Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
Nero was given to fiddling while Rome burned, while we see what seems like a lot of muddling, as the Church faces perhaps her greatest existential crisis, and our own nation of Canada could be a rather dire economic apocalypse. As Father George Rutler opines in his inimitable way, it seems rather misplaced for the[…]
To be hidden in God, known only by Him is a great treasure, which today’s saint, the Franciscan Joseph of Cupertino, lived to the full. Amare nesciri, Saint Philip Neri would say, ‘love to be unknown’. With his father’s death while Joseph was still in utero, the Italian boy, whose hometown was on the ‘heel’ of[…]
We could use a few more men with the clear mind and soul of Robert Bellarmine (+1621), bishop, cardinal, doctor of the Church, Jesuit, back in the days when the Order was young and, shall we say, more united in the truth. Bellarmine was one of the most influential figures in what has unfortunately been[…]
I have always been an emotional communicant, to this my family and parish priest can attest. The communion this Eucharist establishes is, of course, communion with Christ and each other, even those already in the glory of heaven. Therefore, it establishes us as a single body, one body, in Christ. While we today, too often,[…]
Our Lady of Sorrows is a fitting memorial at this time in the Church’s history which, to put things in rather banal terms, is interesting, during which times, as the Chinese proverb has it, one is fortunate to live. At the very least, it makes things, well, interesting. One is not sure what to make[…]
Saint John Chrysostom (+407), an ascetic and contemplative monk who wanted only to retreat from the turmoil of life in the Eastern empire, was chosen first as a priest in Antioch, where he became renowned for his eloquent yet forthright and clear preaching (hence, his ‘surname’, Chrysostom, ‘golden mouth’). In 397, without his knowledge or[…]
September 12th commemorates the Battle of Vienna, the great victory in 1683 of the Christians armies, led by Jan Sobieski, against the Ottoman Turks who were determined to conquer the Austrian city, the gateway to the rest of Europe. Against overwhelming odds, the vastly outnumbered Polish, along with forces from Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, Baden and[…]
A strange myth has evolved through recent centuries alleging that the Catholic Church was forever the enemy of science, and that it set out during the Middle Ages to strangle scientific thought in its cradle. This is a radical distortion of true history. The case of Galileo, usually cited as an instance of suppressing science,[…]
When Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was crusading against the Vladimir Putin government by investigating one crime after another, she had imagined the damning headlines in her newspaper would change her world. She’d always assume that her latest expose of corruption, gangland murder or political crime would bring the Putin government down. Surely this time would[…]
In the midst of the scandals and accusations, we should recall the great joys and blessings of our Faith, not least the gift of Mary, the sinless Mother of God, co-redemptrix of the human race, whose birthday we celebrate today. This feast, nine months after the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, has its origins likely in Syria-Palestine[…]
