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Celebrities, monarchs, politicos, clergy and sacramental ghosts in coronation of Charles III…
If you read the main Associated Press report about the coronation of King Charles III then you know, in summary material near the top, that the rites were attended by “celebrities including Judi Dench, Emma Thompson and Lionel Richie.” You would not, however, know that — for the first time in history — the monarch processed into Westminster Abbey behind a new Cross of Wales which, because of a recent gift from Pope Francis — contained two fragments from the “true cross” of Jesus discovered in 312 A.D. by the Empress Helen, mother of Constantine. We are talking about a relic reverenced by the early church and, ever since, by the ancient churches of East and West. I know. It’s all about priorities. Was the coronation of Charles III a religious rite, a political ceremony or a mega-watt event ...
How to teach through the heart, with words of wisdom from the late Cardinal Pell…
The young man was perplexed upon hearing that God loves him but also allowed him to sin of his own free will. The statement by the guest lecturer was difficult for him to comprehend as a person who believed in God but had chosen not to act on his belief in God. How can a God who supposedly loves everyone allow the very same person to reject him? It simply did not make sense to him. As the presentation progressed, the young man felt compelled to raise his hand during the question-and-answer period and bluntly told the speaker, “I don’t understand how a God who loves us allows us to sin.” Taking a deep breath as if he was about to plunge into the English channel, the speaker responded to the young man’s question as follows: “God’s love is infinite, and it is not bound by time or space; he ha...
Why we should celebrate Mother’s Day…
The extraordinary richness of what-it-is-to-be-human can be veiled by its normality. Wisdom is often in noticing things so ordinary that they escape notice. Such as motherhood. We should observe Mother’s Day if for no other reason than it prompts us to look again at something right in front of us. By an unalterable if somewhat surprising design of nature, everyone has a mother. To say that the role of mothers is no accident but rather something chalked out by nature is, well, just the beginning. Something so universal, so specific, and so consequential can only be the fruit of intentionality. And this means there are treasures of goodness hidden within, waiting to blossom. The reality of motherhood points right to the heart of what it is to be human—if we have eyes to see. But it’s easy to...
Shame on Dennis Prager for defending porn…
In a recent discussion with Jordan Peterson, “conservative” radio host Dennis Prager recently defended both lust and pornography. Prager objected to Jesus’ admonition that a man who lusts after a woman has already committed adultery in his heart. Prager smugly stated: “There is only one way to commit adultery in Judaism, and it’s with a different organ.” Peterson, widely noted for his quick wit, should have challenged Prager on that ridiculous position. After all, in Prager’s view, a man who engages merely in heavy petting with other women has not committed adultery. Alas, Peterson did not challenge him. Instead, he merely asked Prager about his views on pornography. Prager answered, “Men want variety. … If pornography is a substitute for one’s wife, it’s awful. If it’s a substitute for ad...
We Need to Recover a Sense of the Sacred in God’s House — and Here’s How We Can Begin…
We honor Almighty God by arriving for Mass ahead of time and blessing ourselves as we enter our Father’s house. Writing in Niedziela [“Sunday”], one of the two national Catholic weekly newspapers in Poland, Father “A.P.” made these thought-provoking observations about punctuality for Mass: The later we show up in church before Mass, the later we enter into a genuine climate of prayer. Some people like to reckon how late they can be for the Mass to “count.” Remember that the Mass is one whole, from the sign of the cross at the start of Mass until the blessing at its end: one cannot say he was ‘at Mass’ if one was only there for parts of it. It’s not just a formality: it’s better that you wait until the Lord comes and you meet Him at the altar rather than the other way around. When I am late...
Archdiocese of New York ‘Investigating’ Parish for Displaying Blasphemous ‘God Is Trans; There Is No Devil’ Exhibit Next to Side Altar…
“If media reports are accurate, then we would have concerns. We are investigating and looking to speak with the pastor of the parish to get more information,” the spokesperson said. CNA reached out to the archdiocese and the pastor of the church, Father Rick Walsh, for comment on Tuesday but did not receive a response before publication. Parishioners have been divided on the exhibit. The New York Post reported that an “irate” parishioner said “enough is enough.” “It seems like they are trying to force the agenda on others,” the parishioner said. “Also, when a friend asked a priest about this they didn’t answer. You can’t put this out on the altar and then hide.” “That’s what gets the church in trouble,” the parishioner said. However, Cherri Gosh, 80, who supports the exhibit, told the New ...
Is objective morality real?
A reader writes: I have been really hurting due to a question that I can’t seem to find an answer to wherever I look. Wherever I go, I can’t find a Christian that will answer my questions. I am Catholic, but this particular question causes me pain, because morality is the bedrock that my framework is built upon. My question is, how do I know that Morality is real? I heard that morality is just a herd mentality to ensure human survival. Like, for example, I don’t kill him, so he doesn’t kill me, a herd mentality. Homosexuality is wrong because it doesn’t ensure human survival. It’s a sort of empathy-like survival mechanism. This does mean that if you do something wrong, since there would be no Objective Morality, that there is nothing actually wrong about it, and you could technically do wh...
An epic problem and humanitarian balloons…
An epic problem and humanitarian balloons Skip to content Hey everybody, Today is Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter, and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post. Credit: Unsplash The news The World Health Organization declared on Friday that Covid-19 is no longer a “global health emergency” — a move which has legal and policy effects in jurisdictions around the world. For most people, Covid, has been “over” for a while now. But while even the WHO can say officially that the Covid emergency is over, everyone knows that we’ll feel for decades the economic, cultural, social, and even spiritual effects of our very strange past few years. Covid, and our cultural and political responses, changed a lot, and laid bare, I think, how profoundly each one of us needs God. Anyway, forgive the di...
Did early Christians believe in dragons?
Today people are fascinated by cryptids—hidden creatures—like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. In the ancient world, the most famous cryptid was the dragon, so did early Christians believe in them? The term dragon (Greek, drakôn) appears in the Greek Bible, but normally it is in a symbolic context—like when the devil appears in the form of a dragon in the book of Revelation (e.g., Rev. 12). So this doesn’t provide good evidence for belief in literal dragons. However, the term also appears in other contexts. For example, in Daniel 14, the prophet Daniel kills a large drakôn that the Babylonians worshipped. However, in secular Greek, the term drakôn originally referred to a snake or serpent, and it did not always have monstrous connotations. This is clear in Wisdom 16:10, where the author ...
Father James Martin’s new “Outreach” ministry threatens to burn the bridge to authentic salvation…
Jesuit Father James Martin has started a new online resource for “LGBTQ” Catholics called “Outreach” that is an enterprise associated with America Media, whose magazine America is the flagship publication of American Jesuits. Outreach has recently put forward a new series of articles by various theologians, Scripture scholars, and those involved in “LGBTQ” ministry, on how to interpret the Bible’s verses on homosexuality, which some of the contributors describe as “clobber verses” that are used to marginalize and persecute those in the “LGBTQ” community. The authors are Protestant, Catholic and Jewish, and they present varying arguments with different emphases, all of which are designed to make sure that the biblical verses in question are effectively gutted of their normativity, which ope...
Why Your Catholic Men’s Group Will Eventually Fold…
When my wife and I first got married, we didn’t have many friends who were practicing Catholics. I had to fish for a college friend to be the godfather of our firstborn, and I attended a Protestant Bible study for six years because I couldn’t find a Catholic one. We felt alone as we slowly turned the boat toward the shores of Catholic orthodoxy. So, I prayed. I prayed the prayer of St. Francis: “Lord, send me some brothers.” And, eventually, one by one, He did. A priest in our area was organizing a winter hike in single-digit temperatures and I got plugged in with some good, solid Catholic guys. I was very grateful for these guys; it seemed like the community, the band of brothers, I had been looking for. I want to be clear about something here: none of what I’m about to write ...
KC Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker Offers Grads ‘Hard Truths’ About Family, Faith, and Cancel Culture …
By Joe Bukuras Boston, Mass., May 8, 2023 / 10:30 am Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker offered graduating college students a wake-up call on Saturday. “I’m about to pop off some hard truths,” the two-time Super Bowl champion said as the commencement speaker at his alma mater, Georgia Institute of Technology. Butker, who has been outspoken about his Catholic faith, told the students that their hard work might land them a very successful career, but that would not be enough to make them happy. “But in the end, no matter how much money you attain, none of it will matter if you are alone and devoid of purpose,” he said. Services Marketplace – Listings, Bookings & Reviews Entertainment blogs & Forums
