Discerning Marriage as Natural Vocation
Marriage, as a vocation, is written into our human nature, into our very being. According to the Church, everyone is called to marriage because they are humans who have been created as either male or...
View ArticleCredible Communion: The Witness of Apostolic Religious Life
When the Church has been humiliated and vilified by public scandal … I suggest we need to shift our focus to Christ. Introduction “How can you write anything credible about the witness of religious...
View ArticleHand to the Plow
The religious sister’s separation from family and friends means that … in order to “put one’s hand to the plow” (Lk 9:59-60) one may not look back … in order to attend to the “one thing necessary.”...
View ArticleDiscernment and Communion
If young people want to properly discern a vocation, they need an expert to help guide them. In the Church of San Luigi Dei Francesi in Rome, there are the three famous paintings of the life of St....
View ArticleSearching for Clarity in Vocational Discernment
… The call of the Lord usually comes to us in a more subtle and indirect manner … left up to us, with the assistance of divine grace, to discern whether we are being called to the priesthood or...
View ArticleOra et Labora … and Vacation??
Religious … are joined to Christ in his poverty, chastity, and obedience by a “total life-long gift of themselves.” For the consecrated religious, then, times of rest are to serve the total gift of...
View ArticleWinter Reading for January 2015
New Evangelization: Passing on the Catholic Faith Today. Cardinal Donald Wuerl. (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 2013) 91 pages. (Reviewed by Dr. Edward Peters) ______ A Future Built on...
View ArticleLiturgy in Bede’s World
Time-honored ritual; a space often ornate, if not opulent, used almost exclusively for this purpose; seating by hierarchy; candles; a prayer, perhaps in Latin, perhaps in English; ceremonial robes; a...
View ArticleA Comment on Vatican II’s Perfectae Caritatis and Its Aftermath
It has been 50 years since the close of Vatican II, and certainly the Church has found great hope for the future in the Spirit-guided accomplishments of that great ecumenical Council. The Church has...
View ArticleLate Autumn Book Reviews
All the Pope’s Saints: The Jesuits Who Shaped Pope Francis, by Fr. Sean Salai, SJ (Our Sunday Visitor, 2017) 144 pages; $15.00. Reviewed by Deacon David Paternostro, S.J. How I Stayed Catholic at...
View ArticleSpring Book Reviews
Saint Mary Magdalene: Prophetess of Eucharistic Love by Fr. Sean Davidson (Ignatius Press, 2017). Reviewed by Rev. John P. Cush, STD. And Mary’s ‘Yes’ Continues. By the Dominican Sisters of Mary,...
View ArticleQuestions Answered
Question: When we do not have enough consecrated bread for Holy Communion is it permitted to dip unconsecrated bread into consecrated wine? Does the Council of Trent give special permission in this...
View ArticleBook Reviews for Late Autumn 2018
The First Society: The Sacrament of Matrimony and the Restoration of the Social Order By Scott Hahn. Reviewed by Matthew Rose. (skip to review) In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk’s Memoir By Paul...
View ArticleBook Reviews – January 2019
A Bloody Habit: A Novel By Eleanor Bourg Nicholson. Reviewed by Fr. John Patrick Cush. (skip to review) Was the Reformation a Mistake?: Why Catholic Doctrine Is Not Unbiblical By Matthew Levering and...
View ArticlePastoral Care of Women Who Have Left the Convent
In the fall of 2014, I got on a train to enter the convent. I was happy and healthy, with an intact family, great friends, a list of accomplishments I was proud of, and no history of mental health...
View ArticleBook Reviews – July 2020
Catholic Marriage: A Pastoral and Liturgical Commentary By Edward Foley, ed. Reviewed by Christopher Siuzdak. (skip to review) Vocation to Marriage and the Christian Family By Thomas McGovern. Reviewed...
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