In light of the growing friction between the Catholic Church and the Obama Administration, our friends over at St. Peter’s List have created several media designs to help those who are standing in defense of the Church. A few of the pictures deal directly with the current HHS mandate turmoil, but most are strong basic statements of fidelity that ring with a boldness akin to Bl. Pope John Paul II’s “do not be afraid.”

They are encouraging Catholics to take these pictures and share them throughout the social media platforms – make them your profile pictures, share them on your twitter, and post them to your blogs and parish websites.

The gallery can be found at St. Peter’s List

Among the sounds of pipes, harps and horns the multitude fell down before the golden statue of Nebuchadnezzar. All worshiped the image save three young men.

The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego — and the captivating image of the “fourth man” within the white-hot furnace —  is one most Christians are told as children. However, as adults in an ever-increasingly secular world, the story adopts a more sober tone.

For us Americans, it seems like there has always been a pernicious chorus in the background of our lives asking us to kneel to this or that false hope. Yet, the HHS contraception mandate was the keynote that explicitly brought the idol before the faithful and said “Kneel or...READ MORE

Before the world knew Bl. Pope John Paul II, Fr. Karol Wojtyla wrote a work entitled Love and Responsibility. The text presents a unique philosophical introduction to the individual, relationships, the nature of sexuality and holy matrimony. It is the very substance of these topics that our modern world seeks to rewrite. However as we stand against the unjust HHS mandate and other attempts to further redefine sexuality and human relations, we must also remember to nurture our own relationships. In fact, the best defense of a natural relationship may be the observable charity and maturity within our own.

The prophetic young Wojtyla was inspired to write the book after spending time with a...READ MORE

A reoccurring theme I have encountered in my speaking, writing, and research in Catholic spiritual development is the idea that if something “works” or is “helpful” it is therefore true and good. Often enough, an individual – or even a parish – will dabble in non-Christian Eastern religious prayer methods coupled with the common conversation-ending apologetic blurt: “...it helps me, so how can it be bad?”

Whether it be from the non-Christian East, the New Age movement, or other source, the undergirding question appears to be what is the utility of prayer? The question carries a lot of weight, especially if we begin to consider the actual effect of prayer within the reality of the...READ MORE

St. Jerome, once said that, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Resonating in the truth of St. Jerome’s words, Scott Hahn has undertaken a prolific and acute commentary of Holy Scripture. Taking the Revised Standard Version – Second Catholic Edition by Ignatius Press as their basis, Hahn and his former student Curtis Mitch have compiled multiple commentaries on Scripture.

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Book of Genesis is the 14th volume in the acclaimed series and demonstrates all the same lauded attributes of its predecessors. It contains abundant notes drawn from both biblical scholars and the Fathers of the Church, and is a trusted source of historical, geographical,...READ MORE

In the third part of his Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas catalogues 10 reasons or effects for the Incarnation of God — and supports each one with a quote from St. Augustine. The first five effects deal with drawing mankind into the Goodness of God, and the second five deal with humanity’s withdrawal from evil.

1. Faith: Certitude in the Living God
God takes on human flesh to grant humanity a greater assurance that it is truly “God Himself Who Speaks” to his people. As St. Augustine comments, “In order that man might journey more trustfully toward the truth, the Truth itself, the Son of God, having assumed human nature, established and founded faith.”

2. Hope: A Strengthening
The...READ MORE

Archbishop Fulton Sheen never missed an opportunity to show the world that life is, indeed, worth living. The Servant of God was born on May 8, 1895, and was ordained a Catholic priest at the age of 24. He went on to study at Catholic University in Washington D.C., and then pursued a doctorate at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. In 1923, the young and assiduous Sheen was the first American recipient of the Cardinal Desire-Joseph Mercier award — a distinguished honor “awarded once a decade for the best philosophical treatise,” according to a 1952 Time magazine article. Moreover, he was granted a further doctoral distinction, which was described as a “kind of PhD plus.”

Along...READ MORE

Since the allowance of the vernacular in the Mass following Vatican II, the idea of people having their own Roman Missal has fallen into relative obscurity. The erroneous thinking that the Roman Missal was simply there to help one follow the Latin has, sadly, resulted in a temporal and eternal disconnect with the liturgical and spiritual heartbeat of the Church. The liturgical year of the Catholic Church is far more than an artificial collection of feasts and seasons. It is a profound and soul-altering spiritual rhythm that provides a veracity as real as cosmic time. The Roman Missal provides us with a vital navigational tool for the spiritual reality of our glorious faith.

Praying the...READ MORE