The United States Constitution was drafted as a document of rights and freedoms for the American people. Anyone reading the document can see the influence of Christian teachings running throughout. “Love thy neighbor’ is a continuing theme. It is emphasized repeatedly in the New Testament and is reflected in the Constitution. The responsibilities of citizens...
I am disappointed by the lack of response to my post asking Catholic Democrats how they justify the Democratic party’s position on abortion. Perhaps it’s because they feel it is none of my business how they believe. And that’s true, it is none of my business. I merely want to understand how someone resolves a...
This is a question I would like to ask my friends who are staunch practicing Catholics as well as staunch Democrats. “How do you reconcile the Catholic belief in the right to life from conception to natural death with the Democratic belief that abortion is a woman’s right to kill her baby?” The reason I...
I have been re-reading Morris West’s “The Clowns of God,” 1981. The story is about a vision given to a Pope Gregory of the imminent end of the world and the Church’s response to that vision. One of the things West talks about is the Church’s need for ‘evidence’ or ‘verification’ of the reality or...
Many of us, when we think about praying or prayer, generally mean “talking to God.” Whether the prayer is a memorized prayer such as the Our Father, a spontaneous “Thank you God” whisper, reading prayers out of a prayer book, or asking for something, prayer seems to be vocal. We are talking to God. We […]
July, 1991, just before the outbreak of the war in Bosnia/Herzegovina, I made my pilgrimage to Medjugorje. I had heard about this little Yugoslavian village from a member of my parish and found her descriptions, especially of the little ten year old boy kneeling stock still for thirty minutes at a time, with his eyes...
Church is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints. All are welcome. Some of the greatest saints in church history were great sinners. If sinners cannot come to church, where can they go to be spiritually healed? Jail is not a solution. Therapy does not absolve sins or teach about God’s love. Without...
I am a Catholic by choice. I made my choice at an early age after I attended Mass for the first time with my mother. We lived in a small tight-knit colonial community on the island of Cebu in the Philippines. My mother was the only Catholic in her social circle. We attended a non-denominational...
I cried yesterday. At church. Totally unexpected. Totally spontaneous. This is what happened. My church is large. It seats 1500 in the pews with room in the back for rows of folding chairs. There is a center aisle that leads toward the altar. At the Offertory, the time during Mass, when lay persons carry up...
Christology, as the word implies, is the study of Christ. Christology explores the questions: “Who was or is Jesus?” and, “What did or does Jesus do?” Unlike the other monotheistic religions, Christianity believes in a Trinitarian God composed of the Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit. Most Christians are radically Christo-centric or Christ centered. The...
