The list of grave issues that must be addressed during a future papal interregnum, and by the cardinal-electors in a conclave, continues to grow.
Guest Columnists
President Biden and a Catholic Inflection Point
Catholics who take this apostolic teaching seriously will understand that our first obligation toward President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., is to be in Christian solidarity with him through prayer.
What Is the Proper Term: Degradation, Defrocking, Laicization, Dismissal?
Once a priest is ordained, he is a priest “forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 7:17). Hence, under no circumstance can a priest be “un-ordained” or, at least, there is no known way to undo what was validly done.
A Life Changed by Saint John Paul II
A wretched year came to a sorrowful end when Father Maciej Zięba, OP, died in his native Wrocław, Poland, on Dec. 31. The birthplace of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Wrocław was also the home of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, who grew up there as Edith Stein when the city was known as Breslau.
A Man Touched My Shoes
When I thought I was alone during a downtime in the church, a man came in and knelt to pray. After praying, he approached me and asked for my blessing. I gave him what he was asking for with the sign of the cross. Then the unexpected happened.
Thoughts on a Pro-Life Picket Line
One of Dr. LeRoy Carhart’s “Clinics for Abortion & Reproductive Excellence” — named to yield the Orwellian acronym CARE — is located about a mile away from my parish in Bethesda, Maryland. Earlier this year, 40 Days for Life prayed daily outside Carhart’s abortuary, which specializes in late-term “terminations.” Parishioners from a number of local churches participated in the 40 Days program, hoping to save some innocent lives and to help women in crisis pregnancies find genuine care.
What the Magi Teach Us Here
Among the tenured professorial skeptics, few Gospel episodes have been sliced, diced, and tossed to the dissecting room floor as “mythology” more often than the story of the Magi: the “wise men from the East [who] came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him’” (Matthew 2:2).
Failure to Defend the Caged And Evangelization in China
Joshua Wong is a young Chinese human rights activist, recently sentenced to 13 and a half months in prison on the Orwellian charge of “incitement to knowingly take part in an unauthorized assembly” — meaning, in Chinese Newspeak, urging others to protest peacefully the tyranny now throttling Hong Kong.
The Crèche in the Right Place at the Right Time
On how this project has been turning out, our parish is just fascinated and elated. We want to share this gift with everyone. Come and contemplate the great mystery of the Nativity in Corpus Christi Church in Woodside, where we have a crèche in the right place at the right time.
Never be Afraid to Err By Trusting the Pope
When the news broke about Pope Francis’ comment on promoting the “civil union” of homosexual couples, many people were asking my opinion on the issue. I admit that, at that time, I was also caught by surprise. I simply shrugged, not being able to say anything. Like everyone else, I needed to know more to substantiate any opinion I would be making.
