Wednesday 8th July 2020

Home » Our Catholic Faith » Recent Articles:

Bishop Strickland . . . We Must Defend The Embryonic Human Person

June 1, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Bishop Strickland . . . We Must Defend The Embryonic Human Person

By MOST REV. JOSEPH STRICKLAND I was once a baby. If someone had killed that baby, he would have killed me. I would not be writing this. In fact, I was once an embryo and then a child in the womb and had someone killed me at that stage of my life, he would have killed me. That’s the point the director of The Anscombe Bioethics Centre in Oxford, England, made in a 2016 paper on the ethics of embryo research. David Albert Jones asked: “What then is the significance of destroying a human embryo?” He answered with a clarity all too often missing: “It is destroying a human being at the first stage of his or her life.” Christians…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

May 29, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. You recently wrote about Reiki as something not in accord with Church teachings. What about yoga? — L.S., via email. A. In his book Catholics and the New Age, Fr. Mitch Pacwa said that the word “yoga” is Sanskrit for “yoke” or “union” and, in Hinduism, it describes “the general category of various kinds of disciplines meant to unite a person with the divine. Yoga can refer to physical (hatha), mental (raja), sexual (tantra), or other disciplines to achieve enlightenment” (p. 225). He cautioned Catholics to remember that “Hindus did not devise these exercises for athletic limbering or muscle building. All were meant to lead the practitioner to enlightenment and the awareness of his or her inner divinity” (p.…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World . . . Pandemic Brings Unseen Into View

May 27, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . Pandemic Brings Unseen Into View

By FR KEVIN M. CUSICK The Church and her work for souls, unseen and unknown so often by so many in a world which has made God so invisible, has in some ways become more tangible in these months when so much of “normal” life has ground to a halt. Many of our physical activities and concerns, our business and mad rushing have been forcibly taken away. The quotidian distractions have been lifted so that other concerns can come more clearly into view. Many families have spent more time together in the last two months than they have in years. Children have been sighted outdoors, doing such things as riding bikes. This is a rare thing indeed in the computer…Continue Reading

Manifest The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit

May 26, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Manifest The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Solemnity Of Pentecost (YR A) Readings: Acts 2:1-11 1 Cor. 12:3b-7, 12-13 John 20:19-23 In the second reading, St. Paul tells us: “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God.” In these verses, St. Paul reveals the Most Holy Trinity, whose feast we celebrate next week, but today, we are reminded that the Holy Spirit is God. Many people think about how wonderful it would have been to be alive in the Holy Land when our Lord was living there. Resisting the temptation to make ancient Israel some kind of fairy-tale existence, these people rightly…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

May 22, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. While I’ve read letters in religious publications from prisoners begging for Catholic materials, I have never had any success making contact with Catholic chaplains who might have requests for certain items. I’ve tried both prison and diocesan addresses, and no one responds. Any suggestions? — N.D., Illinois. A. Perhaps readers who are involved in prison ministry can recommend places where such religious materials might be sent. Q. Please explain why divorce was permitted before Christ because of the “hardness of your hearts,” but not now when hearts are certainly as hardened? — C.S., Arizona. A. The Bible verse permitting divorce is Deut. 24:1, which says that “when a man, after marrying a woman and having relations with her, is…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… A Pope Francis Primer

May 20, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… A Pope Francis Primer

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK We are immersed in cultural and political wars, with opposing parties engaged in perpetual bickering and posing for effect. On the political front we are faced daily with the spectacle of elected officials who don’t want to work. Instead, they go on the attack and attempt to impeach the reputations of others. False criminal accusations might provide riveting political drama, and may serve somewhat as distractions from the achievements of political rivals, but they also waste precious time for doing genuine good and waste millions of taxpayer dollars. One of the weapons in these wars is fake news. Picking through all the information available on the Internet is difficult. Big legacy networks and news organizations…Continue Reading

Sharing In The Sufferings Of Christ

May 19, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Sharing In The Sufferings Of Christ

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Seventh Sunday Of Easter (YR A) Readings: Acts 1:12-14 1 Peter 4:13-16 John 17:1-11a In the Gospel reading today we have the beginning of the “High Priestly Prayer” of Jesus. This was prayed at the Last Supper, just before our Lord began His Passion. Many important points are included in this prayer, but these will be highlighted for us because of the situation we are in at present. First of all, in this prayer Jesus pronounces that the Father has given Him authority over all people so He can give eternal life to the people the Father has given Him. Authority is given to serve, which is what our Lord is making clear that He is…Continue Reading

Bishop Strickland . . .The Rosary Of The Blessed Virgin Mary

May 18, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Bishop Strickland . . .The Rosary Of The Blessed Virgin Mary

By MOST REV. JOSEPH STRICKLAND In the year 2002, now Pope St. John Paul II wrote an apostolic letter entitled, in English, “The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae). I highly recommend this beautiful letter to all Catholics who want to come to a deeper understanding of the origins and the power of this beautiful prayer and devotion. I also recommend this letter to our Christian friends in other communities who want to understand the reason that Catholics pray the rosary. Pope St. John Paul II wrote: “The Rosary belongs among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian contemplation. Developed in the West, it is a typically meditative prayer, corresponding in some way to the ‘prayer…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

May 15, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. I have heard the word “sacred” applied to saints or religious objects, but not to bishops, as did a recent article in The Wanderer which talked about the obligation of the laity to voice their concerns about problems in the Church to one’s “sacred pastor (the bishop).” Should this word be applied to bishops? — J.G., Illinois. A. The word “sacred” is applied to a lot of things in the Church, including, obviously, the Sacred Heart of Jesus or the Sacred Species. But it is also attached to the names of the various Vatican congregations (e.g., the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) and applied to Scripture, the Liturgy, the Triduum, as well as to the linens…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Love Is Holy Because God Is Love

May 13, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Love Is Holy Because God Is Love

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK Our Lady’s month of May is a popular month also for weddings. The “flowers of the fairest” about which we sing when using them to crown our Lady in traditional May devotions are also sought for nuptial festivities, as are all things bright and beautiful. If you grew up with parents who got married in May as I did, then you inevitably think of May as a marriage month. May is also a time when the weather begins to become more pleasant for outdoor activities. Although this year on Mother’s Day weekend in my locale, the temperatures dipped back down into the thirties for a few nights after tantalizing us with highs in the fifties.…Continue Reading