Blog
Why Are Babies Most Cradled on the Left Side?
By Carrie Gress Thinking back to when my children were babies, I remember carrying each on my left side. Being right-handed, it seemed to make sense to hold a baby on the left so my right hand was free to do other things. My husband, however, who is left-handed, said he carried our children on the left side because it was his dominant hand. Apparently (no pun intended), we aren’t the only couple who prefers to carry our young on the left hand side. In fact, according to psychiatrist, philosopher and neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist, this preferred pattern has been around for millennia. In his deeply insightful 2009 book, The Master and His Emissary, McGilchrist reports that “[t]he right hemisphere’s affinity for both the perception and expression o...
Mother Angelica and Cardinal Burke: Two Miracles…
When I was a little boy, my uncle once told me about his chance encounter with former NBA Basketball star, Michael Jordan—my childhood hero. While interviewing for a job at a Cleveland hotel, my uncle ran into Jordan in a parking garage elevator of all places. As Jordan left the elevator, my uncle said, “Good luck tonight!” That night Jordan crushed my Cleveland Cavaliers. I was shocked that my uncle didn’t ask for his autograph—as a young boy, I chased professional athletes’ autographs—they were like gold. But as I’ve aged, my heroes are no longer those who play sports, and autographs are no longer currency. Instead, I find heroic those who follow God’s will, and I seek out their blessings so that I may do the same. In my life, I have been blessed to meet Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Fr. Andre...
Texas Carmelite Nuns Affiliate With SSPX After Yearlong Feud With Fort Worth Bishop…
By Kate Quiñones CNA Staff, Sep 17, 2024 / 18:45 pm After a string of controversies and disagreements with their local Fort Worth bishop, a group of Carmelite nuns in Arlington, Texas, announced on Saturday that they are associating with the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a traditionalist group that is not in full communion with the Catholic Church and has a canonically irregular status. After making a “unanimous decision,” the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas, said they have “completed the final steps necessary for our monastery to be associated with the Society of St. Pius X, who will henceforth assure our ongoing sacramental life and governance,” according to a Sept. 14 announcement on their website. Bishop Michael Olson of the ...
What Are 10 Things I Should Know About Jeremiah?
By Clement Harrold September 13, 2024 1) He is one of the four major prophets alongside Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. And at 52 chapters, the book of Jeremiah has the longest word count of any book of the Bible. 2) We know more about his life than that of any other Old Testament prophet. Thanks to the treasure trove of biographical information contained in the book of Jeremiah, scholars have been able to piece together the prophet’s life in considerable detail. We know, for example, that he came from a priestly family, and that he was born in the southern kingdom of Judah during the reign of King Josiah, whose landmark political and liturgical reforms took place in the late seventh century B.C. This makes Jeremiah a contemporary of Solon of Athens! 3) His life’s work was to warn about the i...
Let’s Take a Hard Look at the Fruits of the Vatican-Beijing Agreement…
By Phil Lawler ( bio – articles – email ) | Sep 16, 2024 During his exchange with reporters on his return trip from Signapore last week, Pope Francis said that the Vatican’s secret agreement with Beijing on the appointment of new bishops offers “a promise and a hope.” The Pontiff was upbeat about the future of Vatican relations with China, and about the outcome of that agreement. “The result is good,” he said. How good? Gianni Valente, the director of the Vatican’s Fides news service, argues that “if we stick to the facts, the papal judgment is an act of simple Christian realism.” Well then, let’s stick to the facts. The goal of the secret agreement was to ensure that all the Catholic dioceses in China are led by bishops in full communion with the Holy See. In the six years sin...
Love proclaims that all “faiths” do NOT lead to God…
By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | Sep 16, 2024 A new height in pontifical fuzziness was reached by Pope Francis on, of all dates, Friday the 13th (see our news story All faiths lead to God, Pope tells youth in Singapore). It is a great sorrow to many Catholics that we must endure such a pontificate. Just stop and think about the numbers of bishops and priests who have to walk constantly on that tightrope of truth which requires them to faithfully teach the Catholic Faith without undermining confidence in the Church’s very constitution, by which the successor of St. Peter is the monarchical administrator of the Church while being the guarantor of Catholic teaching under only very carefully-defined conditions. About all we can do is to attempt to clear things up one ...
The Pope and Other Religions…
Pope Francis has the habit, by now well established, of saying things that leave listeners confused and hoping he meant something other than what he actually said. At the end of his recent trip to Singapore, the pope left his prepared remarks for an interreligious group of young people and offered some general reflections about religion. Since his comments were extemporaneous, they naturally lacked the precision that a prepared text would normally possess, and so hopefully what he said is not quite what he meant. According to news reports, Pope Francis suggested that, “[Religions] are like different languages in order to arrive at God, but God is God for all. Since God is God for all, then we are all children of God.” He went on to say, “If you start to fight, ‘my religion is more importan...
Vatican to Hold Press Conference About Medjugorje on Thursday; Announcement Will Be Livestreamed at 5:30am ET…
ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 16, 2024 / 13:15 pm Cardinal Víctor Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will lead a press conference on the “spiritual experience” of Medjugorje this Thursday, Sept. 19, at the Vatican. The Vatican Press Office informed that at Thursday’s press conference on Medjugorje, which will take place at 11:30 a.m. local time, Fernández will be joined by Monsignor Armando Matteo, who serves as secretary to the dicastery’s Doctrinal Section, along with Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication. The press conference is scheduled to be broadcast live on Vatican News’ YouTube page. Although no additional details about the event have been released, the press conference is being held within the framework of the new “Norms f...
The Art of Unplugging
“Whenever I’m feeling inadequate or overwhelmed, I love being able to lean on You, Lord. You remind me that I am more than adequate when I rely on You to strengthen me.” – Jesus Listens,June 25th Over the last three years, I’ve steadily built a discipline of powering down my devices and embracing what I like to call “the art of unplugging.” What began as a simple nudge to turn off my phone during one of my quiet times has morphed into a daily discipline of turning away from the digital noise and pressing into the moment right in front of me. If you’re feeling burnt out by the digital hamster wheel and craving more presence in your daily life, I pray these tips for unplugging will meet you right where you are today. START SMALL It’s easy to take on an all-or-nothing mentality when unpluggin...
BBC profiles Lila Rose: ‘The anti-abortion activist urging followers not to support Trump’…
Lila Rose/YouTube Lila Rose told her followers last month Trump had made it “impossible” to support him Among the more than 67 million people who tuned in to the first US presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris was Lila Rose. The young and charismatic founder of the anti-abortion group Live Action had hoped for big things from the Republican candidate: a bold display of anti-abortion beliefs and a promise to turn those beliefs into law. She was quickly disappointed. While Trump criticised Democrats’ “extreme” abortion policies, he refused to take a position on a national ban, saying instead that the issue should be left to the states. And he called himself a “leader” on IVF, putting himself at odds with Ms Rose and many in her movement, who oppose the procedu...
‘If One Person Returns’ — Sydney, Australia, Looks Ahead to 2028 Eucharistic Congress…
‘If one person returns’ — Sydney archbishop plans for 2028 Eucharistic congress Skip to content As the International Eucharistic Congress drew to a conclusion on Sunday, Vatican officials announced that the next International Congress will be held in Sydney, Australia, in just four years — 2028. Ahead of that announcement, The Pillar sat down with Sydney’s Archbishop Anthony Fisher to talk about what he hopes the 2028 event will be, how it can evangelize, and why Americans should start planning to coming to Australia. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Archbishop Anthony Fisher. Credit: Archdiocese of Syndey. Archbishop, it has now been announced that you will be the host for the next International Eucharistic Congress. Having experienced the beginning of this yea...
Body of Gregory Peter XV Agagianian, Armenian Patriarch on Path to Possible Sainthood, Returns to Lebanon…
ACI MENA, Sep 15, 2024 / 07:00 am On Thursday, Sept. 12, the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate held a grand ceremony in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square to welcome the remains of cardinal and patriarch Gregory Peter XV Agagianian from Rome. His body will be laid to rest in the Armenian Catholic Cathedral of St. Elias and St. Gregory the Illuminator in downtown Beirut. Agagianian, known for his strong opposition to communist rule during the Cold War era, became a prominent figure in Catholic Church history. He was a leading candidate for the papacy on two occasions. The process of his beatification, a step toward sainthood in the Catholic Church, began in Rome on Oct. 28, 2022. The late Armenian Catholic patriarch’s remains arrived in Lebanon in a glass casket carried by 12 young Lebanese men from var...
