Why I don't say "Culturally Catholic" as a pejorative any more

"Catholics don't know ANYthing about the dark side of life"

Attractions and thoughts versus actions

Abortion Human Rights Crisis

Homily for the Assumption: "Sweetheart, just let me watch your wedding on Facetime"

40 years ago

Thankful to my parents and all who helped raise me in the Catholic Faith.  40 years ago today I was baptized at Little Flower Catholic Church.

Thanks to Pope Francis for encouraging us all to go back and renew our promises at the font where we were baptized.

Homily on conscience: there's no one to blame

Getting a marriage blessed in the Church is awesome

Share this with ANYone you think might be helped by seeing this

DePauw ministry prayers appreciated!

If you could keep us in prayer as we begin another year of being the Catholic presence to the students and faculty of DePauw University, that would be much appreciated.  Thanks!

This is such sad teaching from Father James Martin, SJ

Raise your hand if you understand the difference between committing a sin and making a PERMANENT AND LIFELONG PUBLIC VOW to live in contradiction to the Church.

NB: Some have been asking about the similarity of same sex unions with those who are divorced and remarried without having their first marriage annulled.  The situations are similar.  Generally speaking, the approach ought to be the same:

1) we learned you are in a civil union not approved by the Church

2) are you willing to work with the Church to put yourself in a situation where you are okay in the eyes of the Church?

(soon to be Saint) Cardinal John Henry Newman taught about people who teach things in contradiction to the Church:

“Such men act, in the solemn concerns of religion, the part of the self-sufficient natural philosopher, who obstinately rejects Newton’s Theory of Gravitation, and endeavors, with talents inadequate to the task, to strike out some theory of motion by himself.”

Polarization

If you don't like the polarization, summon the courage to call out that which you disagree with from politicians from "your side"

"Thoughts and Prayers Don't Work?"

We do not just offer “thoughts and prayers”

In the wake of two more shootings in our country, we will again see atheists come forward mocking Catholics for offering prayers for the victims and their families. We will be told some version of “we don’t need your prayers, we need action”

It is important here to note that Catholicism doesn’t just offer #ThoughtsAndPrayers in the wake of tragedies like #ElPaso and #Dayton


Just to name a few things Catholicism offers:

1) The foundational teaching that each person is created in the image and likeness of God, a notion that has helped create and shape the entire system of law in our country.


2) Catholicism offers a blunt and crystal clear exposition on the sheer evil of terrorism


3) Catholicism offers a robust teaching on the virtue of protecting innocent lives, even through the use of force.


4) Catholicism offers a King who can help give meaning to the otherwise completely disorienting experience of suffering who can handle our protests about the pain in our lives, and this King answers our cries for meaning by telling us, with great love, from the Cross: “I suffered too. I am with you.”


5) Catholicism offers teachings on both the right of a nation to monitor and regulate their borders while also talking about helping the alien in our midst


6) Catholicism offers a world view that says we are to stand in solidarity with one another and care for each other, even laying down our very lives for one another if need be.


“Blessed are the peacemakers”

Homily: Ozymandias, and no one cares where Caesar Augustus is buried

4 Quotes on Terrorism

4 quotes from the Catholic Church's "Compendium of Social Doctrine" on Terrorism (#ElPaso #Dayton ) found in paragraphs 513-515

1) "Terrorism is to be condemned in the most absolute terms. It shows complete contempt for human life and can NEVER be justified"

2) "The targets of terrorist attacks are generally places of daily life and not military objectives in the context of a declared war. Terrorism acts and strikes under the veil of darkness, with no regard for any of the rules by which men have always sought to set limits to conflicts"

3) "There exists, therefore, a right to defend oneself from terrorism" - St. John Paul II

4) "Needed is a commitment on the political and educational levels, In order to resolve, with courage and determination, the problems that in certain dramatic circumstances can foster terrorism: "the recruitment of terrorists in fact is easier in situations where rights are trampled and injustices are tolerated over a long period of time"