Wednesday 28th September 2022

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My Mother, My Church

August 25, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on My Mother, My Church

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK As my mother declines through the ravages of vascular dementia, my family has joined forces to organize around the clock presence with her in the hospital. She was admitted after stroke symptoms resulting from a brain bleed at the nursing home prompted a call for the ambulance. We are faced with very difficult decisions to make as we ensure her care is in keeping with our Catholic moral principles.We have watched and surrounded her for some years now after the initial diagnosis following her experiences of memory loss. She has been blessed with many visits from loving and faithful friends in addition to family in the Catholic nursing home to which she was admitted after…Continue Reading

Two Teachings Of The Lord . . . That Correct Flawed Notions Of Judgment

August 24, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Two Teachings Of The Lord . . . That Correct Flawed Notions Of Judgment

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this on August 8. It is reprinted here with permission.) + + When it comes to our personal and final judgment, after we die, there are many caricatures and distortions that are possible. One is of Jesus as a stern and grouchy judge who is looking for reasons to keep us out of Heaven. This is the “sinners in the hand of an angry God” distortion. Or perhaps the Lord is weighing our good deeds against our bad deeds in a kind of impersonal, numerical manner. This is the Pelagian distortion where salvation depends on our earning it.But at the other end of the spectrum and far too common today…Continue Reading

Humility Leads To Charity

August 22, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Humility Leads To Charity

BY FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Second Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29Heb. 12:18-19, 22-24aLuke 14:1, 7-14 In the first reading, Sirach tells us to conduct our affairs with humility. This is certainly sound advice because no one likes to deal with someone who is pompous and arrogant. However, this is not the reason Sirach gives. Instead, he says that the one who humbles himself will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Givers of gifts tend to be very popular, but often they are loved for what they do, not for who they are. Those who are humble, on the other hand, are loved for who they are because it is their humility that draws…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

August 19, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This column begins a series on the Bible from the book Catholicism & Scripture. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. You can send them either to the postal mailing address or to the email address below, and we will interrupt this series to answer them. Special Course On Catholicism And Scripture (Chapter 1) Any study of Holy Scripture should begin with answering some questions about the origin and nature of the Bible. First of all, who wrote the Bible? God is the true author of the Bible, but He entrusted the writing of the Scriptures to human authors who, over…Continue Reading

Triumph Of Modernist Ecclesial Suicide

August 18, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Triumph Of Modernist Ecclesial Suicide

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK For many years now the Catholic middle-of-the-road attempt to avoid extremes was a recommended and safe conservatism, a refuge for those who favored tradition.On one side, the extreme to be avoided was the Protestant heresy. Respect for the Catholic past was necessary. We were part of a Church that was 2,000 years old, after all, because founded by the Lord Himself. We didn’t want to make the mistake of rejecting certain essentials as Protestants do, of course.There were, we knew, ever-spawning new Christian-like sects; splitting apart and reforming again and again, amoeba-like; new cells combining to imitate the old ones but at the same time, by doing so, mitigating against unity in their multiplicity.The Church…Continue Reading

You Can’t Take It With You… But You Can Send It On Ahead

August 17, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on You Can’t Take It With You… But You Can Send It On Ahead

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE Part 2 (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on July 30 and it is reprinted here with permission. Because of the essay’s length, we are presenting it in two parts. The first part appeared in last week’s issue.) + + The Illusion of Wealth — The parable goes on to say, And [the man] said, “This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, ‘Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!’”And here we are taught that riches easily…Continue Reading

Least Of The Least

August 15, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Least Of The Least

BY FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-First Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR C) Readings: Isaiah 66:18-21Heb. 12:5-7, 11-13Luke 13:22-30 At the end of the Gospel reading today our Lord says something that is simultaneously hopeful and terrifying. He tells us that some who are first will be last and some who are last will be first. For those of us who more than resemble St. Paul’s teaching that God chooses the least, the lowborn, and those who are nothing, this statement of our Lord provides a great deal of hope.We are well aware that He could not have found anyone worse because, if there was someone worse, He would have chosen that person. However, we can reason, since He chose me for…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

August 12, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. The Vatican II document Sacrosanctum Concilium (n. 36) says that Latin is to be preserved in the Roman Rite, and it goes on to say that the people should be taught to sing or say in Latin the parts of the Mass pertaining to them. So, is there anything wrong with softly saying those parts of the Mass in Latin as Vatican II called for as long as I am not disturbing anyone around me? After all, Latin is still the official language of the Church. – G.Y., Kansas.A. No, we don’t see any reason why you cannot sing or say the words quietly in Latin. But while Vatican II said that Latin should be preserved, it also said…Continue Reading

The Freedom To Be Catholic

August 11, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Freedom To Be Catholic

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK News of my parish’s imminent demise in the wake of the death-dealing Traditionis custodes has spread through the Internet and at least one Catholic video news source of the independent sort. Many of the so-called “official” sources like to pretend we don’t exist.One news outlet used a video of mine about a transgender children’s story hour a few years back and didn’t bother to credit me by name. That’s how much some forces in the Church like to avoid the uncomfortable truth that we exist.They’re all noticing us now. A prominent priest associated with directing the plans for providing the TLM at three new locations in the archdiocese admitted that “most” of the people attending…Continue Reading

You Can’t Take It With You… But You Can Send It On Ahead

August 10, 2022 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on You Can’t Take It With You… But You Can Send It On Ahead

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE Part 1 (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on July 30 and it is reprinted here with permission. Because of the essay’s length, we are presenting it in two parts. The second part will appear in next week’s issue.) + + Five teachings on wealth from the Gospel of the 18th Sunday of the Year.The Gospel today is not merely a warning against greed, it is an instruction on income and wealth given by Jesus to help us root out greed. As the Gospel opens the problem of greed is presented, and then a prescribed perspective about wealth is offered. Let’s take a look at both parts of this Gospel.The Problem that is Portrayed…Continue Reading