Cheap Grace

The 20th-century Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book “The Cost of Discipleship,” describes “cheap grace” as:

Pray for Our Local Bishops

This coming week, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and the Diocese of Brooklyn’s auxiliary bishops, along with the other bishops of New York state, will head to Rome to spend a week visiting with Pope Francis, and with other Vatican offices for an “ad limina” (“To the Threshold”) meeting, which happens about every seven years. This is the first time that the U.S. bishops have had such visits with Pope Francis during his pontificate. It’s a requirement for every country, and now it’s America’s turn.

Courage to Stand By Our Faith

by Father John P. Cush

In the first reading we proclaim today from the Second Book of Maccabees, a mother encourages her seven sons to remain faithful to the law of the Lord. One of the brothers proclaims: “We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.”

Schools for Ordinary Times

In the weeks of mid-autumn, when colors fill the trees and crisp air fills the evenings, advertisements for high schools and colleges fill the pages of diocesan newspapers as 8th graders and 12th graders try to select the place they will call home for the next four years. 

Lessons From a Tax Collector

by Father John P. Cush

The Gospel we proclaim this Sunday features a rather enigmatic figure, one whom we read about only in this Gospel passage: Zacchaeus. What can we learn from this story of this “short-in-stature” man, a chief tax collector, a man who changes his life, who climbs a sycamore tree because he was “seeking to see who Jesus was”?

Sister Patricia Fox, O.P.

Sister Patricia Fox, O.P., a member of the Dominican Sisters of Amityville who taught at schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn, died on Oct. 23. She was 80. She entered the novitiate in Amityville, L.I., in 1959 and received her religious name, Sister Helen Marie, a year later.

Sister Mary Rosalita Judge, O.P.

Sister Mary Rosalita Judge, O.P., a member of the Dominican Sisters of Amityville for 76 years who grew up in Greenpoint and taught in the Diocese of Brooklyn, died on Oct. 18. She was 94.

Sister Mary Quentin Ryan, O.P.

Sister Mary Quentin Ryan, O.P., a member of the Dominican Sisters of Amityville for 79 years who taught in schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn, died on Oct. 21. She was 97.

The Chicken Runs At Midnight

“The chicken runs at midnight” isn’t a sentence you’ll find in your Bible, but it is a divinely inspired statement that brought proof of heaven to Rich Donnelly, a grieving father who needed to find his way back to God.