Washington D.C., Jan 20, 2021 / 12:30 pm (CNA).- Catholic leaders responded to new President Joe Biden’s call for national unity in his inaugural address on Wednesday. Biden, the second Catholic to become president of the United States, said on Wednesday that “to restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words,” and added that “it requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy, unity. Unity.” Biden also quoted St. Augustine to underline the need for unity in truth. “Many centuries ago, St. Augustine, a saint in my Church, wrote that a …
Category: Current Issues
President Biden and a Catholic inflection point
George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies. He is the author of over twenty books, including Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II (1999), The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II—The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy (2010), and The Irony of Modern Catholic History: How the Church Rediscovered Itself and Challenged the Modern World to Reform. His most recent book is The Next Pope: The Office of Peter and a Church in Mission (2020), published by Ignatius Press. For as many of you …
San Francisco archbishop responds to Pelosi: ‘No Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion’
In a Jan. 18 podcast with former senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that support of pro-life voters for former President Donald Trump was an issue that “gives me great grief as a Catholic.” San Francisco, Calif., Jan 21, 2021 / 01:20 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop of San Francisco on Thursday responded to the Speaker of the House accusing pro-life Trump voters of being sellouts. In a Jan. 18 podcast with former senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that support of pro-life voters for former President Donald Trump was an …
A New Carmel
Mary Cuff is currently an independent scholar and homeschooling mother of two. She holds a PhD in American literature from the Catholic University of America and has published in the Southern Literary Journal, Five Points, Mississippi Quarterly, and Modern Age. It is 4:00 a.m. and fifteen Carmelite sisters arise to this call, dating back to the days of their foundress, Saint Terese of Avila. They make their way to the stone chapel, where they will spend an hour in adoration. At 5:30, the silence is broken by Latin: the community recites together the Little Hours of the Divine Office. Mass—in the Extraordinary Form—follows directly …
“All the way to Heaven is Heaven”: 7 basic steps to holiness
Life here below is all about the pursuit of sanctity. How does one go about that process, so as to know the greatest measure of fulfillment now, as well as beatitude for all eternity? Print About Peter M.J. Stravinskas 175 ArticlesReverend Peter M.J. Stravinskas is the editor of the The Catholic Response, and the author of over 500 articles for numerous Catholic publications, as well as several books, including The Catholic Church and the Bible and Understanding the Sacraments. Editor’s note: The following homily was preached by the Reverend Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D., on Sunday, November 19, 2017 at the Church of the Holy Innocents, …
What do all of the false Christs of our age have in common?
About Carl E. Olson 1148 ArticlesCarl E. Olson is editor of Catholic World Report and Ignatius Insight. He is the author of Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?, Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”?, co-editor/contributor to Called To Be the Children of God, co-author of The Da Vinci Hoax (Ignatius), and author of the “Catholicism” and “Priest Prophet King” Study Guides for Bishop Robert Barron/Word on Fire. He is also a contributor to “Our Sunday Visitor” newspaper, “The Catholic Answer” magazine, “The Imaginative Conservative”, “The Catholic Herald”, “National Catholic Register”, “Chronicles”, and other publications. Readings:• Jer 20:7-10• Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9• Rom 12:1-2• Mt 16:21-27 There …
On the genius and love of St. John of the Cross
The great mystic gave us a portrait of his own manner when he sketched out his counsels on how all of us are to behave under duress. Editor’s note: The following is from Fire Within: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and the Gospel—On Prayer, by Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M. Fr. Dubay was a well-known retreat master and expert in the spiritual life who died in 2010. A Marist priest, Fr. Dubay was a popular retreat master who wrote over twenty books, many of them published by Ignatius Press. When we compare the amount of information available about the person …
Spiritual direction: What is it, who needs it, and why?
Seated in a comfy leather chair in a rust-colored office near downtown Denver, McDowell serenely and thoughtfully explains the “art and science” of her particular trade – and it’s not surprising to learn that she has a background in clinical psychology. Today, McDowell serves not as a psychologist, but as one of many spiritual directors available to Catholics and other Christians through the Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality in Denver, Colorado. The center is a house founded by the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, with the mission of bringing spiritual direction to the “popular level” of parishes and lay people. …
The life, faith, and struggle of Joseph Ratzinger: An interview with Peter Seewald
About Carl E. Olson 1148 Articles. Carl E. Olson is editor of Catholic World Report and Ignatius Insight. He is the author of Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?, Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”?, co-editor/contributor to Called To Be the Children of God, co-author of The Da Vinci Hoax (Ignatius), and author of the “Catholicism” and “Priest Prophet King” Study Guides for Bishop Robert Barron/Word on Fire. He is also a contributor to “Our Sunday Visitor” newspaper, “The Catholic Answer” magazine, “The Imaginative Conservative”, “The Catholic Herald”, “National Catholic Register”, “Chronicles”, and other publications. The veteran German journalist discusses his new biography of Benedict XVI, and …
The Deep Church: From the Borgias to Becciu
Michael Warren Davis is the editor of Crisis Magazine. He is a frequent contributor to The American Conservative and the author of The Reactionary Mind (Regnery, 2021). The Australian government is now beginning to confirm what most of us have suspected for years. In a display of ruthlessness and corruption that would thrill the Borgias, Vatican bureaucrats wired a small fortune to unknown parties in Australia to initiate the fraudulent sex-abuse charges against George Cardinal Pell. According to local media reports, officials in Rome sent AU$2 million to Australian agents to “secure evidence against Cardinal Pell.” The transfer was discovered by Austrac, the nation’s financial watchdog, and is …