These days, there are numerous ghost hunting and paranormal TV shows. A few examples include Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Kindred Spirits, Paranormal Lockdown, and Help! My House Is Haunted. Frankly, these shows are silly. Shows like this are not taken seriously by competent paranormal investigators. However, what is a Catholic to make of the subject of paranormal investigations itself? What Does Paranormal Mean? The term paranormal is a new one. It was coined around 1905, and it indicates something that is beyond the normal. In Greek, para means things like “beyond,” “beside,” and “alongside,” so paranormal experiences are those that go beyond or are beside normal experiences. This only raises another question: What counts as “normal”? The answer—for purposes of this term—is those exp...

TURIN, Italy (OSV News) — For the rector of the world’s second largest church after St. Peter’s Basilica — the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil — May 11 will be a day of celebrating the inauguration of the southern facade’s mosaics, all created by Father Marko Rupnik. But alleged victims of the disgraced former Jesuit and many faithful are not in celebratory mood. Amid a heated debate on what should be done with Father Rupnik’s mosaics across the globe, OSV News asked whether the art can be separated from the alleged acts of abuse by the Slovenian priest-artist and what should be done with his mosaics decorating iconic churches across the globe. Allegations againt Father Rupnik In December 2022, Rome’s Jesuit headquarters, following media reports concerning alleged abuse by Fat...

Fifth Sunday of EasterBy Fr. Victor Feltes Imagine if Osama bin Laden, after masterminding terrorist attacks, had repented and begun proclaiming Jesus Christ and the Gospel? Christians might understandably still be afraid of him and wary of his claimed Christian conversion. In the first century, prior to his famous conversion, St. Paul had intensely persecuted God’s Church and tried to destroy it. At the stoning of St. Stephen the Martyr he had guarded the cloaks of the murderers. Before encountering Christ on the way to Damascus, he was “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.” He had sought and obtained letters from the high priest empowering him to arrest any Christians he found in that city and take them back to Jerusalem as prisoners. So after his conversion, whe...

2 days ago 2 days ago “Men seem to have a delayed grief relative to women,” says Bryan Feger, co-author of The Grief of Dads: Support and Hope for Catholic Fathers Navigating Child Loss from Ave Maria Press. “And usually that’s because they’re focused on providing care and support for their wife, and so they delay their grief.”  A member of the Knights of Columbus, Bryan earned his doctorate in physiology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and serves as a high school catechist and a participant in Yoke Fellows prison ministry. After experiencing the loss of three children from miscarriage, he finds purpose in letting other dads know that they are not alone.  In this episode, Bryan discusses the intricate differences in grief experienced by men wh...

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | Apr 26, 2024 It’s a little late for this year, but I’ve just learned—for the first time in my life—of the special day called Mothering Sunday, observed in the United Kingdom and some other related countries. Contrary to some sources, this is not an opportunity for people to visit their mothers, and it doesn’t have much to do with the movie of the same name. Rather, this observance originated in the Middle Ages on the fourth Sunday in Lent (Laetare Sunday) as a day on which people would visit the church in which they were baptized. Given the wide dispersion of many families with each new generation, Mothering Sunday might be a difficult day for many people to observe, though I think other customs could be developed to celebrate our ...