During World War II, historical accounts vary as to how much German citizens knew about Nazi subhuman prisoner work and extermination camps. The evidence seems to reveal that some Germans had a clear understanding of the horrors that were happening, while others knew very little. According to Wikipedia, after the war a common German response […]
Recently, I and some fellow parishioners participated in a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. After a powerful Cor meeting on the topic of Divine Mercy Sunday, we decided to make the trip to this sacred site. We shared this idea with our parish pastor and the pilgrimage was […]
Ten years ago, Pope Francis wrote the first environmental encyclical letter in the history of the Catholic Church. As he was writing it, so many of us who were, and still are, concerned about the sickening state of our wonderful earth home, waited with hopeful anticipation. And when it was finally completed and released to […]
The bombings of Iran by Israel and the United States are clearly immoral when weighed against Catholic doctrine regarding war. According to the church’s second teaching on war known as the “just-war theory” – which stands in stark contrast to the Catholic Church’s oldest teaching on war which is “active nonviolence” or “prophetic pacifism”– one […]
How is it possible that so much of the world is silent: silent with the full knowledge of genocide being inflicted upon children, pregnant women with their unborn babies, the elderly, and countless innocent people in Israeli occupied Gaza? And with silence comes inertia – the tendency to do nothing. The shameful endless flow of […]
In the inaugural Mass homily, Pope Leo XIV said that the role of the successor of Peter is “preserving the rich heritage of the Christian faith and, at the same time, looking to the future, in order to confront the questions, concerns and challenges of today’s world” (see: https://bit.ly/4k9mKuh). Reflecting on some of those concerns […]
In a world that so often turns its back on those most in need, Pope Francis instead consistently exemplified Jesus’ call to us to be his light in the darkness: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. … Just so, your light must shine before others, […]
Earth Day (April 22) is an excellent reminder for Catholics to reflect on Pope Francis’ famous environmental encyclical letter “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.” Citing Francis of Assisi – patron saint of ecology – Pope Francis writes “Our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a […]
This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most powerfully prophetic social justice and peace encyclicals ever written: “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”). Trying to awaken the conscience of the world to reject the “culture of death” which creates “structures of sin,” St. John Paul II wrote in “Evangelium Vitae,” “How can […]
Lent calls us to reflect on sin – my sin, your sin, the nation’s sin, the Church’s sin, the world’s sin. Sin may seem attractive when we’re committing it, but afterwards we often would rather not think about it, examine it, nor humbly admit it. Because doing so brings us to the truth that our […]
