2012

My Ordeal

It was exhausting and exhilarating. Between the end of one semester and the beginning of the next, I spent ten days working to establish a more visible and permanent presence for the St. Paul Center in southern California—teaching, speaking, taping, consulting with bishops, meeting with scholars and Hollywood stars. At night I sometimes caught chill, […]

My Ordeal Read More »

Intro to Lent II: Fasting

Second in a series of three posts. “Why do Catholics have to fast?” The question came from a non-Catholic Boy Scout in my son’s troop. We had spent a long, soggy weekend in the middle of the woods. And now, Sunday morning, the adults announced that breakfast would be delayed so that the Catholics could

Intro to Lent II: Fasting Read More »

Intro to Lent 1: Prayer

First in a series of three posts.Reprinted from 2007. How do you know it’s Lent? It’s not so much by the ash mark on your forehead or fish marks on the calendar. Tradition tells us that Lent has three distinguishing marks: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. This three-part series will examine those practices. Prayer is surely

Intro to Lent 1: Prayer Read More »

The Real Campaign

The year has hardly begun, and in the United States we’re already well into our race to November’s presidential elections. The campaign follows us wherever we go. The media micro-analyze every candidate’s every word and gesture. And then the news stories make their way into our conversations at work and at home. The papers and

The Real Campaign Read More »

RERUM OMNIUM PERTURBATIONEM: Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on St. Francis de Sales

TO OUR VENERABLE BRETHREN THE PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, AND OTHER ORDINARIES IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE. 1. In Our recent encyclical We examined the disorders with which the world today struggles for the purpose of discovering a sure remedy for such great evils. At that time We pointed out that the

RERUM OMNIUM PERTURBATIONEM: Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on St. Francis de Sales Read More »

Agnes Day

Today’s saint, Agnes of Rome, is long overdue for a revival. Why? She was probably the most revered female martyr of the early Church — outstanding in a field that included Blandina and Perpetua, among others. St. Jerome was not a man easily impressed, but of today’s saint, his near-contemporary, he wrote: “Every people, whatever

Agnes Day Read More »