During the Rite of Ordination of Deacons, the newly vested deacon kneels before the bishop and receives the Book of the Gospels. With the Book of the Gospels in the hands of both, the bishop says to the deacon, “Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.”
The “Mother of Parliaments” — that’s the one in London — has been embroiled for months in a debate over “assisted dying,” which is euphemized elsewhere under other Orwellian monikers: “Medical Assistance in Dying,” “Physician Assisted Suicide,” “Physician Assisted Dying,” and so forth. The bill legalizing this odious practice narrowly passed the House of Commons on June 20 and has been subsequently debated in the House of Lords. Further parliamentary procedures may delay a final decision until next April or May; the parliamentary clock may even run out on the bill, which would be all to the good.
We are all sinners in constant need of the redeeming grace of Christ, as Pope Leo XIV forcefully reminds us. When we remember that, we will perhaps be less inclined to countenance delineating each other (and ourselves) by sexual desire, orientation, or practice.
Whatever pragmatic sense that might once have made, “The road from Rome to Constantinople runs through Moscow” is now theologically absurd, because the leadership of the Russian Church has abandoned Christian orthodoxy, as demonstrated by Kirill’s heretical and blasphemous statements over the past three-plus years.
The permanent exhibit in the rotunda of the National Archives in Washington includes original copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Constitution’s first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights. However faded they have become over more than two centuries, these parchment documents continually evoke a sense of wonder.
In this raw, emotionally overwrought moment in our public life, few topics generate more passion than gender ideology and the associated practice of gender “transition.” Several Catholic leaders have tried to address the ideology and the practice calmly, informed by science, philosophy, theology, and pastoral experience. The most recent is Bishop Daniel Thomas of “Toledo in America,” as the Vatican’s Annuario Pontificio designates the Ohio diocese centered on the Glass City.
America needs the example of a real hero: I give you Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr.
War is raging in Ukraine, a beleaguered, brutalized country that looks to the United States for support in its struggle for survival — and Americans are obsessing over Cracker Barrel logos?
The experience of traveling to Rome for the Jubilee with the Diocese of Brooklyn to see Pope Leo XIV was unbelievable. The experience remains vivid in my mind, as I recall the distinctive energy of being in the Church’s central location.
Assuming that the synodal process is not an end in itself and recognizing that the synodal process of 2021-2024 has produced some good fruits, perhaps it may be suggested that it’s now time to move from synoding to applying the fruits of the past three years to mission and evangelization.
