Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington
At Christmas we celebrate the fact of the Word Becoming Flesh. God’s love for us is not just some theory or idea. It is a flesh and blood reality that can actually be seen, heard and touched. But the challenge of the Christmas season is for us to allow the same thing to happen to our …
It is usually thought by most Catholics that the Evangelical “mega Churches” have lots of young adults and that many of our Catholic young adults have gone there. There is, no doubt, a great absence of young adults in most Catholic Parishes. There seems to be a quite literal and physical generation gap, the “gap” …
Continue reading “Reaching Young Adults – Some Recent and Fascinating Findings”
We live is an age of demanded secularism. If a religious utterance is made by the State or Government officials the cry goes up from a small minority and there are the usual platitudes about “Separation of Church and State,” a phrase that does not occur in the Constitution. It is well true that the …
When I was a teenager in the 1970s Jesus was presented in less than flattering terms, at least from my standpoint as a young man. The paintings and statues of that day presented Jesus as a rather thin willow-wisp of a man, a sort of friendly but effeminate hippie who went about blessing poor people …
Cardinal Newman once said, “To Read the Fathers of the Church is to become Catholic.” This is perhaps no better illustrated than By St. Ignatius of Antioch, whose feast we celebrated Saturday. He wrote very early, about 110 A.D. He also knew the Apostle John. Hence he is an important witness to the life and …
Continue reading “St. Ignatius of Antioch – A Witness of the Early Church”
Some years ago I was privileged to bring a man into the Church who gave me some insight into the question of authority. He approached entering the Catholic Church with some misgivings. He had come from a Protestant tradition of a simpler but dignified liturgy that featured good preaching and hymn singing. As he looked …
Time, what could be more clear? What time is it? 10:00 pm! Next question. We think at times that nothing could be simpler than time. But time has mysteries about it. I cannot list them all here. But consider a few puzzlements about time. The Mystery of Time’s Elasticity – We like to think that time …
Some were burned alive, others thrown to wild beasts. Some had their skin flayed off. One had her breasts cut off, another, her eyes gouged out. Some were beheaded, others thrust through with swords. These are the Martyrs and great heroes of the early Church. They suffered much and gained everything. Their death was like …
Continue reading “The Martyrs of the Early Church – Proof of the Power of the Cross”