In 2002, St. John Paul II announced the annual World Day of Prayer for Priests and its respective celebration on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. St. John Paul II and his successors, Popes Benedict XVI and Francis, have…
Everyone loves a parade. If you search the world, you will find Eucharistic processions of almost every description to mark the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. In Rome the procession goes down one of the major streets,…
Ask any student of theology about the Trinity and the answer you’re likely to receive is this: “It’s a mystery.” To the uninitiated, that may sound trite, if not a downright attempt to avoid offering an answer to a theological…
Looking for a great book to read this summer while sitting at the beach or at your cabin up north? We’ve come across some enjoyable, fascinating and thought-provoking books over the past few weeks. Below is our list of the…
How do we attract a new generation to consider Christianity? This question is common table talk at practically every gathering of Christians I attend these days. It is a question that Pope Francis answers in his annual message for World…
A novena—a prayer lasting nine days—seems odd at first; the number nine is not widely used in the Bible. It may be that the custom of novenas actually grew out of the nine days of prayer that Scripture tells us…
Have you heard the one about the funny saint? Talk about saints often focuses first on serious attributes: piety, for example, or a sense of selflessness. While an extraordinarily pious man, Saint Philip Neri, a 16th-century Italian priest and founder…
Whether it is the “Francis Effect” or the recent canonization of two of the 20th Century’s greatest popes, Catholic books have received quite a bit of media attention the past few weeks. While Catholics may be accustomed to frequent news…
“Bring flowers of the fairest, bring blossoms the rarest….” Strains of this Marian hymn from my childhood float through my mind every May as soon as the tulips start to bloom. In the old days, of course, those tulips would…
Although only mentioned briefly in the Acts of the Apostles, the election of Matthias as an apostle illustrates for us the importance of discernment in the life of the Church. We are told that shortly after Jesus’ Ascension, on the…