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
Today is a rarity in our liturgical calendar, as we celebrate no less than three saints, each of them optional memorials: In order of time, we have first Saint Bede the Venerable (+735), an English monk, who was sent to the monastery of Wearmouth as a young boy of seven as a puer oblatus, and[…]
The referendum vote in Ireland today, on the ‘right’ to abortion, is a turning point in our culture, for the Catholic nation symbolizes something beyond itself in the imagination of many. When the Republic of Ireland’s constitution was originally penned in 1937, they never thought of putting in a prohibition of abortion, since almost no[…]
We celebrate today the memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church, an ancient title of the Virgin, which was formally instituted into the Holy Mass and the Litany of Loreto by Paul VI during the Second Vatican Council, with a subsequent official votive Mass in 1975. Pope Francis, through Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation[…]
May 18th would have been Pope Saint John Paul II’s 98th birthday, which would be old even for the oldest of Popes. Benedict, the XVIth of that title, turned 91 on April 16th, and Leo XIII reigned until the venerable age of 93, making him the oldest Pope in history. I am sure John Paul[…]
I neglected yesterday to mention yesterday two May 16 saints, and my conscience moves me to offer them to our readers, so that we may bring them to mind seek their intercession: The first is the Polish Jesuit and martyr, Andrew Bobola (+1630) who working amongst Protestants and the Orthodox in Lithuania brought untold numbers[…]
Today is the feast of Saint Matthias, the one chosen, as recounted in the first chapter of Acts, to replace Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Christ, and ‘went to his own place’. All that is known for certain of this new-twelfth Apostle is that when the choice came down to two, between him and Joseph[…]
On April 18, 2005, in a homily for the Mass ‘pro eligendo Romano Pontifice’, for electing the (next) Roman Pontiff (at which he himself would be elected as Benedict XVI) Josef Cardinal Ratzinger, Dean of the College of Cardinals, warned against what he presciently described as the ‘dictatorship of relativism’, a phrase that has echoed[…]
I must admit that I have trouble keeping up with the via mundi, the ways of the world, and have this abiding, if inchoate and impractical, desire to flee to somewhere like la Grande Chartreuse, nestled quietly, and quite aptly, in the Chartreuse mountains, at the foot of the French Alps, praying, working, and never hearing another[…]
The annual March for Life is coming up in two days, this Thursday, May 10th, with Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral at 10:00 a.m., and Saint Patrick Basilica, same time, followed by the Rally at 12:30, and the March itself at 1:30 p.m. (For a complete schedule, including the vigil services, see here). If you[…]
A blessed Sixth Sunday of Easter, as we journey with Christ and His Apostles towards Pentecost…Veni Creator Spiritus! It had to happen, I suppose: The Boy Scouts are now the No Scouts, at least, no preconceived (and I mean that quite literally) gendered Scouts, a once all-boy organization run by all-men which stood for over[…]
