by Father Jean-Pierre Ruiz I WOULD BE acknowledging my inner nerd if I were to admit in print that I’m a big fan of the Mythbusters show on the Discovery Channel, but so be it! Do plants have feelings? Is it dangerous to take a shower during a thunderstorm? Can somebody swim through syrup just [...]

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by Father Jean-Pierre Ruiz I’VE HAD PEOPLE applaud after homilies I delivered (perhaps to express their delight when I finally stepped away from the pulpit), and people have laughed during homilies I’ve preached (sometimes with me, and sometimes at me). Yes, people have fallen asleep during homilies of mine (possibly lulled into a few moments [...]

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by Father Jean-Pierre Ruiz I’m amused to see how people react when I tell them that John’s Apocalypse (also known as the Book of Revelation or the Revelation to John) is far and away my favorite book of the Bible. Some people greet this disclosure with a wince or a nervous smile and then desperately [...]

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by Father Robert M. Powers A PASTOR PREACHED one Sunday on the importance of loving one another. The congregants loved his homily. They went back to Mass the next Sunday, full of anticipation of more inspiring words. But they were disappointed. He preached the same homily, telling the people that they must love one another. On subsequent [...]

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by Father Robert M. Powers THE PROPHETIC Imagination is one of my favorite  biblical theology texts. Walter Brueggemann makes a very important point in this simply written, but well-documented, 100-page book. He proposes that you can see two types of prophecy displayed in all of the prophets of the Old Testament and in the prophecies of Jesus [...]

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by Father Robert M. Powers DURING MY LAST semester in the seminary, I had a course in pastoral counselling taught by a very gifted psychologist. A lesson taught one day was the practical arithmetic of marital relationships. The psychologist told us of his various experiences as a marriage counselor. One day, a young couple expressed to [...]

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by Father Robert M. Powers IN THE SANCTUARY of St. Paul’s Church, Cobble Hill, there is a small, gilded wooden statue of Our Lady of Pilar, mounted on a wooden pillar and covered by a red velvet skirt. The image is from the former Chapel of Our Lady of Pilar that was constructed on Fulton St. [...]

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by Father John P. Cush When I was a small boy growing up above Farrell’s Bar on 16th St. in Windsor Terrace, I always saw Easter as a second-class Christmas. I never could understand the concept of the Easter Bunny. He certainly was no match for the main man, Santa Claus. Plus, let’s face it, [...]

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by Father John P. Cush One afternoon after Sept. 11, 2001, I was sitting in St. Helen Church in Howard Beach, my first priestly assignment. Praying Evening Prayer in the Church around 4:30 p.m. became a regular habit of mine in my years in the parish. As I sat in the pew nearest to the [...]

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by Father John P. Cush ONE OF THE MORE brilliant reformations of the liturgy since the Second Vatican Council was the reinstitution of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). The final preparations for the reception of the Sacraments of Initiation (baptism, confirmation and Eucharist) come during the season of Lent during the Scrutinies. [...]

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