Saints
Catholic Curiosities
The other day I picked up a pamphlet about a Novena to St. Jude in the back pew of Church. To those who work for the Church this is a regular occurance. It’s a sort of chain-letter kind of thing: Make this Novena to St. Jude Publish in a newspaper the results OR leave a [...]
Snowy? Retreat
I’m anxious for the week to move along, as I’m attending our Knights of Columbus annual retreat this weekend. Each year Fr. Foster Council 9518 of Ralston, NE hosts a retreat in the middle of winter at the Creighton University Retreat Center in Griswold, IA. The retreat center is a former Boy Scout Camp, and [...]
The blood of the martyrs . . .
In his work Apologeticum written in 197 Tertullian included this famous line, “the blood of the matyrs is the seed of the Church.” (Chapter 50) Nothing could be more true, and the truth of his famous line is shown in both today’s feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, as well as Friday on the feast [...]
San Benedetto
Today is the feast of our holy father among the saints Benedict. St. Benedict is the father of western monasticism. His Rule, written about 1,500 years ago is still used by Benedictine men and women today in their monasteries. St. Benedict is particularly meaningful to me, as the seminary I attended was run by the [...]
Week of Witnesses
This week is one filled with witnesses. A week of red vestments at the liturgy. A week of powerful examples for us all to model our lives after. The Greek word for “witness” is martyr, and the liturgical calendar this week features three feast days of martyrs: Monday, Oct 17th St. Ignatius of Antioch Tuesday, [...]
Angels Watching Over Me
Angel is the Greek word for “messenger.” Today is the feast day of Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, archangels. Much confusion exists about angels today – fueled mainly by a movement within the country toward a so-called “spirituality.” Not the traditional definition of the word, but rather the hijacking of the term by those who profess [...]
We Love You Terri
Last night I spent the evening with two remarkable people, Bob & Mary Schindler. They traveled to Omaha on the feast of All Saints to deliver a talk at Pro Sanctity’s annual Call to Holiness program. As you probably remember, they are the parents of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, who was deprived nutrition and hydration on March [...]