Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington
There was an informative and helpful article in the Washington Post this Easter Sunday that demonstrates certain keys to success in evangelization. The focus of the article is the happy fact that the Archdiocese of Washington welcomed a record number of converts this year at the Easter Vigil. But the article also documents important factors …
Continuing to look at some of the text from the Passion according to St. Matthew, we come to the trial of Jesus before Caiaphas the high priest. Having heard false and conflicting testimony from various witnesses, Caiaphas turns to Jesus, and here is where we pick up the text: The high priest rose and addressed …
Continue reading “What Does Jesus Mean When He Says He is Coming on the Clouds?”
Over the years, as I have taught on the matter of sexual morality to both young people and couples preparing for marriage, I have noticed a pattern in the Biblical texts: sexual immorality is quite often linked to or closely associated with greed and theft. This link has become clearer and more understandable to me …
Some of the long soliloquies of Jesus in the Gospel of John are admittedly complex. For example, the farewell discourse and priestly prayer of Jesus spanning over four chapters (John 14 to 17) has many layers and moving parts. The Gospel from today’s Mass (Thursday of the fourth week of Lent), in which Jesus rebukes …
I recently read an article by Damon Linker in The Week entitled Why Churches Should Brace for a Mass Exodus of the Faithful. And while the article presents a kind of doomsday scenario, the actual experience of the Catholic Church would be better described as a steady erosion in terms of weekly attendance. The prospect, in the light …
Jesus once rebuked the people of his time for their stubborn and unrepentant hearts: This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. …
Continue reading “The Problem of A Stubborn and Unrepentant Heart”
Poll taking has its place. But polls cannot establish truth or determine what is right and wrong. All they can do is report what people think at a moment in time. A poll in Nazi Germany in 1940 may well have reported that most Germans thought Jews could be deported or even killed. But even …
Continue reading “Another Poll, Another Poor Understanding of the Nature and Purpose of the Church”
The Story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, is a memorable story for most. And yet it has a strange angularity to it. On the one hand it seems to be a retelling of what is described in Genesis 10 of the table nations who spread forth from Noah’s sons, filled the earth …