Friday 19th April 2024

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In Nativitate Domini 2015: “Merry Christmas”

December 21, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on In Nativitate Domini 2015: “Merry Christmas”

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK To wish you and yours a most blessed feast of the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, I offer the text of the Holy Gospel According to Luke, chapter 2, verses 1-14 proclaimed at midnight Mass, the first of Christmas. The Latin text as proclaimed in our Traditional Latin Masses for “ad primam missam in nocte”: Factum est autem in diebus illis, exiit edictum a Cæsare Augusto ut describeretur universus orbis. Hæc descriptio prima facta est a præside Syriæ Cyrino: et ibant omnes ut profiterentur singuli in suam civitatem. Ascendit autem et Joseph a Galilæa de civitate Nazareth in Judæam, in civitatem David, quæ vocatur Bethlehem: eo quod esset de domo et familia David, ut…Continue Reading

An Apologetics Course . . . The Orthodox Churches Are Not The Church Of Jesus Christ

December 20, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on An Apologetics Course . . . The Orthodox Churches Are Not The Church Of Jesus Christ

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 33 From the two previous articles on the self-proclaimed Orthodox Churches, we may conclude without fear of contradiction that they do not compose the true Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ. They possess elements of His Church, yes, and very important ones indeed, but as they are today they do not make up the One Church Jesus founded to distribute the fruits of His Redeeming Sacrifice on Calvary. A first feature that proves our conclusion is that they are not one. The various Orthodox Churches have never claimed they are united in government, although unity is a distinctive mark of the Church of Christ. We have seen it ad nauseam that He founded…Continue Reading

Mary Mother of the Church

December 19, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Mary Mother of the Church

By DON FIER Part 2 “Mary is the summary image of the Church,” declares Christoph Cardinal Schönborn as he comments on the topic we began to reflect upon last week: Mary — Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church. The archbishop of Vienna and principal editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) continues, “Whoever wishes to draw nearer, in faith, to the mystery of the Church will look to Mary” (Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church, p. 137). Vatican Council II, which had the Church as its central theme, devoted the final chapter of its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Why close a document on the Church with an exposition on Mary?…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

December 18, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

The First Christmas ’Twas almost the first Christmas When the travelers arrived In the town of Bethlehem, A long journey survived. They had left home in Nazareth In the province of Galilee To register for the census At the emperor’s decree. To the fabled city of David Came Joseph and his wife. The Child she was carrying Would bring the world new life. Long promised by the Prophets, This Son of God Most High Had been announced by Gabriel To a Virgin most shy. Mary at first was puzzled, Wondering how this might be. But said with trust in God, “Let it be done to me.” Nine months had gone by Before reaching this place To deliver the Savior Of…Continue Reading

The Feast Of The Holy Family (YR C)

December 17, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Feast Of The Holy Family (YR C)

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Readings: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24 Luke 2:41-52 His Father’s House In the first reading today we hear that God has set a father in honor over his children and a mother’s authority He confirms over her sons. This becomes very important for us on two different levels. First, on the natural level where God Himself has set an order for the family. Study after study has confirmed what we have always known and taught, that is, that what is best for children is to be in a home with both of the child’s own biological parents. There have always been reasonable exceptions to this rule, for instance, in cases of adoption or when…Continue Reading

Interview With Cardinal Piacenza… The Immaculate: She Is Mother Of Mercy

December 16, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Interview With Cardinal Piacenza… The Immaculate: She Is Mother Of Mercy

By ANTONIO GASPARI ROME (ZENIT) — Why do Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception? What does it mean and how is it related to mercy? Why did Pope Francis choose the Feast of the Immaculate Conception to begin the Jubilee? Is mercy mere forgiveness or is it much more? ZENIT News Agency asked these and other questions to Mauro Cardinal Piacenza, major penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary. In the interview, Cardinal Piacenza asks our Lady for “protection of the Holy Father,” for “a great and renewed vocational spring,” and for “the confirmation of Fatima, with the triumph of her Immaculate Heart.” (ZENIT made this interview available and did the translation from the Italian; all rights reserved.) + +…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Spiritual Life Goes Beyond Appearances

December 14, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Spiritual Life Goes Beyond Appearances

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Did you ever see someone after plastic surgery and find them completely unrecognizable? We can certainly become more comfortable associating with someone after a complete makeover, but it takes time and a lot of denial. What someone looks like in the end is not the most important thing about them, but all the same they have become changed in a significant way so as to become different. And that’s the point: They are not the same. People get plastic surgery because they want to be different than they at present find themselves to be. If looks were not important, why do people get facelifts and plastic surgery of all kinds? And there’s the rub: You…Continue Reading

An Apologetics Course… The Orthodox Churches: Differences

December 13, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on An Apologetics Course… The Orthodox Churches: Differences

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 32 The schism with the Orthodox churches could be solved in a comparatively easy way — because it is a silly schism, really — but the cultural baggage of resentment against Rome inherited from the past has hardened over the centuries. In the previous article we learn something of the history of the schism, which is important to understand it in its proper context. In this article we consider the doctrinal differences between Rome and the Orthodox-schismatic churches. The most important difference is, of course, the primacy of the Bishop of Rome over all bishops, in both East and West, and the infallibility of the same Pontiff. Our Eastern brethren in Baptism do not…Continue Reading

Mary, Mother Of The Church

December 12, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Mary, Mother Of The Church

By DON FIER Our topic for the past two weeks, the communion of saints, is superbly summed up by Blessed Paul VI in his apostolic letter of June 30, 1968, entitled Credo of the People of God: “We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are attaining their purification, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion the merciful love of God and His saints is ever listening to our prayers” (n. 30). This article of our faith professes our firm belief in a three-way communication between those who form the one family of God in praise of the…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

December 11, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: The recently released movie Spotlight focuses on the Boston Globe “Spotlight” team that uncovered in 2002 the priest abuse scandal in the Church and the cover-up by some bishops that exacerbated the problem. There is no way to deny the scandal; it was a shameful episode in the life of the Church in Boston and elsewhere, but it is over and there is no place in the world today where children are less likely to be sexually abused than the Catholic Church. In other words, children in Catholic schools and parishes are safer today than in any other religious or educational institutions. Yet there is an ongoing effort to convince people that the sex abuse scandal is continuing…Continue Reading