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The Prodigal Father: Benedict XVI on Fathering July 18, 2014 Dave McClow The “prodigal father” is the story of our time.  It is the story of fatherlessness in our families.  Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is and has always been highly aware of the crisis of fatherhood and its implications for society (see my previous blog).  He knows that when fatherhood is gutted, “something in the basic structure of human existence has been damaged” (The God of Jesus Christ, p. 29).  But he is also supremely insightful about what happens in the family, both positively and negatively, because of fathers! Let’s start...

Featured Term (selected at random:HUR An Israelite aide to Moses. During a battle with the Amalekites, the Israelites fought bravely so long as Moses stood on the hilltop holding aloft the staff of God. But when his arms tired and the staff wavered, the efforts of his men waned. So Aaron, his brother, and Hur seated Moses on a stone to rest him, and supported his arms to that the staff remained high and steady (Exodus 17:10-12). The battle ended triumphantly for the Israelites. Further evidence of confidence in Hur: when Yahweh summoned Moses to climb the mountain to receive...

In a historic vote, the Church of England today approved female bishops. The vote was far from even being close. Women will be bishops in the Church of England after a historic vote in the General Synod, ending 40 years of not being able to do so. An overwhelming 81 per cent of Synod members backed the change, during the sitting in York, and 75 per cent of the laity supported the move.There will no doubt be a great push of the Feminist movement to use this event to further their causes for whatever reasons they may be. There will...

With hindsight, we can see that the real battle in the Church of England has been with her founding principles. She was founded in the Protestant Revolution on an essentially liberal principle: that the circumstances and situation in the current culture determine the identity and mission of the church. She was now, and always has been the Church of ENGLAND. Therefore, the circumstances, personalities and cultural factors determine which way she will go. As society became increasingly secular, liberal and antipathetic to a Catholic worldview, the Catholic tendency in the Church of England could not survive. From the first discussions...

Featured Term (selected at random:REVOLUTION A radical and generally violent effort to overthrow a civil government or constitution. Essential to a revolution is that the change of regime is not brought about by peaceful evolution or mutual agreement between the power that withdraws and the power that takes over the new government. Revolutions are caused either by the masses or by an act of high officials in the government. In the latter case it is called a coup d'état. In the twelfth century John of Salisbury (1115-80), followed by others, held that the murder of a tyrant was permissible even...

Generally speaking, the Israelites of Christ’s time were frugal eaters. Frankly until about 100 years ago, frugality in eating was more imposed than chosen. The food was more scarce and less convenient than today. It’s availability was seasonable, and all the elements needed to be made from scratch, including hauling in the water from wells etc.Bread was the essential, basic food. So basic was it that in Hebrew “to eat bread” and “to have a meal” in the same thing. Bread was treated with great respect and many rules existed to preserve that reverence. Any crumbs of over the size...

There is no shortage of heresies these days. If you want to adopt some blasphemous, perverted, fun house mirror reflection of Christianity, you will find a veritable buffet of options. You can sift through all the variants and build your own little pet version of the Faith. It’s Ice Cream Social Christianity: make your own sundae! (Or Sunday, as it were.) And, of all the heretical choices, probably the most common — and possibly the most damaging — is what I’ve come to call the Nice Doctrine. The propagators of the Nice Doctrine can be seen and heard from anytime...

WASHINGTON — Tensions between Girl Scouts’ messaging and Catholic teaching have led to a national boycott of Girl Scout cookies, the ousting of Girl Scouts from parishes, and a significant drop in Catholic membership in the Girl Scouts. Now a panel of U.S. bishops has released the results of a two-year investigation into Girl Scouts’ problematic messaging, ties to Planned Parenthood, and continued advocacy of so-called reproductive rights by the organization’s international affiliate, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). Their findings indicate that the concerns continue to persist, regarding the problematic connections between the Girl Scouts...

Featured Term (selected at random:JUS JURANDUM A sworn oath. Any one of the oaths that the Church at times requires of the faithful, and especially of her priests. Such was the Oath Against Modernism, required of those teaching in seminaries, prescribed by Pope St. Pius X. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Many conservative Catholics are experiencing a range of negative feelings about Pope Francis. When a headline screams that he stated that 2% of Catholic clergy are pedophiles, that he “promises to solve the celibacy problem” that he doesn’t want to convert Evangelicals or that he doesn’t judge a homosexual who “searches for the Lord and has goodwill” they experience confusion, anger, resentment, bewilderment and fear. Some have given up on Pope Francis. Others say he is “the false prophet” who will accompany the anti Christ in the end times. Others don’t like his dress sense, grumble about his media gaffes...

Along with Mass and adoration, the Dominican sisters at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, N.J., gather for prayer seven times a day. Courtesy photo Within the walls of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, New Jersey, rows of simple crosses mark the graves of sisters who have gone before. It’s a potent symbol of life in the monastery, where women enter cloistered life intending never to leave, even in death.These Dominican nuns have been in this place of peace for almost 100 years, sustaining the Church every day through their prayer...

Featured Term (selected at random:DECRETALS A letter carrying authoritative decisions on matters of discipline, or the Pope's reply when he has been appealed to on a matter of discipline. The term is also applied to a collection of certain decretals such as Liber Sextus Decretalium, compiled by Pope Boniface VIII (1235-1303). (Etym. Latin decretale, a decree.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

I am asleep, but my heart is awake Song of Songs 5:2 Our sages tell us that “when King Solomon built the Holy Temple, knowing that it was destined to be destroyed, he built a place in which to hide the Ark, [at the end of] hidden, deep, winding passageways.”1 It was there that King Josiah placed the Ark twenty-two years before the Temple’s destruction, as related in the Book of Chronicles.2

In recognition of Bastille Day, I, in this special Monday episode, discuss "the book that caused the French Revolution": Les Liaisons Dangereuses (The Dangerous Liaisons), written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The book -- perhaps somewhat unintentionally -- set off pious sentiment against the Ancien Regime, and its influence carries on today. WATCH ON YOUTUBE(Alternative link, via Vimeo.) Summary:I start off the show with a brief primer on Bastille Day and immediately begin a summary of the characters and events in this novel, breaking down its story of lust and love. I then cite some of its distinctively Catholic elements....

How A ‘Mohawk Saint’ Can Inspire Us All Stephen Beale Recently canonized Saint Kateri Tekakwitha obviously has a special meaning for Native Americans, but she’s already being held up as a powerful inspiration for other faithful Christians in many other ways.One is reminded of St. Paul, who wrote in 1 Corinthians 9 that he had “become all things to all, to save at least some.” Much the same could be said about St. Kateri regarding the many ways she can inspire Christians at different points in their faith journeys—based on reactions to her canonization in the Catholic News Service and First...

The top-rated tourist attraction in Columbus is not our highly regarded zoo. It’s an obscure museum of religious artifacts.So says TripAdvisor, the influential travel website (www.tripadvisor.com) that uses consumer reviews to compile rankings.In fact, you won’t find the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium anywhere on the TripAdvisor list of 70 or so Columbus destinations.Why? It’s in Powell. By TripAdvisor’s organizational principles, the zoo isn’t a Columbus attraction. (TripAdvisor’s Columbus site, however, has articles on the zoo.)In a way, I’m happy about the situation because, although the zoo doesn’t need TripAdvisor’s help to attract tourists, the Jubilee Museum does. And it deserves...

Featured Term (selected at random:TEN PLAGUES  The ten calamities sent by God on the Egyptians to make Pharaoh release the children of Israel (Exodus 7, 12). Seven of the plagues were done through Moses or Moses and Aaron' the fourth, fifth, and tenth were directly worked by God. They were, in sequence: water turned to blood, multitude of frogs, swarms of gnats, pest of flies, disease that killed all the cattle, epidemic of boils, torrential hailstorm, plague of locusts, darkness for three days, death of all the firstborn among the Egyptians. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John...

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF CLEMENT TO THE CORINTHIANS St. Clement of Rome Chap. I. The salutation. Praise of the Corinthians before the breaking forth of schism among them. THE Church of God which sojourns at Rome, to the Church of God sojourning at Corinth, to them that are called and sanctified by the will of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, from Almighty God through Jesus Christ, be multiplied. Owing, dear brethren, to the sudden and successive calamitous events which have happened to ourselves, we feel that we have been somewhat tardy in turning our...

In the Gospels, the most famous miracle associated with Jesus—other than the Resurrection—is the Feeding of the Five Thousand. It’s recorded in all four Gospels.But Matthew and Mark record an additional, similar miracle, known as the Feeding of the Four Thousand. The numbers connected with this miracle are a little different (four thousand people are fed, they use seven loaves and “a few small fish,” and they pick up seven baskets of leftovers), but it’s the same basic type of miracle.That may be why Luke and John chose not to record it: Given the space limitations on ancient books,...

Finding My Way Home The Eucharist drew me back. By: Johnnie BernhardI was baptized in the Catholic Church as an infant. My family later left the Church, and it took me fifty years to find my way home. Through all those years, I never forgot the peace I found in the Eucharist.Even as a practicing Protestant most of my adult life, I continued to search out Catholic churches wherever I lived, hiding in a pew in the back of the church, always a spectator, always longing to recapture the peace I found in the Eucharist. I could never really...