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Caritas In Veritate . . . The Love Of Christ Impels Us

June 3, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Caritas In Veritate . . . The Love Of Christ Impels Us

By FR. JOSEPH ILLO (Editor’s Note: Fr. Joseph Illo is the pastor, Oratory-in-Formation, Star of the Sea Parish, San Francisco. Earlier, he served briefly as head chaplain at Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, Calif. (Below is the homily he gave at the Baccalaureate Mass for Thomas Aquinas College on May 16, 2015. (Thomas Aquinas College and Fr. Illo graciously gave The Wanderer reprint permission for the homily. All rights reserved.) + + + I wish to thank Dr. McLean for welcoming me back to my “alma mater,” even though I did not receive a degree from this institution. Many of us who have spent even a little time on campus consider Thomas Aquinas College dearer than the universities at which…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Our Church Began To Vote “No” To God Long Before Our Culture Did

June 1, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Our Church Began To Vote “No” To God Long Before Our Culture Did

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Last week we saw an entire nation turn its back on God with a very small number resisting the popular wave of new paganism. The religious and cultural earthquake we witnessed in Ireland with over 60 percent of the population renaming a fiction based on same-sex activity with the sacred title of marriage had its roots in the many tremors that have shaken the Church to her foundation for years. What has taken place in our churches for over 50 years has had its effect in what takes place outside of our churches. How we worship is how we believe because the law of prayer is the law of belief: lex orandi, lex credendi. Belief…Continue Reading

An Apologetics Course… We Know There Is A God From The Laws Of Nature

May 31, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on An Apologetics Course… We Know There Is A God From The Laws Of Nature

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA Part 4 You must have noticed that there are plenty of laws in nature: in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, algebra, geometry, etc. Scientists do not invent the laws of nature; they just discover them. Even the smallest speck of dust is, in all its movements and changes, subject to fixed natural laws. The same holds for living things — plants, animals, and men: Each species grows, develops, and acts in the same way. They follow the specific laws of their own nature. The entire universe is bound together into one vastly and incredibly complicated whole, like a great, marvelous machine, whose parts are admirably fitted together in perfect order. Look at the orderly movement of the…Continue Reading

The Church — Body of Christ (Part 2)

May 30, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Church — Body of Christ (Part 2)

By DON FIER As we began to unpack the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) on the Church as the “Body of Christ” last week, we saw that the image of the human body to describe the Church is derived principally from the Pauline epistles. In an exhortation to the Corinthians, the apostle to the Gentiles was absolutely clear in pronouncing, “You are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor. 12:27). Elsewhere, he was no less explicit when he declared that Christ “is the head of the body, the church” (Col. 1:18). It is a profound analogy that “casts light on the intimate bond between Christ and his Church…[and powerfully demonstrates] the unity…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

May 29, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. I like to attend daily Mass, but the town where I live only offers two — at 6:45 and 7:00 a.m. at two different churches. Now that I am getting older and have trouble sleeping, these early Masses are very difficult to attend regularly. I wonder if every parish priest would consider offering at least one Mass per week in the evening, say, at 5:30, and even better, offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation right before Mass. I know from visits to other cities that these Masses would be well attended. I realize our priests are already often very overworked, but saying Mass and offering the sacraments (especially Confession and Last Rites) are their primary duties. I am certain I speak for…Continue Reading

The Blood Of Christ Cleanses Our Consciences

May 28, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Blood Of Christ Cleanses Our Consciences

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Solemnity Of Corpus Christi (YR B) Readings: Exodus 24:3-8 Heb. 9:11-15 Mark 14:12-16, 22-26 In the first reading today we hear about the covenant that was entered into between God and the people of Israel. Moses was the representative of both God and the people in this case. Consequently, he speaks to the people on behalf of the Lord, then he presents to the Lord the response of the people. When the people proclaimed that they would abide by the terms of the covenant, Moses took the blood of the bulls that had been sacrificed and splashed half of it on the altar and half on the people. The altar was, at the time, the highest…Continue Reading

Archbishop Martin In Lourdes . . . In Defending Marriage, We Are Not Trying To Hurt Or Offend

May 27, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Archbishop Martin In Lourdes . . . In Defending Marriage, We Are Not Trying To Hurt Or Offend

LOURDES (ZENIT) — Here is a homily given May 13, on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, by Archbishop Eamon Martin at Mass in Lourdes on his first pilgrimage to the Marian shrine as archbishop of Armagh, Ireland. + + + At Mass in Lourdes, Archbishop Martin remembered and acknowledged the faithful in Ireland, and around the world, who are praying, fasting, doing penance, and praying novenas for the special intention of marriage and the family. He said that “when we pray for, and speak up for the institution of marriage as it has been understood across cultures and down the ages, we are not trying to hurt or offend anyone — thank God, in His great mercy He…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Social Networks, Addiction To Images, And Custody Of The Eyes

May 25, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Social Networks, Addiction To Images, And Custody Of The Eyes

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK A follower on my Facebook page recently messaged me about a sordid situation arising from an association based on a Facebook “friendship.” She “friended” a man who then used her account to gain access to her daughter. What started out as a hope to meet someone who may become a real friend ended in inappropriate contact with a minor. Subsequent interaction made clear that the person in question may have been using more than one identity and a false identification photo for the purpose of deceiving and manipulating vulnerable individuals. Many of you, sadly, have similar stories to report, along with a resulting feeling of disillusion with the Internet, a wonderful resource that has provided…Continue Reading

An Apologetics Course… The Order Of The Universe Proves God’s Existence

May 24, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on An Apologetics Course… The Order Of The Universe Proves God’s Existence

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA Part 3 Let us put our thinking cap on, and reason: Whenever you see something whose parts are arranged in order, following a specific logical pattern, you know that someone did it. Furniture in a living room, chess pieces on a board, books in a library. Orderly arrangement cannot be explained except as being due to the activity of an intelligent designer. There is no order without an intelligent orderer. Imagine that tomorrow morning you go to a bicycle factory, and in one of the workshops you see a number of parts, sorted into different boxes — steel tubing, a sheaf of spokes, wheel-rims, hubs, handlebars, pedals, and boxes of nuts and screws and so forth.…Continue Reading

The Church — Body Of Christ

May 23, 2015 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Church — Body Of Christ

By DON FIER As we considered “People of God” as an image of the Church last week, an important and underlying principle inherent to its biblical symbolism emerged: God wills to make us holy and save us not as separated, isolated individuals, but as a people. He wills to sanctify and redeem mankind “by making them into one people gathered together by the unity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 153). The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) lists seven basic ways that indicate how the Church is the “People of God.” As summarized by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ, they are: 1) those called by God…Continue Reading