Thanksgiving is clearly a civil holiday in the USA. And yet, for many of us still, thanks be to God, it takes on a religious significance. Many of our Catholic faithful, either on Thanksgiving day itself, or on the eve of Thanksgiving, join together in the action that defines what Thanksgiving truly is – the […]
Month: November 2014
Exhibit on St. Francis Coming to Brooklyn
A historic exhibit of medieval manuscripts and papal documents associated with St. Francis of Assisi will be on display at Brooklyn Borough Hall from Dec. 2 to Jan. 14. It was on view this past week at the U.N. Speakers at the opening in Manhattan affirmed the saint’s association with the world body’s peaceful aims […]
Thankful for the Gifts of America
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, As we approached Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to prepare by attending a conference on migration in Rome and by visiting a refugee reception center in Sicily. I came away truly thankful for the gifts of our American society. The conference held in Rome had the theme […]
Brooklyn Nets’ Star Feeds the Hungry at Bread and Life
Brooklyn Nets’ All-Star point guard Deron Williams helped serve 3,000 hot meals to the local homeless community Nov. 24 at St. John’s Bread & Life, Bedford-Stuyvesant. He was joined by volunteers from his Point of Hope Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises funds to directly impact the lives of needy children. “There’s a lot of […]
Elusive Peace of the Christmas Season
By Carol Powell The liturgical season of Advent is here once again. This is a time when we prepare not only to celebrate the birth of Christ but to remind ourselves of the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time. We are also asked to prepare our hearts and to purify our lives […]
Year for Consecrated Life
The worldwide observance of the Year for Consecrated Life proclaimed by Pope Francis will open in the diocese with prayer services in Brooklyn and Queens. Our Lady of Angels Church, Bay Ridge, will be the site for the Brooklyn service on Sunday, Dec. 7, at 3:30 p.m. The opening in Queens will take place on […]
The Search for Tangible Signs
By Msgr. Joseph P. Calise I live in a great neighborhood. Williamsburg has become an amazing mixture of young and mature, traditional and avant-garde, long-standing and trendy – the old and the new, side by side. One of the things I like most about living here – and coincidentally one of the reasons I believe […]
Vatican II and The Berlin Wall
History sometimes displays the happy capacity to arrange anniversaries so that one sheds light on another. On Nov. 21, 1964, Pope Paul VI solemnly promulgated the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, which began by proclaiming Christ the “Light of the Nations” and is thus known as “Lumen Gentium.” In November, 1989, the […]
Challenges in Feeding the World’s Hungry
ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) – With projections putting the planet’s population at 9 billion by 2050, the question of how to feed them is taking on ever-greater importance. But at the “Faith, Food & the Environment” symposium Nov. 5-7 in St. Paul, held at the University of St. Thomas and sponsored by more than a […]
God’s Invitation to Love Is Never Withdrawn
As I wrote in last week’s column, I have come to think of God’s revelation as an invitation to enter into God’s unfathomable life of love and to think of faith as a saying yes to that invitation. Thinking of revelation and faith this way has marvelous implications for our lives. God’s invitation can come […]