How much time is too much time online? It’s a question facing all of us in the 21st Century, as technology becomes more and more integrated into our lives. How do we balance work, shopping, reading, communicating – all the ways that we use technology – with a desire to be intentionally present in our…
Easter is a reminder that Christians are called to be lights in an often dark and weary world, writes David Gibson “This is the night,” the Church sings out again and again in a poetic hymn dating far back in Christian history called the ‘Exsultet’. It is heard each year in Catholic Churches during the Easter Vigil…
The Sacrament of Penance is an opportunity rather than just an obligation, writes Russell Shaw When Dr Bernard Nathanson died of cancer in February 2011, the obituary writers dutifully recorded that he’d become a Catholic back in 1996. Some even recalled the reason he gave for taking that step. In the 1960s and 1970s, Dr…
In his passion, Jesus’ sufferings were unequaled. For the Son of God offered himself as a sacrifice for all. No one, not even the saintliest person, can take on the sins of all people in every time and place. Only God can, and did. It is this gift of faith, at the heart of our…
St Juliana of Mont Cornillon was born in 1193 at Retines near Liège in Belgium. Orphaned at an early age, she was educated by the Norbertine Canonesses Regular of Mont Cornillon. She made her profession in this order and eventually became superioress. The canonry seems to have been established on the model of a double monastery, with both…
Bishop Donald J. Hying During the Sacred Triduum — the days of Holy Thursday through to Easter Sunday — the strangest thing will occur. Millions of Christians throughout the world will gather to honour the humiliation, torture and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In a global culture that usually celebrates power, strength and beauty, this public…
The liturgies of Holy Week invite us to engage with the words, actions and experiences that constituted Jesus’s way to the Father writes Fr Tony Nye SJ We are people of the Way, an ancient term for the first Christians which is found in the Acts of the Apostles. Jesus showed us that way throughout…
Faith in art One of the starkest images around the funeral rites for Pope Benedict XVI was the moment when his mortal remains were transferred from his residence at the Mater Ecclesia Monastery within the grounds of Vatican City State to the majestic St Peter’s Basilica. His cortege entered the basilica through a door that…
Saint of the week The life of this great servant of God appeared to be merely the unfolding and an ever-stronger exemplification of the virtues which he received in holy baptism. Born in 1390 of wealthy and devout parents at Valladolid in Spain, he lost his father at an early age; but he himself became…
Lorene Hanley Duquin Today, parishioners are expected to feel a true sense of ownership in their parish. That means looking at your parish as more than just a place where you go to Mass. A parish can be a sacred place where the human and the divine meet, where people of all ages grow in…
Michael Kelly