I just wrote on the “Our Father” controversy over on Catholic Stand. On the evening of December 6th, TV2000, the Italian equivalent of EWTN, aired an interview of Pope Francis where he criticized the Italian translation of the Our Father. He pointed out how some other languages have better translations. His argument is the Italian isn’t an …
Tag: Prayer
Oct 29
Silence: A challenging but valuable discipline
I wrote a spiritual reflection on silence for Aleteia: Not long ago, I did an eight-day silent retreat. In my community we do this every year. Afterward I Tweeted out a short summary: “So often in prayer what really matters is something beyond words: the experience of God above what language can describe. I’d say the …
Oct 28
Discovering I was a “Catholic Hipster” before that was a thing!
I wrote a book review on Aleteia: In The Catholic Hipster Handbook, writer Mary Rezac has a chapter on buying from the local farmer’s markets as a way of living the principle of subsidiarity, but she doesn’t go to the extreme of starting your own organic farm. Looking back on my life, I think I might have been …
Jun 23
12 Students Reveal What It’s Like Being Catholic in School These Days
Schools are where the next generation is formed. Sometimes, negative things happen there but there is so much positive going on as well. I wanted to know how being Catholic positively affected students’ lives, so I asked them. I offered a free student planner to the best response to a simple question: “What is different …
Jun 10
S2S: Free Catholic Student Planner Giveaway
I met the young man who invented the Catholic Planner at a media conference in Brooklyn last month. He has a new project of making a student version he calls S2S for Sinner to Saint. I think it really gets at the core of how to be Catholic as a student. It combines the practical aspects …
May 02
Clearing Our Heart for Love by Remembering God’s Mercy
Remembering God’s Mercy is one of those rare books that combines personal testimony, theological insight, sound psychology, and prayerfulness all-in-one. Along with reading, I used this book for meditation for a week or two. It’s an amazing book that has to be comprehended as by whole chapters and not by lines. When I read a …
Apr 25
Cleansed: Overcoming Pornography Issues with Jesus
Pornography is a huge addiction in our society: ripping way the innocence of children, stripping teens of a realistic expectation of sex, driving boyfriends and girlfriends into sex prematurely, deadening marriages, afflicting all ages, and destroying families. Marcel LeJeune has dealt with this scourge in his ministry and has written one of the most complete …
Oct 11
Are we among the 9 Lepers in the Gospel?
This Sunday, we read about when Jesus went to cure the 10 lepers but only 1 came back to give thanks. It’s Luke 17:11-19 if you forget the story. All over the Gospel we read about lepers: but who were they? Leprosy is a disease that eats away the skin. In the ancient world, nobody …
Sep 24
Is Youth Ministry a Problem?
Over at Bad Catholic, Marc recently wrote about “The Problem With Youth Ministry.” His basic argument is true: a part-time underpaid gimmicky youth minister can’t replace the authority of parents forming their kids. Bravo, bravo! However, I think he makes 3 key errors. He forgets the real relationship youth ministry should have with parents. He …
Jun 13
100,000 Hail Marys for our 2 Popes
Both Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict need our help, our prayers. I thought, what a better way then to invoke Mary thousands of times for them. But there is no way for me to do that alone, so I’m asking you to help and tell all your friends too. You know how every so often, …
May 09
Tweet #PrayTheRosary this Saturday at 1pm EST
On May 3rd, Pope Francis tweeted: “It would be a good idea, during May, for families to say the Rosary together. Prayer strengthens family life.” When I read it, I said to myself, “I can promote the rosary, but how?” Since we organized the #ThanksPontifex twitterstorm a few months back, I figured we could try again. …
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