by Msgr. Joseph Calise I LIVE IN Williamsburg, which is an exciting neighborhood. As pastor of the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and administrator of the Church of the Annunciation, I have the opportunity to watch the incredible merge of cultures that is taking place daily. Of course, there is the old […]
Sunday Scriptures
Who to Give the Self-Gift to?
by Msgr. Joseph Calise Several years ago while I was ministering as one of the part-time chaplains at the Newman Center of Queensborough College, I received a call from a former altar boy who asked if I was available to meet him for a while. As is the case on many campuses, there was a […]
Expectations Are Dangerous
by Msgr. Joseph Calise In 1955, Jock MacGregor played the character Morris Fink. If that makes sense to you, you must be a genuine Honeymooners fan. Morris Fink was the Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler of Ralph Kramden’s Lodge, the Raccoons (or, as Norton would call him, the “Emperor of all Raccoondom.”) In one particular […]
Each Day Is a Chance to Grow Closer to God’s Kingdom
by Msgr. Joseph Calise SEVEN YEARS AGO this week, I was having a once in a lifetime experience. I had just begun walking the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage walk across the Pyrenees Mountains in the footsteps of St. James. Although the walk can have several different starting points, the ultimate goal is the Cathedral of St. […]
Christ Sets the World on Fire
by Msgr. Joseph Calise EVERY ONCE IN a while, we meet someone challengingly inspiring. I do not mean someone who necessarily has a high office or who is well known – although people like Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day and Pope Francis would certainly be inspirational – I mean someone who simply does brave things as they live […]
It’s Our Choice How We Respond to God’s Call
by Msgr. Joseph Calise I ADMIT THAT I am not a technological wizard, but I am also not completely inept. I am comfortable on the Internet, and any communicating I cannot do face-to-face I accomplish via e-mail. However, my phone is not a multitasking computer that can give me driving directions – my phone makes phone calls […]
Only God Can Provide True Happiness
by Msgr. Joseph Calise I HAVE BEEN involved with people in 12-step recovery for the past 23 years. I have had the wonderful opportunity to share time and stories with men and women, rich and poor, young and old, white collar, blue collar – and roman collar – who come together solely to explore their […]
God Wants Our Eternal Salvation
by Father John P. Cush I REALLY CONSIDER myself blessed to have been assigned to Rome for post-graduate doctoral work this past semester. Instead of just reading about Church history, I had the opportunity to live it out in the events of February and March, 2013. The resignation of our beloved Benedict XVI and his final days […]
Kindness and Courtesy Are Rewarded
by Father John P. Cush HERE’S A LITTLE riddle for you: How many people can fit on a bus in the city of Rome, Italy? The answer: always one more! As someone who has lived in Rome for a few years, in my first incarnation as a seminarian and as a newly ordained priest, and […]
Doing God’s Work Together Under His Command
by Father John P. Cush Sunday, July 7 In today’s Gospel, taken from the Evangelist Luke, we read of the commissioning of the disciples by the Lord. We see that the Lord does something a little bit unusual and perhaps for our modern standards, a bit inefficient! He sends his disciples out two-by-two. Why would […]
