- 2008/05/12 06:26Feast of Pentecost
- In real time. I celebrate Mass every Thursday for the residents of Ca
re One Health Care Center in Morristown. In as much as we usually anti
cipate the liturgy for the following Sunday, we celebrated the Feast o
f Pentecost this last Thursday. Though it was a cloudy day, everyone i
n that makeshift chapel―our own version of the ‘upper room’―tr
uly believed that the sun was shining brightly above... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/05/11 00:24Justice delayed is justice denied.
- Give victims of sexual abuse some chance for justice By DIANE SHEABucks County Courier Times In February of this year, the Bucks County Courier Times carried two articles about Dave Sicoli, former priest stationed at Immaculate Conception parish in Levittown. Sicoli was one of the many priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who had been named as a sexual predator in the grand jury report o... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/05/11 00:24Reflections on the 'Visit'...
- The following is the editorial/commentary of Father Tom Doyle, noted
canonist and advocate for victim/survivors of sexual abuse by clergy a
nd religious. Fr. Doyle is a Dominican priest in good standing who was
fired from his position as a priest secretary to the Apostolic Nuncio
back in the early eighties when the sexual abuse crisis became public
. Astounding as it may seem, Father Doyle was dis... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/05/11 00:24Er, ahem, it's all about politics... isn't it?
- The recent ‘surrey’ which carried the sound bites of the Reverend
Wright around the world and gave a new meaning to the blogesphere, al
most destroying the candidacy of a senator who has distinguished himse
lf as a loyal American citizen and man of faith in the pew demands sou
nd analysis. Of course, ‘sound analysis’ is a relative term. What
appears ‘sound’ to me may seem sheer lunacy to othe... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/04/28 07:07Sixth Sunday of Easter 'A'
- I Will Be With You “I was a revolutionary when I was young, and all
my prayers to God were, ‘Lord, give me the energy to change the wor
ld.’” “As I approached middle age, and realized that half my lif
e was gone without my changing one solitary soul, I changed my prayer.
‘Lord,’ I prayed, ‘give me the grace to change all those with
whom I come into contact―just my family, my friends―t... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/04/22 19:22Fifth Sunday of Easter 'A'
- From Easter to a New Pentecost Over the past several years, we have w
itnessed extraordinary events that rival any in modern history, events
that have had and will continue to have an extraordinary impact on hu
man thinking and human institutions for the rest of our lifetime and m
ore. But the more recent events in the life of our Church―a mix of
tragedy and triumph, joy and sorrow, to be sure... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/04/13 12:41From Age to Age
- As I type this ‘message,’ my mind wanders back to April of 2005 a
nd the election of Joseph Ratzinger to succeed Pope John Paul II as Be
nedict XVI. Many of my colleagues and friends were surprised by my ent
husiastic response to his election to the papacy. In fact I was neithe
r surprised nor disappointed by his succession to the See of Rome. Tho
ugh Cardinal Ratzinger ‘protested’ that he was no... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/04/06 14:38Third Sunday of Easter 'A'
- “There is a joy in the journey.” Before embarking on a journey, it is normal for travelers to become preoccupied not only with their destination but also with travel plans no matter what the means of transportation. Depending on the purpose of the trip, the sense of anticipation is flavored with feelings of joy or sadness. However, not every journey has a specific plan other than to arrive ... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/03/31 02:40Second Sunday of Easter 'A'
- There are no proofs but you and me. I assume you have in your home as
I have in mine, a box of photographs that never seem to make it into
the family album. I was saving them for or a ‘rainy day’ that nev
er arrived. And so as the years pass the photos continue to pile up. O
f course digital technology should make it easier but it doesn’t. It
only takes longer to get things done faster. In an... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/03/23 06:15Easter Sunday 2008
- Too good to be true? As children of Abraham, “our father in faith,
”we hold in common with believersof every race and nation,that God i
s the origin of life:eternal blessing,original blessing,the one whose
unconditional love knows no limitand has no equal. As childen of Godwe
believe that we were loved into being,creatures of the earth but “i
n the image and likeness of God.”male and female, ... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/03/22 07:29The Violence Continues
- The violence in Darfur is getting worse. More than 80,000 Darfurians
have been displaced in recent months and increased fighting has result
ed in the deaths of hundreds of civilians. Right now, China should be
focused on getting peacekeepers on the ground in Darfur. Instead they
appear to be monitoring our computer systems. We cannot let China turn
away from the genocide in Darfur. China must u... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/03/22 07:29The Grace of Good Friday
- Jesus is dead! Banks are closed.No mail delivery today.Off to Nassau
and the islands for a break?or instead to Disneyworld? Color Easter
eggs but not before 3:00 o’clock. Collegians off to Florida beaches
for sun, sex and a bottle of booze.Easter break. Artist’s rendition
of the crucifiedin milk chocolate,on sale at the local candy store. Ni
ghtly news competing with ‘U-Tube’ catering to... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/03/17 04:32Palm Sunday 'A'
- Live as if you know the whole story With great skill he portrayed the
struggle between good and evil in the soul of one man and humanity’
s struggle toward liberation. It’s a wonderful story not just abou
t one man but about humanity and the possibility of redemption. Thou
gh completed in 1861 it was not until Boublil and Schonberg’s now le
gendary musical version of Les Meserables that we... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/03/15 13:31（無題）
- + 5th Week in Lent Whatever it takes but he’s got to go! Readings
: Jeremiah 20:10-13 Psalm 18:2-7 John 10:31-42 “They fetched stone t
o stone him, so Jesus said to them, ‘I have done many good works for
you to see, works from my Father; for which of these are you stoning
me?’” I think I told this story last year or a few years ago. In
any case it bears repeating. In many ways, Bishop... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/03/10 08:21Fifth Sunday in Lent 'A'
- Come Out of the Tomb! I think it is accurate to say that a part of us dies on hearing of the death of a loved one and no matter what the circumstances, there is a void in our hearts as well as an empty place at our table. The trauma of the sudden death of a spouse, a parent or a child creates a numbing effect in the soul that does not subside quickly or easily. Each time I watch the list of the... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/03/03 04:07Fourth Sunday in Lent 'A'
- Seeing is believing and believing is seeing. Few of us have the abili
ty to picture in words the actuality of what the naked eye can see. I
n fact, our eyes can and often do deceive us. We don’t always see o
r hear with complete objectivity. It has to do with perspective and o
ur ability to appreciate the relationship of one object or subject to
another. I’m sure there must be a scientific ex... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/03/01 12:20Catholic Practice
- A recent survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Lif
e drew the attention of the media and other ‘interested’ parties a
bout the changes taking place in religious practice in the USA. Of par
ticular note was the fact that there is an increasing disaffection wit
h and defection from the rank and file of Catholics in the pew. Althou
gh the total US Catholic census remains substantial... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/03/01 12:20A look at their records...
- I received this from a friend and found it to be very interesting. In as much as I do not speak for the Church and administer this website as a personal enterprise, and notwithstanding my reticence about promoting a particular political candidate or the platform of a political party in an attempt to influence the way a visitor votes his or her conscience, I do believe it is appropriate to pass ... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/02/27 13:31Computation of Easter
- Info supplied courtesy of Jack Fetrow. It IS early this year. Easter
is always the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spr
ing Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on t
he lunar calendar that the Hebrews used to identify Passover, which is
why it moves around on our Roman calendar. Easter can actually be on
e day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/02/25 01:34Third Sunday in Lent 'A'
- We are conduits of God’s grace What would we do without water? Si
xty percent of the composition of our body is water. We can live for s
everal weeks without food but without water for only several days. We
are well on the path to dehydration at the first sign of thirst. Healt
hy people drink six to eight glasses of water daily! Several years ago
during a long New Jersey drought, I had the oppo... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/02/25 01:34Quiet Love
- This poem in prose was composed by me as my annual Christmas message
and greeting but the Spirit did not move my soul until the feast of th
e Baptism of Jesus. And so my Christmas ‘cards’ did not get to the
post office until two weeks ago! I share it now with my website visit
ors. It is entitled, ‘Quiet Love.’ _______ When I was a child,I us
ed to think of God as an old manhigh in the sky wit... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/02/18 05:25Second Sunday in Lent 'A'
- We Are Called to Bless! If we didn’t know the origin of the reading
s for this weekend, we might attribute them to C. S. Lewis or J.R. Tol
kien with a touch of J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter Series’ here a
nd there. I’m referring to the larger context of the Genesis story b
efore and after Abraham. There is a touch of fantasy throughout. The e
xperience of Abraham surely must have seemed surreal ... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/02/10 14:09First Sunday in Lent 'A'
- A Time of Grace and Blessing Can you remember a time in your life to which you might refer now as a time of blessing? Perhaps it was in your childhood years, if they were happy times, during which you felt loved by mom and dad and by all who called you friend. Or perhaps it was in your late adolescent years, when you were breaking out and away from what you may have considered a repressed child... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/02/03 15:30Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'A'
- Who’s in charge here? The world is desperately in need of healing.
Can it be said any more dramatically or put more simply than that?
The phrase ‘broken humanity’ is by now a cliché that has become
almost trite in the light of broken governments, war and terrorism to
say nothing of earthquakes, blizzards, floods and avalanches. These
threats notwithstanding, we continue to turn to the ... [続きを読む]
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- 2008/01/28 05:26Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 'A'
- We are luminaries of God’s healing presence “The world is not in
need of a new religion, nor is the world in need of a new philosophy:
What the world needs is healing and regeneration. The world needs peop
le who, through devotion to God, are so filled with the spirit that th
ey can be instruments through which healing takes place, because heali
ng is important to everybody.” [The Art of Spiri... [続きを読む]
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