By John Mulderig NEW YORK (CNS) – With “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” (Warner Bros.), director Peter Jackson’s trilogy of films based on Catholic writer J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1937 fantasy novel “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again” reaches a rousing finale. Mixed opinions have been generated by Jackson’s transformation of a single, […]
Month: December 2014
Facing Life with the Holy Family’s Courage
By Sister Karen Cavanagh, C.S.J. I’VE ALWAYS HAD a special devotion to the Holy Family. The Sisters of St Joseph were founded with a tradition of modeling our lives on Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Our founder spoke of them as our “created trinity,” our models for living our “yes” to God’s plan. During these past […]
Bishop Welcomes Four New Priests to Diocese
Christmas came a week early for four extern priests serving in Brooklyn and Queens when Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio incardinated them into the presbyterate of the Diocese of Brooklyn. The newly incardinated are Fathers Robert Ambalathingal, Saint Martin Estiverne, Thaddeus J. Abraham and Walter G. Lawson. Fathers Abraham, Ambalathingal and Lawson were incardinated during a noontime […]
Physician-Assisted Suicide and Confronting Our Fears
By Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk THE PROSPECT OF a very attractive, recently married young woman with a terminal illness facing excruciating pain and suffering as she dies is enough to move anyone. The life and death of 29- year-old Brittany Maynard recently captured enormous media attention when she declared she was moving to Oregon to commit […]
Local Nuns Glad Vatican Investigation Is Finished
Six years after the Vatican first started its investigation into U.S. nuns who participate in apostolic ministries, it released an official response during a press conference Dec. 16. Cardinal João Bráz de Aviz prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life held a press conference to release the […]
A Rockin’ Christmas at St. Patrick’s Academy
The annual Christmas pageant performed by students from St. Patrick’s Academy, Bay Ridge, featured two full-length shows, each of which captured the spirit of the season. First up, the eighth graders performed “Jingle Bell Jukebox,” a play that featured musical interludes from the entire school. The play centers around Santa and Mrs. Claus as they […]
The Humbling of The Wise Men
IT MIGHT SEEM that everything that could be said, has been said, about the shepherds, the wise men and the Christ Child. But that’s one of the marvels of Scripture: The unfolding history of the Church draws out of the inspired Word of God allegories and images previously unrecognized. Thus the familiar Christmas story and […]
The Lessons of 2014
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, In the last issue of The Tablet for 2014, the questions are always posed to me to look back on the year which has just passed and emphasize the lessons which, perhaps, we have learned. Like all years, this past year has contained challenges and surprises, joys […]
Let God Guide Your New Year’s Resolutions
By Father John Catoir I don’t know about you, but year after year I find myself breaking my New Year’s resolutions. Having said that, I readily admit that as we approach New Year’s, we need focus. This is a good time to get serious about our future happiness. Am I on the right track or […]
Celebrating Commonweal
MONDAY EVENING, Oct 27, 2014, was just about perfect. It was the 90th anniversary dinner celebration of Commonweal magazine and a fundraiser for the magazine. I went to the dinner with some of my friends and every one of us had a great time. I found the evening intellectually very stimulating. I saw people whom […]