Pork Roll, Lent, and Catholic Identity by George Weigel A few weeks before Ash Wednesday, an Associated Press squib with Lenten implications appeared in the Washington Post sports section: YANKEES: New York’s Class AA affiliate in Trenton, N.J., will change its name from the Thunder to the Pork Roll on Fridays this season. The pork roll is a New Jersey staple, served on breakfast sandwiches and as a burger topping. For those unfortunates who didn’t grow up in the I-95 corridor between the Holland Tunnel and the southern outskirts of Baltimore, I venture to explain. “Taylor Pork Roll,” also known …
Author: Manuel Xavier
Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation
Soon after the publication on April 9 of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on holiness, Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad), various scholars were invited to give their responses to the document for this Register article that was published last week. One of them was Professor Josef Seifert, the Austrian Catholic philosopher, whose positive take on the document has been published.. Another was Professor Claudio Pierantoni, a patristic scholar of medieval philosophy at the University of Chile, who takes a more critical view and whose entire contribution is now published below. Pierantoni says the document has “beautiful and useful pages about holiness,” but on the …
Perpetual Adoration
Isidoro Arredondo, “St. Clare and the Holy Eucharist”, 1693 From Shortage to a Wealth of Vocations Through Prayers When dioceses institute Eucharistic adoration for vocations, an increase in priests generally follows “The average age of our priests in the diocese is in their fifties,” Father Thomas Kramer, (now deceased) the pastor of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Bismarck, North Dakota explained during a Sunday homily around 24 years ago. Factoring in the number of seminarians at the time and those expected to retire, he explained that the 5-year projection was bleak. “Pray for vocations,” Fr. Kramer pleaded And …
Our King and Queen
Our King and Queen When Pontius Pilate asked Jesus (Jn. 18:37-38) whether he was really a king, Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” It sounds as if Jesus is “changing the subject.” What does “testifying to the truth” have to do with being a king? Plato theorized that the only hope for having a good and just kingdom would be having a philosopher king. Historically, the candidates for being called …
Sobering Account of the AfterLife
One Priest’s Sobering Account Of The Afterlife! For your discernment – A priest who saw heaven, hell, and purgatory on 4/14/85. The following is not a story coming out of the rumor mill. The priest whose testimony is given below is the pastor of a Catholic Church in Florida. Background On Father Maniyangat The death experience of Father Jose Maniyangat Francais-Espanol. Fr. Jose Maniyangat is currently the pastor of St. Catherine of Sienna Catholic Church in Orange Park, Florida. Here is his personal testimony: I was born on July 16, 1949 in Kerala, India to my parents, Joseph and Theresa Maniyangat. …
Cdrl. Cupich’s Convenient Conscience
On Cardinal Cupich’s problematic, convenient conscience Conscience is not the ground of moral authority; nor is it the final judge when it comes to what is actually moral and true. To say so is to attack and undermine the teachings of the Church and the authority of St. John Paul II’s “Veritatis Splendor”. Carl E. Olson. When I first became Catholic, over twenty years ago, I focused much of my writing on apologetics and controversies with various forms Fundamentalist or Evangelical Protestantism. As I already knew, having grappled with them myself, the key points of contention were authority and the …
On Being Catholic
James V. Schall, S.J., who served as a professor at Georgetown University for thirty-five years, is one of the most prolific Catholic writers in America. Among his recent books are The Mind That Is Catholic, The Modern Age, Political Philosophy and Revelation: A Catholic Reading, Reasonable Pleasures, Docilitas: On Teaching and Being Taught, and Catholicism and Intelligence. The basic principle of civilization is the Socratic norm that it is never right to do wrong. The corollary of this principle is that nothing evil can happen to a good man. Death, then, is not the worst evil. Thus, if, even at …
Of Truth and Idols
Father Murray was born in Brooklyn, New York in May 1959, and grew up in New Rochelle. He attended Regis High School and Dartmouth College. He entered St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie in 1980, and was ordained a priest on December 1, 1984. He was assigned to various parishes in the Bronx and Manhattan before being sent to the Gregorian University in Rome in 1993 to study Canon Law. He was awarded a Doctorate in Canon Law in 1998, and then served briefly as a Judge on the Metropolitan Tribunal before being named Pastor of St. Vincent De Paul Church on …
Men Without Conviction, Churches Without People
George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian and one of America’s leading public intellectuals. He holds EPPC’s William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies. Europe’s wholesale abandonment of its Christian faith is often explained as the inevitable by-product of modern social, economic, and political life. But there is far more to the story of Euro-secularization than that, as three ecclesiastics—a Presbyterian minister and two Italian priests—demonstrated this past Christmas. The minister in question was the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Derek Browning. In his Yuletide …
Memorare
Memorare Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.