In older days, a young woman was assigned her first teaching post in a rural Irish schoolhouse. Though a diligent and disciplined person, she had difficulty capturing the attention of her rowdy students. Then one day, unruly as usual, she happened to say something about Cuchulain. “Who’s Cuchulain?” one boy asked. The teacher began to […]

Mother Angelica, the spunky Italian nun, once quipped, “If it wasn’t for people, we could all be holy.” And it’s simply true. Which of us has not thought at one time or another that the path to sainthood would be so much easier if it were not for so-and-so who is a real thorn in […]

For the past several years, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know author, poet, and musician, Tyler Blanski. Tyler was an Anglican seminarian when I met him, on the road to becoming an Anglican priest. There was only one difficulty: He had recently had a crisis of faith and was increasingly drawn to Rome. […]

God, in His infinite love, has endowed each and every one of us with a body and a soul.  How great God is in His wonderful gifts to humanity and to each and every one of us individually! The Psalmist praises God: God I am wonderfully created… I am your handiwork… I am the work of […]

Being a man today can be confusing. We are shamed for our “toxic masculinity” and told we should be less masculine if we want to get ahead in life. Fathers are mocked in TV and movies, and men in general are often portrayed as either low-functioning, ill-bred beasts, or as cruel and violent. Add to […]

As human beings, we possess real freedom as creatures made in the image and likeness of God, and with this freedom comes true creative potential. That is, through an act of the will, we can bring into being new thoughts, words, and acts that have never existed before. In a real way, we can create […]

Some years back, I heard a priest say something shocking during a homily. It was before I was Catholic, and I was present at the Mass on a holy day of obligation as a way of keeping a faux peace in my marriage. My wife converted to Catholicism in 2004, a year before we met, and, […]

Of all the tremendous mysteries of our faith, there is none more stupefying in its reality than the Incarnation. That God would deign to assume human flesh is a staggering fact, and it is one that a thousand different heresies has sought to doubt or deny. And yet, it is a fast so critical to […]