by Msgr. Gregory MustaciuoloWhile there are differences in approaches and solutions, there is broad agreement that more needs to be done to improve health care in our nation. The same is true for this state we call home.
Month: July 2019
Pope Francis and Teenagers
About three months ago, I was invited to give a talk to a class of juniors at a Catholic high school. Though in my more than 55 years as a priest and almost as many years as a professor I have given countless talks, I was a little anxious because an audience of high school students is not my usual audience. The subject I was invited to speak about was the great Catholic short story writer Flannery O’Connor.
The New ‘Nationalism’
Thanks to President Trump’s “America First” rhetoric and the rise of populist-nationalist parties in Europe, there’s a lot of debate about “nationalism” these days. On that subject, as on so many others, it’s worth listening to Pope St. John Paul II, not least because last month marked the 40th anniversary of his epochal Nine Days in Poland in June 1979 — days on which the history of the 20th century pivoted in a more humane direction.
The Value of Persistence in Prayer
by Msgr. Joseph P. Calise Several years ago, I was asked to visit a parishioner on one of the upper floors at Memorial Sloane Kettering Hospital. It was clear that he was near the end of his life, and so I certainly wanted to seize the opportunity to spend some time with him and his family.
Kenneth Lombardi
Kenneth Lombardi — a former guidance counselor at Bishop Loughlin, M.H.S., Fort Greene, who was predeceased by his wife, Ellen, the late sister of Ed Wilkinson, The Tablet’s editor emeritus — died July 10.
The Many Ways That God Cares
by Father John Catoir God cares enough to call you his child: “You are a child of God, by faith in Jesus Christ.” Gal 3:26. “Do not fear, I have called you by name, for you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1.
About Human Composting
Dear Editor: Will George Weigel never tire of his quest to prove the superiority of his personal preferences over those he chooses to call the “unchurched,” but also those of many of the Christian — and Jewish — faithful? In his column on “composting,” (“On the Composting of Thee and Me,” May 11) he makes sport of anyone who has the temerity to hold that our human bodies are but “microbes on a grain of dust,” despite the fact that the Church has proclaimed exactly that on every Ash Wednesday since time out of mind.
Are We Still Capable of Coming Together?
Dear Editor: These are scary times. We no longer seem capable of coming together to fix our problems. The two sides disagree on who runs this country. And, sadly — it is no longer possible to settle the question through elections, because they don’t even agree that elections are how you decide who’s in charge. That’s the basic issue here. Who decides — who runs the country? When parties hate each other and can’t accept the election results, you have what our country is about now! When you stop accepting election results you have a countdown to a civil war.
Only Half of US Catholics get Church Teaching on Communion, Study Finds
Results from a new Pew survey show that Jews are the most knowledgeable among America’s religious communities about world religions, while only half of American Catholics know what their own Church teaches on core principles such as communion.
Some Thoughts on Priestly Celibacy
The Tablet has reported — and this editorial space has addressed — the idea of ordaining older married men as priests, which in addition to many other matters the upcoming synod for the Amazon region will discuss. There is much to consider.