by Father Eugene F. Hemrick AFTER EXPERIENCING Christmas for so many years, it’s easy for it to become “just another” Christmas. It makes me think of a quote by A.J. Conyers in his book, “The Listening Heart: Vocation and the Crisis of Modern Culture.” Conyers says the following: “To be modern is to exist increasingly […]
by Sister Karen M. Cavanagh, C.S.J. THE RITE of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) process is such a wonder-filled experience. Accompanying members of a parish community on their pathway to baptism can be a blessed teachable moment for the candidates (the elect) and for teachers and parishioners who journey with them. One December evening during […]
Advent begins – a new year for our journey of faith through our time in salvation history. As good a time as any for each one of us, layperson, religious, priest – in whichever current position or stage of life and well-being – to take a personal spiritual inventory. The question at the end of […]
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, We have begun the new Liturgical Year with the beginning of Advent. It is a time when not only do we look forward to the birth of Christ at Christmas but also to His final coming at the end of time. It is a time of anticipation, […]
Make your Advent more meaningful by taking part in one or more of these events at our local parishes: Join the good people of St. Ephrem, Dyker Heights, for Advent Vespers, Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m. Speaker: Sister Helene Jakubowski, R.S.M. All welcome. Call 921-9518. Our Lady of the Snows, N. Floral Park, is having an […]
By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) – It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Already. Even before Halloween jack-o-lanterns were carved, retailers were advertising the joys of Christmas gift-giving – and getting – on television. And no sooner will the Thanksgiving turkey be carved before radio stations start playing Christmas music, some of them nonstop, […]
by Sister Karen M. Cavanagh, C.S.J. “IT’S A BROOKLYN thing!” In my day (that’s a giveaway), children dressed as ragamuffins on Thanksgiving morn. We visited neighbors, knocking on doors and begging: “Anything for Thanksgiving?” We received an apple, an orange, walnuts in their shell or maybe some pennies. We imagined the experience of those who […]
We have just completed a worldwide observance of the Year of Faith and are about to enter the Advent season of a new liturgical cycle. Now seems an opportune time to count our blessings, especially during a week in which we gather with family for Thanksgiving. In keeping with the theme of faith, it makes […]
How soon the End Times may be coming not even Jesus would disclose. No one knows the day or the hour. Yet the possibility of a sudden disruption of our comfort zone and even chaotic upheaval is always upon us, whether wrought by global forces, natural or anthropogenic, or through the simple course of each […]
Turn on any television news program, read any newspaper, or follow any online blog, and you’ll surely find some sort of commentary on one of the lead stories in America right now: the Miami Dolphins’ bullying scandal. Though various reports have surfaced, the main premise involves the incessant harassment and hazing of Dolphins’ offensive tackle […]
