The single-day, 40-mile procession along the Bayou Teche honored both the 250th anniversary of American Independence and the 261st anniversary of Catholicism in the region.
Virgin Mary
Posted inThe Good Word
Catholics love relics. So where are Mary’s bones?
The absence of Mary’s bones is a telling historical anomaly, but the theological insight that accompanies it is perhaps more meaningful.
Posted inNews
Polish suspect in Medjugorje vandalism detained amid calls for prayer, not anger
“We pray for the conversion of the hearts of those who committed this act, that the Lord may touch them with His grace and lead them on the path of goodness,” the Medjugorje parish said in a July 28 statement addressing an act of vandalism.
Posted inNews
Medjugorje shrine targeted in overnight vandalism, altar fire
A security camera video posted on X showed a man pouring a flammable liquid around the altar and igniting a fire.
Posted inFaith in Focus
The Madonna and Child who captured the world’s attention on Pope Leo’s Africa trip
Pope Leo’s visit this year to Africa made the news for many reasons, but my social media blossomed with one image from his trip: the unfamiliar (to me) but magnetic image of Our Lady of Bisila, Mother and Patroness of Equatorial Guinea.
Posted inFaith and Reason
How bad theology about God distorts our understanding of Mary
When we underemphasize the humanity of Christ or overemphasize the masculinity of God, other dimensions are pushed aside. Those repressed elements seek an outlet—and in the Catholic tradition, that outlet has often been found in Mary.
Posted inPoetry
At the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.
She is the quickening, the leap of faith;
she the tabernacle, mother of the world.
Posted inFaith in Focus
The mystery of Epiphany—and the miracle of human consciousness
What does it mean for God not only to take on flesh but to take on a very specific and highly individualized human consciousness? This is a mystery I never expect to elucidate.
Posted inExplainer
Why is New Year’s Day a holy day of obligation?
Q: If the church’s new year begins on the first Sunday of Advent, then why is the secular New Year’s Day (Jan. 1) a holy day of obligation? A: You are correct that the church’s liturgical new year usually begins in late November with the first Sunday of Advent, and you are likewise correct that […]
Posted inThe Good Word
How to become God’s dream for you
A Homily for the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, by Father Terrance Klein