Timothy P. O’Malley in his review of Stephen Bullivant’s Mass Exodus, which examines the phenomenon of the mass exodus of Catholics out of the Catholic Church in the United States of America and the United Kingdoms, states that “Disaffiliation is rarely a single moment in the life of a Catholic. Instead, it is a process in which one no [...]
Image source and credit: Dubai SIM Cards Internet, https://dubaisims.com/internet/ Many years ago, before the advent of the Internet and of social media platforms, I kept a snail-mail correspondence with a number of pen-pals that I had known through pen-pal forums in magazines. There was a certain romantic idea of keeping a far-reaching correspondence and receiving letters in the post. [...]
“Stretching out his hand toward his disciples, Jesus said, ‘Here are my mother, and my brethren! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Matthew 12:49-50) “God said, ‘I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord [...]
“Through Him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2: 21-22 For a long time, the Church and its members have existed in silo – each person going about doing their own thing. While [...]
When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane, we read that the disciples were so filled with fear that “they all left him and fled” (Mark 14:50). This was not an ordinary fear that the disciples experienced, but the fear which was intense to the point of even a young man tearing himself out of the [...]
After the Crucifixion of Jesus, the disciples spent most of their time in a kind of exile – this was seen physically – they locked themselves indoors, and this was also seen psychologically – they returned to the things which they knew, they were familiar, and comfortable with – they returned to their trade as fishermen. It was not easy [...]
While Stations of the Cross is particularly emphasized during Lent. we can actually pray this prater all year round. In times when we can’t go to church to pray in front of the stations on the walls, we can see this as opportunity to pray at home with our family. 14 Stations at Home Step 1: Choose one set of [...]
If our views and pleasures came before the community, what would our community look like? How could this happen? Imagine if our view of what we think is good, bad, right, or wrong, is determined by ourselves, we would not have a reference point but would be trending popular beliefs or opinions. Suppose we put our pleasures first before others [...]
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Eph 4:31–32) Wrath, Anger, Slander In the political and corporate world, secular leadership means to win at all times and often at the expense of [...]
When Pope John XXIII announced the creation of the Second Vatican Council (also known as Vatican II) in January 1959, it shocked the world. There hadn't been an ecumenical council - an assembly of Roman Catholic religious leaders meant to settle doctrinal issues - in nearly 100 years. In his first encyclical Ad Petri Cathedram, June 29, 1959, he stressed [...]