July 17, 1781, in Yuma, Arizona, was, like virtually all July days along the lower Colorado River, filled with bright sunshine and extreme heat. Soon it also would be filled with the screams of warriors, the musket shots of soldiers, and the moans of the dying.  The Quechan Indians had risen up against the Spaniards among them. Within four days, 131 Spanish would be dead, including four Franciscan missionaries: Fathers Francisco Garcés, Juan Antonio de Barreneche, José Matías Moreno and Juan Díaz. By 1781, Quechan hostility toward the Spanish had been rising for several years. But at first, thanks largely to the earnest, likable and peaceable Father Garcés, there had been a golden period of amity and goodwill. Garcés first arrived at Yuma in August 1771. As the pastor at lonely and hi...

What Is Necrology A necrology refers to a list or record of individuals who have died, especially within a specific community, organization, or during a particular time period. In the context of the Church, religious orders will keep necrologies to record the anniversary of the death of the members of the Order. This gives the community the opportunity to remember to pray for the repose of the soul of its members – even members who died long before the current members were alive. In so doing, we are performing a spiritual work of mercy for souls. Why Make A Necrology While we often think of praying for the dead in the month of November, all year we have ample opportunities to pray for the souls of the departed. Through almsgiving, penance, and fasting done with the intention of freeing sou...

Having wealth is damaging to the pursuit of the kingdom because the very having does something to one’s inner life, one’s very ability to love God for his own goodness and others in and for him.”― Fr. Thomas Dubay Today’s Gospel at Mass had me thinking about a homily I heard a few years ago in Omaha on Luke 10:4, which contains Jesus’ instructions for the disciples as he sends them out on mission: “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals…” The priest said something to this effect: Jesus forbade the disciples on mission from carrying money or extra things. Even a second pair of sandals. That’s edgy! Why? To lighten their load? Sure, maybe. To teach them trust in God? Okay, that’s true. But I think the deepest reason is rooted in human psychology. When you have possessions, money, extras, things ...

Too often, when we look in the mirror, we see a dream version of ourselves instead of what is in front of our eyes. We so badly want to be the “best version of ourselves” that this is all we see. But then, when we get a glimpse of our true selves, it can be jarring — like seeing a picture of ourselves and saying, “Yikes. I thought I looked better than that!” That is what happens to the rich young man when he meets Jesus on the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B. Jesus insists that we have each have the same face-to-face encounter with him, give up the lie, and see who we really are, in him. We probably think of our relationship with Jesus in exactly the way the “rich young man” in the Gospel reading this Sunday thinks of his. When the young man asks Jesus how to attain eternal life, Jesu...

Sadie stood on the boat, heavy with child, a toddler clinging to her hand, the shores of France shrinking into the distance. It had been weeks already since she had left her home in Lebanon—where she had lived with her fellow Christians in fear and poverty due to Ottoman persecution. At the age of eighteen, she was going with her twenty-two-year-old husband to a place called St. Louis in the Americas, where his brother lived. My great-great-grandmother took a deep breath, centering herself in her faith, which she would need as she traveled surrounded by unfamiliar languages, sleeping in steerage, going to a great unknown. Dorothy waited behind the lunch counter in Joliet, Illinois, surrounded by flat, sweeping land. She was serving the men who came down the line. Her apron was tied neatly ...

Mater et magistra, la suprema, and disordered desire Skip to content Happy Friday friends, And a very happy feast of St. John XIII to all who celebrate — and all of you should. Papa Roncalli is best remembered as the pope who convoked Vatican Council II, and in that sense at least I tend to think of him as at least co-patron saint of this era in the life of the Church. Of course, he also is the pope who initiated the wholesale reform of the Code of Canon Law, recognizing that barely 40 years after its promulgation it was falling hopelessly behind the shifting realities of ecclesiastical life.  More to the point for our current moment, John was also the pope who convoked a synod for the Diocese of Rome, this first in its history, and I often find myself thinking of the current synodal ...