Throughout my years in Catholic education I have known many persons who desire to have sex with people of the same sex, i.e ., homosexuals. I count them among my friends. Some of them struggle, in response to a relationship with Christ, to live lives of chastity, as does anyone who takes the teachings of Jesus Christ seriously. I have read extensively on the homosexual orientation , and have followed the ministry of Courage in earnest. That is why I find this piece af great value for anyone struggling with this particular disorder (and we all struggle with some disorder or another, unless we are perfect). What is of value in a disordered condition? Read and find out the truth.

What follows are some key points from an article by Msgr. Charles Pope on the state of marriage today… Msgr. Charles Pope When Jesus uttered his unequivocal insistence that marriage was between one man and one woman in an indissoluble bond, many were stunned and scoffed. Indeed, his disciples retorted:   If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better never to marry! Jesus went on to repeat His teaching while also affirming that never to marry was a positive, not negative role (Matt 19:11ff). To understand what Jesus taught is thought-provoking in a climate where so many marriages fail.   In a culture as troubled as ours, the “education/catechesis” remedy will have only imperfect results. Deeper cultural changes and healing are needed for marriage to recover statistically. Msgr. Pope posits that   we live in a time when men and women have an extremely high ideal for marriage:   that it should be “wonderful, romantic, joyful, loving, and ...

In Catholic teaching, angels have a rational intellect, intelligence, as do we, (though much more immense) but not bodies, as do we. What of the fallen angels? There exists a dark kingdom, using this same intelligence and power to prevent the spread of God’s kingdom. In the Gospel we read: And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours.”  Of course Jesus avoids the temptation, but we tend to overlook the fact that Our Lord does  not  contradict Satan’s assertion of power. With some restrictions, the power is there. Thus the life we live on earth includes extraordinarily intelligent, gifted, influential and murderous demons. How else to fully explain all of the evil that the inquiring mind seeks explain? In my book I...

If I were a female, and I am not, but if I were, and were Catholic, I would take seriously this read  concerning what happens when the rights of God are violated. I have written of these violations before, here . Let us pray that this snare of the prince of this world may not celebrate the 60th birthday of "the pill."

R ecently I overheard students complaining about the homily of our chaplain, who in his homily for the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception offered his prediction that someone in our all-female student body would become a religious sister someday. No doubt many of them hear the call of "the world", and are taken by what is fashionable in the secular social media, perhaps a super model or stylist for one. I find myself hopeful that he is correct, and the reason for this has much to do with  the following story .

Haven't been blogging for awhile, as I am still recovering from a bout with my annual attack of bronchitis.... In this day and age of half-truths, spin-meistering, and dis-ingenuousness, I am always heartened by intellectual honesty, hence, I am glad to pass on this  article in which a separated brother recounts how relying on Scripture alone for one's life as a disciple is never enough. The debate on the necessary means of salvation (the bible, faith, grace) is not, as it often seems between Protestants and Catholics, an "either-or" matter, but a "both-and...."

Fr. Barron is a frequent "visitor" to this blog. In this interview, he discusses volume three of the Jesus of Nazareth Trilogy of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI: “Just as the genealogies break off at the end, because Jesus was not begotten by Joseph, but was truly born of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary, so it can now be said of us that our true “genealogy” is faith in Jesus, who gives us a new origin, who brings us to birth ‘from God.’”                                                                                 -from Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Naratives I have read  the first volume, but anxiously await arrival of two and three- perhaps a little Christmas gift to self? In discussing the book, Fr. Barron responds to the question of the historicity of the narratives, w...

Leah Darrow At my all-female girls high school, I had the wonderful opportunity to hear Leah Darrow speak. There is no point in trying to relay the message and the positive impact she had on our teen girls second-hand. Explore her dynamism for yourself.

T he word 'Advent' is from the Latin ' Adventus ,' which means 'coming.'  It is reminiscent of adveniat regnum tuum, "Thy kingdom come." Advent is now experienced as a time to get ready for Christmas: hang the lights, dress the tree, shop Black Friday, wrap the gifts and play Christmas music. Better that in this winter season we also ought to recall the facts of  Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell.  The Four Last Things. Within the Church today the twin heresies of universalism and indifferentism are prevalent- make no mistake about it. Many Catholics think it doesn’t really matter what religion you belong to because God is all-loving and would never send anyone to hell and besides, didn’t Jesus die to save the whole world, so we’re all going to go to heaven right after we die right? This not right and it is certainly not Catholicism. The traditional teaching is still true, which says that not only is death real, but so is judgement, the...