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A Leaven In The World . . . How To Give Coronavirus-Free Communion On The Tongue

March 11, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . How To Give Coronavirus-Free Communion On The Tongue

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK In times of pestilence, Communion on the hand is not necessarily the answer to the problem, as the hands are often the primary way the disease is passed from person to person. No one may be forced to receive Communion in the hand, as is happening in some places in reaction to outbreak of coronavirus, which has now reached every continent except Antarctica. Many of the practices common to the postconciliar Mass are inherently susceptible to passing on the coronavirus: Communion under both Species, use of extraordinary ministers, and shaking hands during the sign of peace followed by reception of Communion in the hand. Bishop Athanasius Schneider reminded us of the same in a recent…Continue Reading

The Lord Calls Great Sinners To Sainthood

March 10, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on The Lord Calls Great Sinners To Sainthood

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Third Sunday Of Lent (YR A) Readings: Exodus 17:3-7 Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 John 4:5-42 In the first reading we hear about the people of Israel grumbling, quarreling, and testing the Lord, saying: “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” This is a question many people are asking today as they witness the problems in the Church and in the world. Just like the people of Israel wondered why God would lead them into the desert where they were dying of thirst, many people today wonder how, if God loves us, can these horrible things be happening? God was testing the people of Israel, having shown Himself all powerful and truly present in many ways. Now…Continue Reading

Once A Disparager Of Pius XII… He Now Predicts Pius Will Be Recognized At Yad Vashem

March 9, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Once A Disparager Of Pius XII… He Now Predicts Pius Will Be Recognized At Yad Vashem

By DEBORAH CASTELLANO LUBOV (Editor’s Note: To mark the March 2, 2020 opening of the Vatican Archives for the Pontificate of Pius XII, ZENIT is re-publishing this exclusive 2019 interview with Gary Krupp, president of the Pave the Way Foundation [www.ptwf.org]. That foundation has worked tirelessly to defend the role of Pope Pius during World War II.) + + + Q. On March 4, Pope Francis announced that in a year’s time, the Vatican Archives of Pius XII’s pontificate (1939-1958) will be open for consultation to any researchers and academics who wish to consult it. How did you receive this news? A. We were extremely excited to hear the news! The Vatican archives will be opened eight years earlier than…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

March 6, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: We are in the process of reducing our supply of books and are offering them to interested readers at a substantial discount. The books available, all in mint condition, are Catholic Replies, Catholic Replies 2, All Generations Will Call Me Blessed, Who Do You Say That I Am, Catholicism & Reason (Apologetics), Catholicism & Scripture (Salvation History), and Catholicism & Life (Commandments and Sacraments). The books retail from $11.95 to $17.95 but can be had for 50 percent off for 1 to 25 books, 60 percent off for 26 to 50 books, and 70 percent off for over 50 books. If you know pastors, schools, home schools, or parish religious education programs who would benefit from these books,…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Give The Poor The Truths Of Faith

March 4, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… Give The Poor The Truths Of Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK No one is more noted for caring for the poorest of the poor than Mother Teresa. As a Catholic Christian she got it right, however, where so many others have gone off track. Mother Teresa made clear to any who would listen that she was not a social worker, but served and loved Jesus in persons who were poor. Charity means seeking salvation first and finding one’s vocation to love others within the call to love God. Many today get this precisely backwards and sometimes leave salvation entirely out of the picture by ignoring the role of faith. Or to so twist it into an unrecognizable mess as to make it nearly impossible to assimilate.…Continue Reading

Bishop Strickland . . . Choosing Happiness And Authentic Freedom (Part 1)

March 3, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Bishop Strickland . . . Choosing Happiness And Authentic Freedom (Part 1)

Editors Note: Bishop Strickland’s  column titled, Guarding The Deposit Of The Faith, appears weekly in The Wanderer. By MOST REV. JOSEPH STRICKLAND People are searching for true happiness. St. Augustine, in his Confessions, wrote, “The happy life is this — to rejoice to you, in you, and for you. That is it! And there is no other. But those who think there is another follow after other joys, and not the true one.” People want to be free. But the only freedom which will truly satisfy is the authentic freedom which comes from God alone; from choosing what is true, and good and noble and beautiful. Both the desire for happiness and the desire for freedom are a natural and…Continue Reading

Holiness And The Cross

March 3, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Holiness And The Cross

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Second Sunday Of Lent (YR A) Readings: Gen. 12:1-4a 2 Tim. 1:8b-10 Matt. 17:1-9 In the second reading, St. Paul tells us we need to bear our share of hardship for the Gospel. This is not a popular message. Living in a society that abhors pain and hardship, to hear that anyone who believes in the Lord must bear hardship does not sit very well. We have tried to find ways to avoid the pain that is inescapable in life; why would we ever choose something that requires hardship? This is the first question every person needs to ask when considering our response of faith to God’s invitation. Look at the first reading where we hear…Continue Reading

Sermon XXXIX: On Lent I

March 2, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Sermon XXXIX: On Lent I

By POPE ST. LEO I (AD 390-461) (Editor’s Note: This sermon was delivered during the Lenten fast by Pope Leo the Great, whose date of birth is cited as AD 400 as well as AD 390. This is a translation of a sermon from Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, Second Series: volume XII, in the public domain. We have generally left the style and the spellings as they were given in the original text. (Pope Leo the Great, who reigned from 440 to 461, opposed the Pelagian, Manichaean, and Monophysite heresies and was a disciple of St. Augustine. Most famously, in 452 he turned Attila the Hun back from the gates of Rome, thus saving the city. Leo was a…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

February 28, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on Catholic Replies

Q. When St. Peter died, did God give him a special place in Heaven? — J.B., California. A. We don’t know, of course, but we would think so. After all, he was specifically chosen by Jesus as the first leader of the Church, even though he would subsequently deny Jesus three times. Nevertheless, Peter, who shed copious tears after his denials in the early morning hours of Good Friday, would pledge his love three times to Jesus after the Resurrection. Peter would then go on to lead the Church courageously for three decades before he was crucified in Rome around the years 65-67. A longstanding tradition in the Church says that Peter was crucified upside down, at his own request,…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… A Tale Of Two Masses Or Two Churches?

February 26, 2020 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off on A Leaven In The World… A Tale Of Two Masses Or Two Churches?

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK I was blessed to take part this month in a Pontifical Solemn High Mass and Lepanto conference in New York. Joseph Cardinal Zen celebrated the Mass with assistance of young clergy and servers. Priests traveled from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The pontificalia was loaned from a benefactor in St. Louis, including the cardinal’s “train which filled the temple” as he processed into perhaps the finest example of Gothic architecture in the city to begin the Mass. Cardinal Zen humbly and joyfully took part in the Traditional rites, a marvelous example of the service to which every bishop is called in building up the Church and sanctifying souls through the splendor of Roman liturgy. The…Continue Reading