Readings:Acts 4:8–12Psalm 118:1, 8–9, 21–23, 26, 291 John 3:1–2John 10:11–18 Jesus, in today’s Gospel, says that He is the good shepherd the prophets had promised to Israel. He is the shepherd-prince, the new David—who frees people from bondage to sin and gathers them into one flock, the Church, under a new covenant, made in His blood (see Ezekiel 34:10–13, 23–31). His flock includes other sheep, He says, far more than the dispersed children of Israel (see Isaiah 56:8; John 11:52). And He gave His Church the mission of shepherding all peoples to the Father. In today’s First Reading, we see the beginnings of that mission in the testimony of Peter, whom the Lord appointed shepherd of His Church (see John 21:15–17). Peter tells Israel’s leaders that the Psalm we sing today is a prophecy of th...

Benedict’s birthday, and Roman jalapeños Skip to content Hey everybody, Greetings from Rome, where Ed and I have traveled for a few days of Pillar meetings. Well, actually, I got here this morning, and Ed will show up in a couple of hours. First, let me acknowledge that when Ed and I travel, The Pillar produces just a little bit less. For example, I’ve got two important news reports I had hoped to write while I was on airplanes yesterday. But I had two flights, and two middle seats in a row, and I found it impossible to work from either one of them. I’ll do them after I send this newsletter, I promise!  So I’m sorry for the slight dip in news production that you experience when we’re traveling. But it’s worth it — making somewhat regular trips to the Eternal City is an important...

LILLE, France — “The good makes no noise,” St. Francis de Sales would say of Lille’s candlelight Mass.  Indeed, while France regularly shows itself to be at the forefront of the de-Christianization of the West and recently made headlines for its constitutionalization of abortion, the embers of Christian renewal are already igniting — quietly yet powerfully — on the country’s northern horizon.  Every Tuesday evening at 10 p.m., between 800 and 900 students converge on the historic St. Joseph’s Chapel at Lille Catholic University for a candlelight Mass. This number has been growing month after month since the initiative was launched in 2016 and has significantly increased the number of new catechumens there journeying towards baptism.  For its initiators, this unexpectedly suc...

Recently, I applied to become an astronaut. I would like to be able to say that there is a non-zero chance I will be accepted, but sub-zero is more like it. Not a whole lot of people who can actually recall Sputnik—which, for the record, was launched on Oct. 4, 1957—quite make the age cut to climb on top of a rocket. Still, I filled out the nine-page form and sent it in, even if I have no doubt I’ll wind up in the cosmic slush pile. You, however, may have more luck. NASA is hiring; on March 5 it opened its doors to a new class of 12 or so astronauts and will be accepting applications until April 2, though it is considering extending the deadline to accommodate more candidates. The salary is $152,258; the place of employment is the Johnson Space Center in Houston—with work trips to, you kno...

By Clement Harrold April 11, 2024 In reciting the Apostles Creed, the Christian faithful affirm that Jesus “descended into hell” following His crucifixion and death. But is this literally the case, and does the Creed use the word “hell” in the same way that we understand it today? The hell which Christ descended into following His death was not quite the same as the hell we imagine today. This is because, prior to Jesus’s saving work, “hell” was a more generic word (known as sheol in Hebrew, or hades in Greek). This generic hell is what is referred to in the Apostles Creed, and while it included the souls of the damned, it wasn’t limited to them. Prior to Jesus’s descent, hell was a differentiated reality made up of two different spheres. One of those spheres was composed of the souls of t...

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | Apr 12, 2024 One of the problems many highly committed Catholics have when they read and respond to documents issued or approved by Pope Francis is that we do not trust Pope Francis’ ability or willingness to address challenges to the Catholic Faith clearly and correctly. This is no great secret: Everyone is aware of the conundrum it presents. However, we must also realize that this confusion cuts both ways. It is true that we must be on guard against the real deficiencies in the current pontificate. But we must also guard against our own tendency to assume that anything that does not match the way we think an issue should have been treated, or does not express things as we would have liked them to be expressed, must represent one ...

At the conclusion of Sunday’s Regina Coeli, Pope Francis makes a heartfelt appeal to halt the spiral of violence in the Middle East and for all nations to favour negotation and peace efforts, while assisting those suffering in Gaza. By Vatican News Pope Francis made a heartfelt appeal on Sunday following the Regina Coeli, when he called for a stop to any actions that may fuel the “spiral of violence” in the Middle East that risk plunging the region into an even wider war. The Pope said he is following with “prayer and concern, even sorrow” the news arriving in recent hours about the worsening situation in Israel following the intervention by Iran. He emphasised that nobody should threaten the existence of others, and that instead all nations should “take...