Since the Middle Ages, Popes have used a ferula, a metal rod topped by a cross, to symbolize their authority. However, at the inauguration of the Youth Synod, on October 3, the Holy Father presented himself with a new papal ferula: a forking bamboo-like staff. The cross disappeared. Paying close attention, one … Read more
With the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, the sexual assault debate ignited once again, as it will with each new accusation—whether true or false—of high profile celebrities or public figures. Every time, we hear the same message: There is an abuse of power that allows people to force themselves upon others. We are urged … Read more
I have always believed that Apple fears no one. Valued at over one trillion dollars, the maker of iPhones and iPads can do whatever it wants when marketing its products. It can count on the loyalty of tens of millions of passionate customers that make it immune to market fluctuations. Apple is … Read more
YORK, Penn. (October 3, 2018) An important new book has just been released to help Catholics make sense of the confusing language of change in the Church. A Pastoral Revolution: Six Talismanic Words In the Ecclesial Debate on the Family is authored by Italian scholar Guido Vignelli. It examines words that are … Read more
Anyone who wonders why the Catholic Church is in its present crisis need only read Dr. Scott Bruce’s “Do We Still Need to Believe in Hell?” The Wall Street Journal article (9/15-16/2018) recently appeared in its popular weekend review section. It was a rather typical yet brutal appraisal of the notion of … Read more
Although it is not new, a trend called “gray divorce” is growing. Charles Schwab’s Advisor Services recently ran an article in which they point out that, “People are living longer, and divorces after age 50 are happening at twice the rate they did just a generation ago.” This statement is based on … Read more
Pope Francis’s “Paradigm Shift”: Continuity or Rupture in the Mission of the Church? An Assessment of His Pontificate’s First Five Years. Pope Francis places Catholics in a dilemma. Many have the very understandable, indeed holy, desire to obey the Successor of Saint Peter. At the same time, Pope Francis seems … Read more
YORK, Penn. (Sept. 26, 2018) An important new book has just been released to help Catholics better understand and oppose the radical and confusing changes of the Pope Francis era. Pope Francis’s “Paradigm Shift”: Continuity or Rupture in the Mission of the Church? An Assessment of His Pontificate’s First Five Years takes … Read more
September 25 is the feast of the Divine Shepherdess. This devotion dates back to 1703, when Capuchin Friar Isidoro of Seville, a scion of Spain’s most noble families, experienced a mystical illumination in which the Virgin Mary asked him to spread devotion to her as Shepherdess of Souls. He commissioned a painting, … Read more
When man is facing a crisis, his common tendency is to seek an easy, effective and complete solution. Easy solutions often come to mind without trying to understand in depth the real characteristics of the crisis and its possible causes. Thus, instead of solving crises, such solutions only aggravate them by adding … Read more