The Message of the Presentation

Are there passages from the Bible that frighten you, or at least make you think twice about yourself and your behaviour? Thomas Merton—a well-known...

Pope Saint John Paul and the Presentation

(In 1997 Pope Saint John Paul II declared this ancient feast of the Presentation - also known as Candlemas - as the World Day...

Candlemas and the Keeping of the Law

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph brought the child Jesus up to Jerusalem to...

Darwin’s Sad Legacy

No one doubts that modern science is a wonderful thing; but no one also doubts that it is a terrible thing. Modern factories everywhere...

The Charismatic Saint John Bosco

The term 'charismatic' has an ambiguous meaning in the Church, invoking images of liturgical guitars, drums, emotional crescendos, and disconcerting glossolalia. In the Church's...

The Last Gospel as the Mass in Miniature

The prologue of the Gospel of St. John (Jn 1:1–14), often referred to as the Last Gospel, forms part of the concluding rites of...

The Enduring Value of Saint Thomas Aquinas, in Three Parts

BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Saint Peter's Square Wednesday, 2 June 2010   Saint Thomas Aquinas (1) Dear Brothers and Sisters, After several Catecheses on the priesthood and on my latest Journeys,...

Does the Timing of Abortion Matter?

The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops recently released a public statement relating to the current status of abortion in the state. The article reported...

Pope Pius XI’s Letter on Saint Francis de Sales

(One hundred and one years ago, on the 26th of January, 1923, Pope Pius XI promulgated an encyclical on Saint Francis de Sales on...

Morality Without Religion?

Nobody can deny that there has to be a moral consensus about what is right and what is wrong in order to have a...