Pastor

I’d like to continue my “Mother Teresa” theme this week (feast day: September 5th). We are often reminded that we need to develop the Christian virtues (habits of holiness) in order to get to Heaven, such as kindness, fortitude, and humility. The problem is, a lot of people make abstractions out of those and say […]

Last Sunday, September 5th, was the feast day of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (popularly known as “Mother Teresa”). She died on that date in 1997. Her life was a great testimony to the Catholic faith. She is perhaps most famous for her love in action in the countless works of mercy she engaged in both

On this Labor Day weekend, we remember all those who work for a living. As we continue to honor St. Joseph during his holy year, we remember that the Lord chose as His own father on earth a tekton (workman) or, by some traditions, a carpenter. We know that all honest work can help sanctify

The month of August brings us on the Church’s sanctoral calendar commemorations for saints of all stripes: Kings, Priests, Martyrs, Deacons, Apostles, and holy women who were married, widowed, and founded religions congregations. Let’s look at just a few of these for personal inspiration. For starters, we have two holy kings who used their considerable

Since I am a bit of a news junkie, I spend too much time on news websites. Some of them try to sensationalize the news, to get you to click on the story (and thus support their ad revenues). So they use/have attention-grabbing headlines, often with the word “shocking” in them (Shocking revelation about the

I wrote recently about Pope Francis’ decision to restrict the celebration of the old Mass (called the Traditional Latin Mass [TLM] or extraordinary form of the Mass). A few more thoughts on that today, especially about the history of the implementation of the new Mass [novus ordo]. After the new rite of the Mass was

I have received a few questions recently about Pope Francis’ recent decision to place many restrictions on the old rite of the Mass. This controversial action has been reported in the secular news, so I wanted to explain it from a Catholic perspective. (I always recommend not getting any news about the Church from secular

(This column is not for children). You might have heard the phrase “the elephant in the living room.” It refers to a highly important topic that everyone knows is real and significant but almost no one wants to discuss or address, because it is too controversial or, as often as not, makes some people very

It used to be a staple of every Catholic household library to have a work on the lives of the saints. Especially popular was a classic work by 18th Century English priest and philosophy and theology professor, Fr. Alban Butler. His multi-volume work on the saints became the go-to reference for many decades and it’s