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Few of the following qualify as “beach reading;” they all qualify as good reading.  In graduate school, I was informed that there was no such thing as “biblical theology,” only textual analysis. Bishop Robert Barron demonstrates what nonsense that was, and is, in The Great Story of Israel: Election, Freedom, Holiness, a book that nourishes both mind and soul.   In The Virtues, John Garvey, former president of the Catholic University of America, shares the wisdom by which he reminded CUA students that genuine “higher education” means “deeper formation” as well as “more information:” the perfect gift to anyone entering college or university this fall.   The culture wars continue. Three recent volumes help prepare 21st-century defenders of the faith for the work ahead...

When my family entered the Church 22 years ago, some of my evangelical friends went out of their way to tell me Catholic horror stories. I hadn’t thought of this for years, but remembered it the other day when I was thrust into the company of evangelical Anglicans. At least one of them had been among the people who two decades ago told me the horror stories. I’m guessing he and they would still tell them if they saw any point to it, but they rarely tell me the stories anymore, on the few occasions we meet. One of the unexpected blessings of having been in the Church this long is that people finally think of you as Catholic. From their point of view, you’re lost for good, like a ship sunk to the bottom of the ocean. For a while, I think, they see new converts as being in what scholars call ...

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Skip to content While much of Catholic education has withered for lack of connection to its roots and the water of Christian faith, the Adeodatus Foundation is preparing to nourish many gardens in the desert. Those who want to be part of this movement of renewal might consider a trip to Pasadena later this month. Much of American Catholic education, from primary school to university is, as the late Newton Minow famously opined about television, a vast wasteland. The remarkable system of Catholic parochial schools has itself withered due to a fatal addiction to “relevance” in the form of American Progressive educational dogma and faddish discipline. Whereas once religious brothers and sisters consecrated to the Lord made cheap or even free education possible, the fall-off in religious life ...

> Italiano> English> Español> Français > All the articles of Settimo Cielo in English If you want to receive (or go back to receiving) a notification for every new article, click HERE and subscribe to the Newsletter from Settimo Cielo! * There is only one continent on which Catholicism is not retreating, but expanding: Africa. Five of the ten countries with the highest Mass attendance rates are African. The only seminaries filling up instead of emptying are African. And also from Africa comes the resistance against the current that is driving so many Catholic Churches in the North toward the shores of blessing homosexual couples. In the Anglican Church on this same question it has already come to schism, and there too the numbers are all in the South’s favor. In short, ...

The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) is inviting Catholics to join together in making an act of reparation for the act of “blasphemy” scheduled to take place at Dodgers Stadium on June 16 on the day the Catholic Church celebrates the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, alongside the USCCB, is asking parishes across the country to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 16 at Mass or during a Holy Hour with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. An act of reparation such as the bishops recommend is offered to the Lord with the intention of repairing the spiritual damage inflicted by sin. This comes after the Los Angeles Dodgers announced they would be honoring the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” an anti-Catholic drag ...

Here is a way to bring the light of Christ to a dark situation. You already know the story of the group the Los Angeles Dodgers are planning to honor on June 16 (the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus). To counter the Dodgers’ contemptuous gesture, the Register would like to hear from you, our readers, about how a religious sister has affected your life in a positive way. A way that has influenced you to become a better person. A way that has helped you overcome a difficult situation. A way that has changed your life. Please share your personal story in the comments section below, or email us [email protected]. (If you email, please include your name, city and phone number to have your contribution considered for possible publication.) Your testimony can surely inspire others...

By Francis X. Maier I want to talk about what we need now: what we need now as Christians; what we need now to renew the presence of Jesus Christ in our personal lives, in our Church, and in our culture. Truth matters, because Somebody famous once said that the truth will make us free; not necessarily comfortable or happy, but free—free to change our thinking, our actions, and our lives. Free to become the men and women God made us to be. Free to be better than we are. We’re all familiar with the human predicament: our genius at screwing things up, and God’s fidelity in forgiving us and helping us try again. We’re each a mixture of clay and spirit, carbon and grace. Which means that realism—Christian realism—is a cocktail of skepticism and hope. Skepticism, because unless we’re really good...

The dogma of overpopulation is in search of a justification. The reasons offered to be concerned about overpopulation have repeatedly shifted, but have also been repeatedly disconfirmed. In his 1789 Essay on the Principle of Population, Thomas Malthus argued that population growth outpaces food production, so an increasing population would lead to widespread starvation: a “gigantic inevitable famine stalks in the rear, and with one mighty blow levels the population with the food of the world.” But what actually happened? In the two hundred years since the release of his book, reality contradicted his prediction. As population increased, the percentage of the population in dire poverty decreased.    Advertisement In his 1968 book Population Bomb, Paul Ehrlich doubled dow...

In light of Sunday’s Feast of Corpus Christi, I would like to recall the need for the reverent and worthy reception of Holy Communion and to develop an explanation for the Church’s practice of what some call “closed Communion.”  Not everyone who uses this terminology means it pejoratively, although some do. But to some extent it is fair to say that we do have “closed Communion.” For the Catholic Church, Holy Communion is not a “come one, come all” event. It is reserved for those who, by grace, preserve union with the Church through adherence to all that the Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God. Our response of “Amen” at Holy Communion signifies our communion with these realities and our faith in the true presence of ...

By Jo Marchant At the southern edge of Sweden, not far from the picturesque town of Ronneby, lies a tiny island called Stora Ekon. Sprinkled with pine trees, sheep and a few deserted holiday cottages, the low-lying island is one of hundreds that shelter the coast from the storms of the Baltic Sea. For centuries, the spot was a popular anchorage point, but the waters are now mostly quiet; the most prominent visitors, apart from the occasional pleasure boat, are migrating swans.  Guibert Gates For a few weeks in May, however, a new island intruded on this peaceful scene: A square wood raft topped with two converted shipping containers just a few hundred feet from Stora Ekon’s shoreward coast. The floating platform was busy with divers and archaeologists, here to explore what lies b...

Solemnity of Corpus ChristiBy Fr. Victor Feltes In the Old Testament, God freed his people with the Prophet Moses. The Hebrews in Egypt were slaves to Pharaoh since birth, but God’s mighty works through Moses liberated them. Though he had led them through the waters of the Red Sea their journey was not yet completed. They were still in the arid desert and God wished to lead them into his Promised Land, “a land of milk and honey” he had promised to their ancestors. God had already blessed his people, yet he wished to give them his even fuller blessings there. How were the Hebrew people sustained for forty years in the desolate Sinai desert? What did they eat to survive? Every day, God made fine flakes appear on the ground around their camp. These flakes were “white, and tasted like wafers m...