COLUMNS
What is God like?
There are two abiding and important religious questions, both significant but one more important than the other, that we tend to confuse in their order of importance. The first is, "What is God like?"
The positive aspects of rejection
One of the most emotional moments of your life will be when you walk out of your college dorm room for the last time. It's undeniably powerful because you are literally closing the door on one path and opening the door to another path of life.
The nun who kissed Elvis
Dolores Hart was 19 when she filmed her first movie scene: kissing Elvis Presley. The aspiring actress was dressed in a polka dot dress with her honey-brown hair swept in a ponytail.
Multilingual social media conversation sparked by Year of Mercy event
More than 47,000 people on Facebook saw a video of Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., leading a procession of the Blessed Sacrament with more than 1,400 people from around the Diocese of Trenton during the daylong, bilingual Jubilee Year of Mercy Celebration on March 19 in Donovan Catholic and St. …
Nature and nurture at their best
I thought it was a joke. The newspaper photo of a smiling man in a white bird costume with a whooping crane hand puppet seemed more fit for the April Fool's Day issue than a Sunday in March.
Don't think of practice as a noun
There's an old joke that makes musicians howl with laughter and non-musicians a little confused: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" "Practice, practice, practice!"
Politics: 'We need to participate for the common good'
While watching a recent “episode” of the presidential campaign I was suddenly reminded of an incident that happened a number of years ago as I was driving home from Mass one morning.
Mary's example in fighting terrorism
As I sat on the front porch of my apartment recently, a U.S. Capitol Police car raced by. Minutes later, dozens of police cars, fire engines and ambulances followed with a helicopter hovering overhead. Road barricades protecting the perimeter of the U.S. Capitol building were activated halting all traffic, as …
Welcoming the stranger to our local community
If you've been a carpooling parent, you've paid your dues.
Christ's Resurrection -- the Triumph of Goodness
The stone which rolled away from the tomb of Jesus continues to roll away from every sort of grave. Goodness cannot be held, captured, or put to death.
Focusing on the common good
In its Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, the Second Vatican Council described the common good as "the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment" (No. 26).
On conscience and the reception of Communion
Conscience is the faculty of human reason that makes practical judgments regarding what is morally right or wrong. In the search for truth, a person should always turn to a respected authority for enlightenment. Catholics are encouraged to turn to the teaching authority of the church, namely to what's referred …
Blue Mass videos elicit memories, prayers
From praying for police officers to ministering to those who are incarcerated, the topics covered on the Diocese of Trenton’s social media ran the gamut over the past two weeks.
Confirmation is a beginning, not an end, to life in the church
If I had a nickel for every single time I've heard someone talk about the sacrament of confirmation as if it were the end of something, I'd be in the money. And now that it's after Easter and parishes everywhere are hosting confirmation Masses, everyone seems to have an opinion.
When nature reminds us of our Easter promise
On Holy Saturday, I had a meeting that took me far into the San Fernando Valley. The month prior, I had made the same drive and was so saddened by how parched the hillsides were. One after another slope was covered in drab brown with little green to break up …
Thursday, September 26, 2024
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