We spend billions each year on avoiding pain through pharmaceuticals or self-medicating through alcohol and drugs. But we must not forget that pain and suffering are not the enemy.
Sacraments
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: When and where trauma and theology meet
Karen O’Donnell writes her own trauma theology as a “survivor’s gift that is offered as both a comfort and a challenge.”
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
Mass is meant for the ashamed
The Eucharist is the original A.A. meeting. We need to encourage each other, remind each other that we are not alone, that our savior has called us together.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: The inspiring witness of Fr. Tomás Halík
Fr. Tomás Halík might be the most thoughtful, learned and interesting Catholic that is widely unknown in the United States today. Hopefully, this book will right that wrong.
Posted inFaith, Of Many Things
If we want Catholics to understand church teaching on the Eucharist, we need a fresh approach
Pew explains, “just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31 percent) say they believe that ‘during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.’”
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
In the Eucharist, Christ gives us comfort
We need some comforting, all of us. A moment when we are drawn away from our troubles, a slice of life without its accompanying sorrows.
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
On Corpus Christi, we are reminded that creation is a gift from God
On this day, under the appearance of bread and wine, Christ claims creation itself to be his eucharistic body and blood.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Don’t abolish the priesthood. Redeem it.
We shouldn’t get rid of the priesthood. We should reconnect it to the holiness of God.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
The best advice I can offer new priests
Yes, your life is focused on God but centered by the people God gives you to serve.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
California lawmakers threaten to violate seal of confession to find abusers
On May 31, the California state senate passed a bill requiring priests to report anything they heard in the sacrament of confession from priests or colleagues relating to sex abuse. The bill passed with a 30-4 vote, with 4 senators not voting at all. Catholic clergy and survivor groups have clashed on the bill, the clergy against it, survivor groups all for “increased transparency.”