On Going Hard - Marc Barnes, Ignitum Today

Praying the Daily Examen - Randy Hain, Integrated Catholic Life™

Preventing Children from Falling Away from Faith - Devin Rose, St. Joseph's Vanguard

Militant Same-Sex Attraction Lobby Attacks Pro-Marriage Advocates - The Pulpit

Is the American Press Anti-Catholic? - The Motley Monk, The American Catholic

The Traditional Symbolism of Four - David Clayton, New Liturgical Movement

I am Stuck in My Spiritual Growth, How do I get Unstuck? This is Frustrating! - Sr. Carmen Laudis OCD, Catholic Spiritual Direction

Celebrating the Ascension on Sunday is a Sign of the Church Secularizing - Fr. Z's Blog

The Isolation of Musicians - Jeffrey...READ MORE

WASHINGTON — In an unprecedented action, 43 Catholic dioceses, institutions and laypeople filed a dozen lawsuits May 21 in federal courts throughout the country, challenging the constitutionality of the Obama administration’s "contraception mandate."

The action signaled the inability of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and President Barack Obama to come to an agreement over a controversial federal rule that has ignited a groundbreaking First Amendment battle. The rule requires Catholic institutions to provide co-pay-free abortion drugs, contraception and sterilization in their employee health plans, and it includes a narrow definition of what constituted a religious institution...READ MORE

The Ascension of Jesus should remind Christians of the promise of heaven and the power of earthly prayer, Pope Benedict XVI said at the Sunday Angelus May 20.

When he ascended into heaven, Jesus “did not separate himself from our condition; in fact, in his humanity, he took mankind with him in the intimacy of the Father and so has revealed the final destination of our earthly pilgrimage,” the Pope told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.

“Just as he came down from heaven for us and for us suffered and died on the cross, so for us he rose again and ascended to God, who, therefore, is no longer distant, but ‘Our God,’ ‘Our Father.’”

The Pope spoke to several thousand people who gathered...READ MORE

The Wait was well Worth It - Bonnie Engstrom, Learning to Be a Newlywed

". . .the Best Catholic Novel of the Twentieth Century" - Brandon Vogt, The Thin Veil

Why I Don’t Care pt. 2 or The Birth of Relativism - Marc Barnes, Bad Catholic

Mysterious Chamber Found in English Church - Thomas L. McDonald, God and the Machine

Chant and Improvisation in the Liturgy - Arlene Oost-Zinner, The Chant Café

Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio - Mitchell Kalpakgian, Crisis Magazine

St. Paul Was Right: Drink Wine for Your Health - Matthew Schmitz, First Things/First Thoughts

Karol Wojtyla’s Former Classmate Shares Memories - Marek Lehnert, La Stampa/Vatican Insider

"Partner", Not "Wife" or...READ MORE

It is the 40th anniversary since Catholic psychiatrist Conrad Baars (1919-1981) joined with Anna Terruwe to release the book The Role of the Church in the Causation, Treatment and Prevention of the Crisis in the Priesthood. A synthesis of ideas which they had presented to the 1970 Synod of Catholic Bishops, the book described what is today termed emotional deprivation disorder and warned that priests and religious with emotional repression and love deprivation could lead to disaster in the Church. Champions of Baars’ beliefs included Pope Paul VI.

The psychiatrist’s daughter, Sue Baars, is a therapist at In His Image Christian Counseling Service in Irving, Texas, and continues to keep...READ MORE

Sunday, May 20, is Ascension Sunday in most of the United States. The Archdioceses of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia and the dioceses of the state of Nebraska all celebrate Ascension Thursday (May 17), as does Rome.

Novena
The time between the Ascension and Pentecost is traditionally a time to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Click here for a great novena EWTN offers for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Day 1: The novena begins.
Day 2: The gift of fear of the Lord, or reverence for God and distaste for sin.
Day 3: The gift of piety, consolation from spiritual things.
Day 4: The gift of fortitude, courage to do the right thing.
Day 5: the gift of knowledge,...READ MORE

Recently, one of my younger friends, feeling the sting of singleness rather acutely, sent me an email.

“I don’t know how you do this single thing so well,” she wrote. “I’m frustrated, angry and tired of hoping.”

Then came my favorite line.

“How did you get to be 36 and single without going crazy?”

Once I got my laughter under control, I wrote back, telling her that I don’t always do it so well. I have more than my share of days when I’m lonely, confused and shaking my fist at the picture in my hallway of the Sacred Heart. Most of us do.

I also explained that the only way I’ve gotten to be 36 and single without going crazy is by not spending the past 10 years thinking about being...READ MORE

On May 20, the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation of Mother Angelica’s Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Alabama. Mother Angelica’s Poor Clares are part of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration order which originated in France.

On May 20, 1962, Archbishop Thomas Toolen of Mobile, Ala., dedicated the monastery in Irondale, Ala. Twelve days earlier, on May 8, Mother Angelica, along with four other sisters, left Sancta Clara in Canton, Ohio, for this new foundation of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in the suburbs of Birmingham.

Facing a serious spinal operation, Mother Angelica — who celebrated her 89th birthday on April 20 — had promised...READ MORE