Growing up as…well, what I’m coming to find out was a typical Catholic experience, an American first, and generally void of any substantial access to the living and
The title is a Facebook status that one of my friends once posted. When I saw it, I thought she was asking for prayers because
Among the many things that Christ taught His disciples, charity is one of the principles focus groups in office buildings would label as a “core
The Catholic Dictionary: An Abridged and Updated Edition of Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. is a must have for any Catholic who likes to
The modern search and destroy mission to wipe people with Down syndrome off of the planet through eugenic abortion has taken so much love and joy out of the world. Not only is life with Ds not as bleak as most parents are told when their child is prenatally diagnosed, but scientists are making significant advancements in the treatment some of the more serious side-effects of the disorder.
But when sex is divorced from love there is a feeling that one has been stopped at the vestibule of the castle of pleasure; that
First of all: Happy Halloween, Happy All Saints Day, Happy All Souls Day, and Happy Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time! This sequence of days (okay,
We ran this lovely guest column from Jessamine last year on All Saints Day. Here it is again. Several years back, I ordered some green
One Trick Pony, One Message Fool At the risk of sounding like a broken record in everything I write, both at Ignitum and elsewhere, let me
I recently traveled to Austin for my wife’s Half Ironman. She did great. We had a chance to go to a pre-race confession at St.
From my pastor’s homily this weekend: “Either a Christian heightens the quality of human life, making it more palatable, more delightfully nourishing, or else he
One of the things that I often ponder is the relationship between the Christian and wealth. That is, how much wealth should I accumulate, how
A common methodological error of novice apologists is proof-texting (yes, Catholic apologists are just as guilty of this fallacy as our Protestant brethren). Proof-texting can
I tend to be a very introspective individual. My spiritual life consists largely in self-examination, and used to be even more so. I would look
I was giving a talk at my home parish on the early Church when a woman came up to me. Pointing at her heart she
Liturgy is a lot like parenting. No. Liturgy IS parenting. Jesus Christ is the groom and His Church the bride. Together they have done a
In college I went to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. I am not much of a science geek so I
Children have minds of their own. They do their own thing and love to find ways to become their own person. This makes it difficult
Well, the Hail Mary is a historical and biblical phrase addressed by an angel of God to a virgin called Mary. This historic event is
When my fiancé and I were still just dating, we approached our priest and spiritual director and asked him how we might discern if we
My training is in Classics. That kind of nearly obsessive focus on grammar bears some peculiar fruit in my day to day life. For one,
