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When difficult Christmases lead us into the beautiful…
You know how they say the first Christmas after the death of a loved one is the hardest? Well, apparently, we eventually reach an age where that covers a lot of Christmases. Christmas 2021 was the first without my mother. The next year, 2022, was supposed to be the nice refreshing “got through that” holiday. But my Dad fell on Christmas Day, beginning the decline that ended in his death four weeks later. So now we’re at the first Christmas after his death. And then, just to make it a two-fer, my uncle passed away this past weekend. Merry Christmas. Perhaps you, or someone you know, is having a similar string of holiday luck. We tend to want to “get through it,” so we can look forward to the next year, when Christmas can go back to being happy and carefree and magical. &nb...
The Catholic Way of the Habsburgs: 7 Lessons From an Imperial Family…
Catholics have long held that all genuine authority derives from God. Any public official, whether elected or hereditary, carries a duty to act for the good of others rather than pursuing personal interests. Because we often view authority as deriving from the people directly, not from God, we act like we can establish any law or take any action that furthers our interests as we perceive them, apart from any set or established order. A Catholic approach to politics, and to life in general, recognizes within public life the opportunity to pursue the good in cooperation with others. The heresy introduced by John F. Kennedy and followed by many others — of leaving faith outside the capitol door — only furthers the sense that politicians answer only to their constituents rather than a traditio...
Papal Biographer Peter Seewald: ‘Benedict Trusted Francis. But He Was Bitterly Disappointed Several Times’…
Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger would have been a figure to be remembered in the history of the Church even if he had not been elected to the papal throne. In 2005, however, the Lord called one of the greatest living theologians, the man to whom Saint John Paul II entrusted the custody of Catholic orthodoxy for 23 years, to become Pope. Benedict XVI’s pontificate ended, traumatically, more than a decade ago as his earthly life ended a year ago, depriving the precincts of St Peter’s of that ‘service of prayer’ promised at his last general audience on 27 February 2013. Also in light of the new season under the banner of a claimed discontinuity at the dicastery for the doctrine of the faith, what has become of Ratzinger’s legacy in the current pontificate? This is a qu...
Taking the ‘Sin’ Out of Sincerity: How to Overcome Scrupulosity in Religious Life…
If there is one thing aspirants to religious life are today, it is sincere. Gone are the days of “automatic vocations” that every large Catholic family was expected to provide. Now we have young people who, oftentimes despite confusion or even derision from family, want to live totally for Christ and give up things commonly seen as necessities. This desire for Christian perfection is obviously a good thing. If only more people had it, the world would be a much better place. Yet this desire, in itself very laudable, can be turned into something it was not intended to be. Martin Luther did just that with his Augustinian Rule, seeing in it traps where others saw supports. He piled up imaginary obligations that left him agitatedly wondering whether he had offended God. This is scrupulosity, or...
Long-lost personal belongings of Servant of God Joseph Dutton, who worked with Father Damien of Molokai, discovered in Wisconsin rectory coal chute …
Cousins Steve Skelly, left, and Pete Skelly with items from Servant of God Joseph “Brother” Dutton found in the St. Jude Parish rectory basement in Beloit. The box on the right reads, “PRICELESS Brother Dutton papers. DO NOT DESTROY” and is dated 1/3/1982. (Catholic Herald photo/Graham Mueller) After more than 20 years, Steve Skelly of Janesville found long-lost letters, photos, and other personal belongings of Servant of God Joseph Dutton, also known as “Brother Dutton”. They were found in the basement of the St. Jude Parish rectory in Beloit. Skelly, who has been interested in Dutton for more than 40 years, is elated that what he found may help further the cause for Dutton’s canonization. Skelly’s interest and Dutton’s background Skelly learned about Dutton through his interest in local ...
Papal Christmas Deadline Over Syro-Malabar Rift Is Met, but Indian Archdiocese Simmers…
Some parishes see protests to ‘uniform’ Mass At Little Flower Parish in Perumanoor, India, the choir stopped singing during Christmas Mass when the priest turned to face the altar (according to the synodal Mass format). The priest finally continued celebrating the Mass facing the people in the style of Mass followed in the archdiocese for more than 60 years. “The priest had been emphatically told by the people that they will not allow the synodal Mass, and that is why the choir protested,” Riju Kanjookaran of the Laity Movement of the Ernakulam Archdiocese told CNA on Dec. 27. St. Joseph’s Parish in Thannipuzha witnessed a worse scene on the morning of Dec. 27 when the priest was stopped from saying the synodal Mass. A few of those who supported him were evicted by the poli...
The Temple of Jerusalem was God’s house — but it’s also an image of the family of God, the Church…
Readings:Sirach 3:2–6, 12–14Psalm 128:1–2, 3, 4–5Colossians 3:12–21Luke 2:22–40 Why did Jesus choose to become a baby born of a mother and father and to spend all but His last years living in an ordinary human family? In part, to reveal God’s plan to make all people live as one “holy family” in His Church (see 2 Corinthians 6:16–18). In the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, God reveals our true home. We’re to live as His children, “chosen ones, holy and beloved,” as the First Reading puts it. Th e family advice we hear in today’s readings—for mothers, fathers, and children—is all solid and practical. Happy homes are the fruit of our faithfulness to the Lord, we sing in today’s Psalm. But the Liturgy is inviting us to see more, to see how, through our family obligations and relationsh...
From Scrooge to George Bailey to the Grinch, conversions are at the heart of the best Christmas stories…
[embedded content] Share via: Ebenezer Scrooge, George Bailey, the Grinch… so many of the most iconic Christmas stories in film and literature hinge upon the idea of a conversion of some kind. Matt Swaim is joined by Joseph Pearce and JonMarc Grodi to look at why Christmas is so often associated with a change of heart, and connect the concepts of memory, charity and truth back to their source: Jesus, whose birth is the occasion for all the celebration. Joseph Pearce’s website: jpearce.co Services Marketplace – Listings, Bookings & Reviews Entertainment blogs & Forums
Christian Villages in Nigeria Reeling After Christmas Attacks Leave Nearly 200 Dead…
“Until we cut off the supply in terms of sponsorship, we may never be able to see the end of this,” Mutfwang said. THIS INDEED HAS BEEN A GORY CHRISTMAS FOR US” We have had to celebrate Christmas with a heavy heart. Unprovokeded attacks were unleashed on several of our communities. Most of the communities attacked in Barkin Ladi share Borders with Bokkos Local Government. We have not less… pic.twitter.com/6d0IXNZd2B — Caleb Mutfwang (@CalebMutfwang) December 26, 2023 Sean Nelson, a religious-rights attorney with the law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), told CNA that “whole villages” were razed and hundreds more Christians are now displaced because of the attacks, which he said were motivated by the Fulani tribe’s “hatred of Christians” and “desire to take land.” Nelson, who closely f...
Become a Novelty By Extending Your Christmas Celebration…
When, through our words and actions, we show that there’s more to Christmas than a single day, we make a statement about the Catholic faith. We are a novelty in our neighborhood and perhaps among our friends and acquaintances as well. Long after Christmas, New Year’s Day and Epiphany, our Christmas decorations — both inside and outside — remain up and lighted. We leave them up until the Presentation of the Lord, celebrated Feb. 2 each year. What’s more, we continue to celebrate Christmas and all its related feasts until then. When we look back on Church history, celebrating Christmas this way isn’t novel at all. Before the Second Vatican Council, the Christmas season lasted for 40 days, echoing the 40 days of Lent. It was customary at the time to extend Christmas until Feb. 2, carefully ob...
Extend your Christmas celebration by singing carols and reading aloud…
Our celebration of Christmas is ongoing. This is not about ‘making a point’ or offering a corrective to others. It is a matter of taking the opportunity to express our joy and gratitude, as well as our resolve that the birth of Christ make a real difference in our life. We hope that our celebration comes naturally as a sort of spontaneous expression. At the same time, it is something we work on. There is no surprise here. The most important ‘things’ we want to cultivate in life—namely, the virtues—are just so: they become increasingly spontaneous precisely by our intentional efforts. Among the ways we can choose to celebrate around the hearth in our home, two especially come to mind: singing (in this case called caroling) and reading aloud. The most important things in life call for song! ...
Pope’s General Audience on Feast of St. John the Apostle: ‘Never Dialogue With the Devil — He Is Smarter Than You and Will Make You Pay’…
In the biblical account of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, and the fall of man, the progenitors thought the serpent to be benign. But, the pope warned, the devil is a master tactician and shapeshifter who was able to instill doubt, which was veiled as “wicked gossip.” At the same time Pope Francis noted that we ought to think of the tree of knowledge not as a “prohibition” imposed by God on “the use of reason” but rather as his way of introducing a “measure of wisdom.” In this way God is signaling to us to be cognizant of our limits so we do not falsely believe that we “are the master[s] of everything, because pride is the beginning of all evil.” The pope noted that in the biblical account, the prohibition imposed on Adam and Eve of eating from that tree was God’s way of “preserv[i...
