There's an old joke that asks what's the difference between God and a doctor?
God doesn't think He's a doctor.
Sure, it's hyperbolic and cynical, and many physicians do hidden work for their innumerable patients, for which we should be grateful. But as I'm wont to say, just as in vino...
My Fair Lady is one of my darling brideâs favorite plays. I, on the other hand, am more a fan of the original play script Pygmallion, by George Bernard Shaw. On May 20, Eliza Doolittle Day Is celebrated, reminding us of a Cockney flower girl inside her own imagination;...
If the Church seems moribund in North America, there is hope in the vast continent of Africa, where there are untold millions of Catholics, fervent, joyful and full of life. This spiritual energy that was sown by those who came before, not least the countless martyrs and missionaries through...
Like many of the early martyrs, not much is known of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, except that they died for the Faith during the persecution of Diocletian in 304, put to death by beheading at the 12th milestone on the Via Aurelia outside of Rome. Their executioner, Dorotheus, went...
Something Wicked: Why Feminism Can't Be Fused with Christianity
Sophia Institute Press
Manchester, New Hampshire
Copyright 2021, 2025
241 pp.
Iâve been meaning to write a few words on a new, and controversial, book making the rounds, namely, Dr. Carrie Gressâ Something Wicked: Why Feminism Canât Be Fused with Christianity. Her main premise is...
Saint Justin (+165) who is called the 'Martyr', was born around the time the last Apostle, John, departed this life for heaven. Justin was not raised in the Catholic faith â few were in those incipient days of the Church - but was rather a pagan convert to Christianity....
He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God (Jn. 3:18).
Each year, the Sunday following the Solemnity of Pentecost commemorates the Mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity, the...
In light of yesterdaysâ Solemnity celebrating the Most Holy Trinity, a few words on this central teaching of our Faith may be in order. The doctrine of the Trinity is unique to the Christian Faith, developed over the first centuries of the Church and clarified by the first ecumenical...
J.S. Bach composed this cantata for Trinity Sunday in 1725, first performed on May 27th of that year. The libretto begins with Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding (There is something defiant and fainthearted), and reflects upon the readings and meditations, which, in the Lutheran confession, were still...
I didn't know that 'San Fernando' in California (and other places) was named after the saint we commemorate today, Saint Ferdinand III (1201 - 1252), the great, 13th century King of Leon, Castile and Galicia, who by his military prowess, courage and genius, helped unify what would later be...
The Vatican has announced that Pope Leo XIV will lead a Rosary for peace today, at 7 pm Rome time, at the end of this Marian month - which means 1 pm for many of those of us on Eastern time (Toronto to New York)
Accompanying his repeated calls for...
My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded: the lowliness of his handmaiden: For behold, from henceforth: all generations shall call me blessed.
Saint Jeanne dâArc (+1431), 'la Pucelle', or the virgin-maid of Orleans, is hailed as patroness of...
(In light of today's traditional commemoration of Saint Joan of Arc, a strong, single woman who used her feminine genius much to the good, here is a reflection from contributor Alexa Bulman on the need for such 'spiritual motherhood' in today's world).
Femininity has been a topic debated since Eve...
To add to this historically significant day - which also happen to be the birthday of the late, great G.K. Chesterton in 1874 - here's a wee bit of Canadiana for our readers:
On this day in 1914, the Scottish ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sank in the estuary...
May 29th is the anniversary of two world changing events: The first, and more recent, was the reaching the summit of Mount Everest, the top of the world at 29, 029 feet, five miles up of pure ice, snow, glacier and rock, which had taken the lives of those...
(Esto vir, God exhorts Moses in the Bible - Be a man! And few men were such 'men' as Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki, as recounted here by contributor Paul Suski. A heroic example to us all, as we now face times such as his, where courage is called for)
May...
HOMILY OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO COMMEMORATE THE
SERVANT OF GOD PAUL VI
Thursday, 6 August 1998
The memory of my venerable Predecessor, the Servant of God Paul VI who died here in Castel Gandolfo some 20 years ago, lives on throughout the Church. Time has not weakened his remembrance; on the...
Today, May 29th, is the optional memorial of Pope Saint Paul VI, celebrated on the anniversary of his ordination in 1920. Paul VI's birth name was Giovanni Battista Enrico Maria Montini, coming into the world on the 26th of September, 1897. He was of the âupper crustâ of Italy, descended...
The iconic Saint Bernard dogs take their name from today's saint, Saint Bernard of Menthon - also known as of Montjoux - an 11th century Burgundian priest from a noble family, who was born in about 1020, and died in 1081. He evangelized the then largely pagan regions of...
There are two Saints Augustine - the bishop of Hippo, and author of the Confessions and numerous other theological masterpieces, and, today's saint, Augustine, the first bishop of Canterbury, (+604), often pronounced in England, âAustinâ. Both were Roman citizens, for there was but one civilization and one 'world' in...
