that if you want to know the truth, virtual reality is probably the last place you should look. I remember one interlocutor on Twitter telling me he was a “new Catholic” but had not yet been to Mass. I explained to him that this was not possible. In the current social reality, some Catholics think they are are free to practice their faith as they please, at least inside the church of their choice on Sunday morning. But the…Continue Reading

Bishop Strickland . . . The Sacramental Economy

January 6, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Bishop Strickland . . . The Sacramental Economy
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By MOST REV. JOSEPH STRICKLAND In my last column, I explained that the Church is, in an analogous sense, a sacrament. Through the Church, the redemptive mission of the Lord Jesus Christ continues and through the sacraments of the Church, sacramental grace is conferred. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it this way: “As sacrament, the Church is Christ’s instrument. ‘She is taken up by him also as the instrument for the salvation of all,’ ‘the universal sacrament of salvation,’ by which Christ is ‘at once manifesting and actualizing the mystery of God’s love for men.’ The Church ‘is the visible plan of God’s love for humanity,’ because God desires ‘that the whole human race may become one People…Continue Reading