Praesidia: Mary, Mother of the Church St. Andrew Church Inactive Our Lady of the AssumptionSt. Margaret of Cortona Church Inactive President – Rose Duer Immaculate Heart of Mary St. Matthew, the Apostle Parish Meeting: Mondays 6pm at St. Gabriel room President – Manuel Xavier Madonna of the Sacred Heart Sacred Hearts Church President – Chris Gabrelcik Our Lady of Mercy Inactive St. Dominic Church President – Charla Sheppard Our Lady of Nazareth Inactive Holy Family Church President – William Matson Korean Praesidia Mary, Seat of Wisdom St. Leo Catholic Church President – Jungmin Theresa Lee Our Lady of Peace St. …
Author: Manuel Xavier
Conscience and Grace: A Lenten Meditation
Conscience and Grace: A Lenten Meditation The scriptures of Lent in the Church’s daily liturgy invite two related reflections. The weeks immediately preceding Easter call us to walk to Jerusalem in imitation of Christ, so that, at Easter, we too might be blessed with baptismal water and sent into the world on mission. The preceding weeks, those immediately following Ash Wednesday, propose a serious examination of conscience: What is there in me that’s broken? What’s impeding my being the missionary disciple I was baptized to be? This Lent, that examination of conscience might well include some serious thinking about what …
Church History
Ryan M. Reeves is Assistant Professor of Historical Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also serves as Dean of the Jacksonville campus. Ryan is also an adjunct professor for Reformed Theological Seminary and teaches summers at Campus Crusade (Cru). Ryan received his PhD from Cambridge University and has two masters from Reformed Theological Seminary. He also was a guest student in theology at the University of Münster and has studied at Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute and the Centro Pro Unione in Rome. Ryan lives in Jacksonville, Florida with his wife Charlotte and three kids: Zoë, Owen, and Dexter. The kids could …
History of Divine Mercy Devotion
History of the Message and Devotion to Divine Mercy From the diary of a young Polish nun, a special devotion began spreading throughout the world in the 1930s. The message is nothing new, but is a reminder of what the Church has always taught through scripture and tradition: that God is merciful and forgiving and that we, too, must show mercy and forgiveness. But in the Divine Mercy devotion, the message takes on a powerful new focus, calling people to a deeper understanding that God’s love is unlimited and available to everyone — especially the greatest sinners. The message and …
“Reconsidering” Humanae Vitae
Randall Smith Randall B. Smith is the Scanlan Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. His most recent book, Reading the Sermons of Thomas Aquinas: A Beginner’s Guide, is now available at Amazon and from Emmaus Academic Press. “Reconsidering” Humanae Vitae A friend tells stories of an elderly Catholic priest with whom he used to share an office. The man frequently spoke as though it was still 1969 and nothing had happened in the Church since then. It is said that some people are planning a meeting in Rome to “reconsider” Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae. …
The Comitium
As Misunderstandings occur sometimes in regard to the role and functioning of a Comitium, it may be useful to analyze here what the handbook says on THE COMITIUM in chapter 28:2:2 : “Where it is found necessary to confer on a Curia. in addition to its own proper functions, certain powers of over one or several Curiae, such higher Curia shall be styled more particularly a Comitium.” (Handbook) Comments: The raising of a Curia to Comitium may only be done with the sanction of a Regia or a Senatus or Concilium. It may not be done by the Curia itself …
Callused Consciences
A callus, the dictionary informs us, is “a thickened and hardened part of the skin or soft tissue, especially in an area that has been subjected to friction.” There we have a description of our contemporary moral condition. We have been subjected for so long to the “friction” of so much moral mayhem that we have been stupefied by it. A few years ago, I gave a homily about abortion. After Mass, the visiting priest chastised me, “Jim, you seemed downright angry during that homily. You can’t preach if you’re angry!” I was compelled to disagree, “Father, we’ve had many …
Bishop Fulton Sheen Videos
Venerable Fulton John Sheen (born Peter John Sheen, May 8, 1895 – December 9, 1979) was an American bishop (later archbishop) of the Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio. The cause for his canonization as a saint was officially opened in 2002. In June 2012, Pope Benedict XVI officially recognized a decree from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints stating that he lived a life of “heroic virtues” – a major step towards beatification – so he is now referred to as “Venerable.” Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria …
The Fourth Great Crisis of the Church
Progressives, Collaborating With A “New Paganism” Are Driving The Church Towards A Split. By Sarah Atkinson The Fourth Great Crisis Of The Church Liberals, collaborating with the “new paganism”, are driving the Catholic Church towards a split, according to Bishop Athanasius Schneider, the liturgical specialist who is carrying on a rearguard fight against “abuses” in the Church. So serious are the problems, Bishop Schneider said in an interview last week, that this is the fourth great crisis in the history of the Church, comparable to the fourth-century Arian heresy in which a large part of the Church hierarchy was implicated. …
Being Nice Isn’t Enough
Father Jerry J. Pokorsky is a priest of the Diocese of Arlington. He is pastor of St. Catherine of Siena parish in Great Falls, Virginia.Copyright © 2018 Crisis Magazine Being Nice Isn’t Good Enough We often hear that religion is a very private matter. It’s a nice sentiment. It’s inclusive and non-judgmental. And nice non-religious people are really quite pleasant to be around. Catholics can be nice people too. We drive to work to nice offices — I walk to work from a nice rectory — and we return to our households with a nice “live and let live …