Month: February 2011

St. Polycarp, bishop and martyr (c. 155)

Today is the memorial of St. Polycarp of Smyrna who was martyred in 155AD.  In this interview, Patristics scholar and St. Paul Center vice president, Mike Aquilina, discusses the life and legacy of this important early witness to the faith of the Apostles.

The Petrine Principal

Feast of the Chair of St. Peter The New Testament bears ample testimony to the ancient faith of the Roman Christians. Rome marks the final destination of the Acts of the Apostles. Rome was the postal address of the first of St. Paul’s canonical letters. And the ancient Romans treasured their heritage. They knew, with …

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Newman at First Things’

My co-author Fr. Juan Velez is talking up Blessed John Henry Newman at First Things’ blog! (Our book is TAKE FIVE WITH JOHN HENRY NEWMAN.) John Henry Newman, Oxford scholar and famous English convert to Catholicism (1801–1890), whose birthday we celebrate today, is acknowledged by most for his English prose, his lofty ideas on university …

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Reasons to Rock

It’s twenty-five years since I was received into full communion with the Catholic Church. In some ways it seems like an aeon ago. In other ways it seems like yesterday. It’s a quarter-century now, but I still experience, every February, a certain sense of homecoming. On February 22, the Church celebrates the feast of the …

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New USCCB Document Highlights Biblical Quotations in the Mass

The Catholic Mass draws heavily from Scripture—in every prayer you hear quotations and allusions to biblical texts. In fact, last year I did a series of presentations now available through Saint Joseph Communications here (shameless plug!) exploring the biblical backdrop for the prayers of the Mass.  Now the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has …

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