In 2018 Pope Francis added a new Marian feast to the Universal Calendar of the Church. The day after Pentecost (Whitmonday which is a public holiday in many countries) is dedicated to Mary, Mother of the Church. The title goes back to St. Ambrose in the fourth century and was invoked often over  the years.… Read More »

Maybe not Parthians, Medes and Elamites but we are Koreans, Chinese, Colombians, French, Germans, Indians and Haitians. We are from Benin, Cameroon, El Salvador, Malaysia, Nigeria, Rwanda  and the Philippines. We are natives of Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Poland, Kenya and Viet Nam. We have traveled from Mexico, Ireland, Italy, Ghana and Canada – Spaniards and… Read More »

The Bible readings for each day (the Lectionary) are designed to expose us to the great variety of the Scriptures. But, since the Bible is a big book, we don’t see everything as part of the cycle of readings — only 72% of the New Testament. We skip over, for example, one of my favorite… Read More »

King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea on a visit to Festus. Festus referred Paul’s case to the king, saying, “There is a man here left in custody by Felix.” The names of these Roman officials are well known to historians. Festus was the procurator, a role that Pontius Pilate had held 30 years previously.… Read More »

Many times when someone tells me of some trouble or difficulty or grief they are going through I say “I will be praying for you.” I hadn’t realized how important that was until my own mother died and I drew great consolation in knowing that people were praying for me in my loss. In St.… Read More »

When I worked at LSU we had the custom of offering “swan song” lectures. Various professors were asked to deliver what they would want to be their last lecture to sum up their career. St. Paul and Jesus are giving their swan song in the readings for today — their last sermons. The Acts and… Read More »

I have a newspaper from May 28, 1899 with a story about St. James. It starts off saying “St. James is the richest and the largest church in Chicago.” Fast forward 123 years and, after all of the reorganization of parishes, St. James is probably the smallest parish in Chicago. The question of Elizabeth has… Read More »

Paul, who had been working in Corinth, went to Ephesus and Apollos, who had been in Ephesus, went to Corinth. Call it a pulpit exchange. As the Acts of the Apostles makes clear, the people of Ephesus benefitted from the preaching of Paul. I have no doubt that the people of Corinth, though formed by… Read More »

Why doesn’t somebody do something? As the list of atrocities continues to grow the question becomes more and more urgent. School children are slaughtered in Texas. Why doesn’t the Congress do something! Racist murders in Buffalo. Why doesn’t the President do something! Forty-three children under the age of 13 were shot and killed in Chicago… Read More »

Saint John Henry Newman was a nineteenth century English theologian who is considered something of a godfather to Vatican II. Two of his books were particularly influential: On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine and An Essay On Development Of Christian Doctrine. Newman looked at the history of the Church and reminded his readers that even… Read More »