by Francis X. Rocca VATICAN CITY (CNS) – When Pope Benedict XVI travels to Lebanon Sept. 14-16 — assuming spillover from the civil war in neighboring Syria doesn’t force a last-minute cancellation of the trip — his purpose will be above all pastoral, and, as usual for papal trips, most of his remarks will focus […]
Month: September 2012
Tablet TALK
Gravesend Parishioners Visit China Parishioners from Our Lady of Grace, Gravesend, joined fellow Catholics from Brooklyn and beyond for a tour of China in August. Travelers are pictured in front of the Catholic Church of Jinan Hong Jialou in Jinan, which they visited along with The Great Wall, Suzhou, Qufu and Shanghai. Leading the […]
The Adventures of Marists
Brother Patrick Hogan, F.M.S., led 23 students and chaperones from Archbishop Molloy H.S., Briarwood, on a pilgrimage of service and reflection to France. This marks the eighth year the Archbishop Molloy community served the sick who travel to Lourdes to bathe in the healing waters of the Grotto, where the Immaculate Conception revealed herself to […]
Friendships Are Eternal
by Bill and Monica Dodds We’ve reconnected with a number of longtime friends over the past few months, and it has been interesting to see how relationships can pick right up where they left off — no awkwardness, no uncertainty, just a true joy. A few people, during a particular time of our lives, were […]
Escaping from Prayer
by Effie Calderola It’s easy to escape from prayer. Why would I want to do that? Maybe it’s because true prayer goes to the very center of things, the center where God speaks my truth, and sometimes that’s a scary place to go. It also requires time and discipline, and sometimes I’m lazy. There are […]
A World of the Deaf and Mute
by Father Thomas Catania Hearing aids, however necessary and however much they have become all but imperceptible, have not, unlike eyewear, become fashion statements. It is a long while since those “ear trumpets” represented in 18th-century paintings have formed part of our apparatus, but even the little buds that, in teenagers, betoken “I’m tuned into […]
Every Being Is a Free Gift from God
by Father Robert Lauder AS I BEGIN to write this column, I am recalling a retreat experience from when I was in the major seminary. In those days, seminary retreats were silent. And around the time of the retreat, I was reading a book by the great French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain. It may have been A […]
Controlling Flatulence
Dear Dr. Garner, I have a very tricky subject which I am embarrassed about discussing even with my own doctor. I seem to build up large quantities of gas in my stomach and bowels which often causes me great discomfort and shame. This has really put a damper on my life, and I often avoid […]
Those Inalienable Rights
A surefire way of demonstrating the existence of universal truths is to consult common experience. No one in their right mind likes being ridiculed or made a pure object of sport or derision, or robbed or lied to. From this, we can infer that there is something innate or “natural” to humanity that expects personal […]
Pope’s Lebanese Trip on NET-TV
Next weekend, Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to be in Lebanon, where he will deliver the pastoral message that came out of the 2010 special Synod of Bishops, which was dedicated to Christians in the Middle East. He also will meet with representatives of local Christian and Muslim communities and address political and cultural leaders […]