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Last Sunday Jesus explained what makes you “Blessed” — this week he tells you what makes you a blessing…..
People love pretty lies, so the world needs Christians who are willing to say hard things in a convicting way. Or, to put it another way, “You are the salt of the earth.” At the same time, people feel embattled and crushed by life, so the world needs Christians to say encouraging things about our ultimate purpose. In other words: “You are the light of the world.” This is the paradox that has made the Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A one of the best remembered, most cited, and at the same time most mysterious passages in the Bible. Last Sunday Jesus explained what makes you “Blessed” — this week he tells you what makes you a blessing. As Lent approaches we are getting Christianity 101 on Sundays; the Sermon on the Mount in slow motion. After launching Jesus’s mini...
Father James Martin Receives a Papal Clarification — and in Record Time…
SYDNEY — Cardinals, bishops and venerable prelates may be distressed by Pope Francis on occasion. They just have to accept their lot; Francis is pope, like it or not. When Jesuit Father James Martin is not happy, though, he does not have to take it. Word is sent to the Holy Father. The Holy Father gets the message and corrects course. Father Martin is thus, by the Holy Father’s own choice, the living emblem, the pastoral model, the face of this Jesuit pontificate. The Holy Father is content to allow Cardinal Raymond Burke to wait more than six years for a response to his dubia about Amoris Laetitia. Father Martin does not have to wait six hours. Consider a recent papal interview, which received significant criticism from liberal Catholics — contrary to the usual story that such criticism c...
Priest, 5 students arrested for chants against president after Pope Francis event in DRC…
When Pope Francis spoke against corruption during the Feb. 2 event, part of the crowd broke into a chant in the Lingala language directed at the country’s president and saying his mandate was over, according to the Associated Press. DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, who took office in January 2019, will be up for reelection in December. Father Jean Baptiste Malenge, a delegate for the Congolese bishops’ conference and member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, told EWTN News that a group of students from the Institute Saint Eugène de Mazenod in Kinshasa broke out in a song they learned from the late Congolese Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo: “corruption, we refuse corruption,” adding, “thief, beware.” Father Muluku, who is academic secretary general at the graduate school, was arrested ...
Pope Francis Meets 2,500 Refugees in South Sudan’s Capital of Juba as African Pilgrimage Continues…
Pope Francis met 2,500 internally displaced persons during his visit to Juba, South Sudan, on Feb. 4, 2023. Elias Turk/CNA “You, from all your different ethnic groups, you who have suffered and are still suffering, you who do not want to respond to evil with more evil. You, who choose fraternity and forgiveness, are even now cultivating a better tomorrow,” he encouraged those present. “Be seeds of hope,” he said, “which make it possible for us already to glimpse the tree that one day, hopefully in the near future, will bear fruit.” During the meeting, a video showed IDP camps in South Sudan and interviews with refugees who spoke about fleeing their homelands. Pope Francis with Right Rev. Iain Greenshields (L) and Archbishop Justin Welby (R) during a meeting with refugees in Juba, South Sud...
The Cat’s Out of the Bag Now, With the Synod on Synodality…
COMMENTARY: Cardinal Robert McElroy’s comments last week, arguing the synod is the correct place to overturn core Catholic teachings, have spotlighted how the Synod on Synodality’s leaders are themselves manipulating the process in pursuit of this same objective. The recent letter to the world’s bishops from Cardinal Mario Grech, head of the Vatican synod secretariat, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the Synod on Synodality, shows that managing a synod is not as easy as it used to be. The previous synods under Pope Francis were relatively easy to handle compared to the current synodal process on synodality for a synodal Church. Back then, the synod managers, after hearing everyone, would just insert into the interim or final reports whatever they wished. Origins...
The approach of Jesus was not simply “inclusive” or “welcoming” — it was truly loving. He drew sinners to Himself on His terms, not theirs…..
The other night, I had the privilege of participating in one of the listening sessions for the continental phase of the Synodal process. The basis for our discussion was a lengthy document produced by the Vatican after it had compiled data and testimony from all over the Catholic world. As I have been studying and speaking about synodality, I very much enjoyed the exchange of views. But I found myself increasingly uneasy with two words that feature prominently in the document and that dominated much of our discussion—namely, “inclusivity” and “welcoming.” Again and again, we hear that the Church must become a more inclusive and welcoming place for a variety of groups: women, LGBT+ people, the divorced and civilly remarried, etc. But I have yet to come across a precise definition of e...
Walking in the footsteps of St. Paul and the Church Fathers in Turkey…
Note from the Author: Copy/paste GPS Coordinates listed below into Google Maps to see or travel to each location. When I was stationed in Turkey, I had the opportunity to travel much of the country, however, the massive Anatolian Plateau in Central Turkey–comprised of the ancient provinces of Galatia, Phrygia, Pisidia, Lower Armenia, and Pontus–alluded me. Once I returned home from Turkey, I did a lot more research about the holy heroes of our faith who traversed Turkey’s “Great Plains” in ancient times and where they went. After 10 years, I was able to journey back to Turkey to follow in the footsteps of some of the Church’s greatest Saints: St. Paul the Apostle and St. Barnabas, St. Timothy, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Blaise, and St. John Chrysostom. I was also ex...
These beautiful monasteries are for sale across Italy…
Editor’s Note: Sign up to CNN Travel’s Unlocking Italy newsletter for insider intel on Italy’s best loved destinations and lesser-known regions to plan your ultimate trip. Plus, we’ll get you in the mood before you go with movie suggestions, reading lists and recipes from Stanley Tucci. CNN — Ever dream of really getting away from it all? The Italians have long known how to do it. For centuries this has been a land of hermits and religious retreats – and Italy is still full of secluded monasteries and abbeys where religious folk have lived in seclusion. Only, you don’t have to be religious to live their lifestyle. With roughly €2 million ($2.16 million) you can buy a restyled retreat where meditation, peace and silence reign. As the seat of the Catholic church, Italy is dotted ...
Candlemas lights, showdown in Prague, and what evil is…
Happy Friday friends, And a belated happy Candlemas to you all. For those of you playing along at home, this really is the weekend where, if you haven’t taken down your Christmas lights by now, your neighbors now have license to judge you for it. Candlemas is, of course, not just some arbitrary day when your husband acquires the canonical right to forbid you playing Christmas music in the house and car (I’m kidding darling, this is just a joke), it is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. I love this feast, though I missed the chance to mark it properly yesterday, I spent most of yesterday on a plane. This newsletter is coming to you from Dallas, where JD and I (and Michelle) have come to record a podcast doubleheader at the University of Dallas today and tomorrow as par...
Pope Francis Concludes Visit to Democratic Republic of Congo, Heads Toward South Sudan; Says Africa’s Catholics ‘Breathe the Pure Air of the Gospel’ …
“Yours is a Church present in the lived history of this people, deeply rooted in its daily life, and in the forefront of charity,” he told the bishops. “It is a community capable of attracting others, filled with infectious enthusiasm and therefore, like your forests, with plenty of ‘oxygen.’ Thank you, because you are a lung that helps the universal Church breathe!” According to the Vatican, there are more than 52 million Catholics in the DRC, almost half of the country’s total population of over 105 million people. The country, which covers 905,600 square miles, is divided into 48 Catholic dioceses. After praising the beautiful features of the Church in the DRC, Pope Francis said he was sorry to have to speak of another side to the bishops’ country. “Sadly, I know that the Christian comm...
Candlemas and Four English Martyrs…
In London on Feb. 2, 1601, a group of recusant Catholics (who refused to attend Church of England services) gathered in a rooming house to commit a crime: celebrate and attend Holy Mass. Although our liturgical calendar doesn’t completely reflect it in the season of Ordinary Time, the Feast of the Presentation, also called the Feast of the Purification of Mary or Candlemas, is the last feast of the Christmas cycle. Forty Days after Our Lord’s Nativity, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, as St. Luke’s Gospel tells us, fulfill their obligations of purification and offering at the Temple. It’s finally time to put the Nativity crèches and festive greenery away; Christmas is officially over. On the liturgical calendar for the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite, the pre-Lenten season of S...
What Pope Francis’ unfortunate “middle finger” tweet was really about…
On Thursday morning at 9 a.m. EST, a tweet from Pope Francis’ official English language Twitter account was posted. The tweet read: “The middle finger, which is higher than the others, reminds us of something essential: honesty. To be honest means not getting entangled in the snares of corruption.” Immediately, vulgar replies followed. The tweet was deleted within the hour. A new tweet was posted shortly after, which reads: “The third finger, which is higher than the others, reminds us of something essential: honesty. To be honest means not getting entangled in the snares of corruption.” As of this writing, sarcastic and crude responses continued to follow. An analogy taken out of context The ‘middle finger’ tweet was a quote taken from the meeting with young people and catechists at the S...
