Church

The following article is part of the Popcaks' ongoing series on the Liturgy of Domestic Church Life.  To learn more, join their Facebook discussion group:  CatholicHŌM (Households on Mission)–Family Discipleship In the Liturgy of Domestic Church Life, the practices associated with... Read more

We are beginning to read from the Book of Job in daily Mass. One of its core issues is the problem of suffering and why God allows it. If God is omnipotent and omniscient then how can He tolerate evil, injustice, and suffering of the innocent? Where is God when a woman is... Read more

Who can doubt that our country is in serious trouble and straining at the seams? From COVID-19 to riots, from political animosity to overturned and degraded values. Religious freedom is in danger. Churches have been desecrated and statues vandalized. We need help. And the only help that... Read more

What’s the difference between a hypocrite and a sinner? They look an awful lot alike. The hypocrite presents himself one way and then acts another. The sinner deliberately chooses what he knows he should not choose. They both suffer an interior division. Indeed, we ourselves may feel like... Read more

Fra Angelico’s painting, The Conversion of St. Augustine, offers a great insight into the spirituality of the Doctor of Grace. At the forefront of the painting, commanding the immediate attention of the viewer, is the figure of St. Augustine sitting and weeping. The painting portrays the... Read more

But who do you say I am?” It’s the central question of the Gospel for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. It’s the central question of the Gospel, period. If you look at the Gospel of Mark, it’s right there in Chapter 8, smack dab in the literal center of that Gospel. It’s the... Read more

What are our usual responses to the trials and storms of our lives? We try to avoid them as much as possible and then we try to survive them when they are inevitable. We hardly ask the question that every Christian ought to ask when facing storms of life: “How is this storm affecting my... Read more

When I saw the video of Fr. Stephen Schumacher from the Archdiocese of St. Louis standing in front of the city’s statue of St. Louis, while surrounded by an angry mob, I knew it was a pivotal moment for priests in this country. This young priest attempted to engage with an angry mob set on... Read more

Very few films capture horror like Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. Set in the decaying Mayan civilization, we see Mayan warriors raiding neighboring villages to kidnap victims and march them back to their city to be eviscerated and decapitated as offerings to their god. The scenes of savage... Read more

G.K. Chesterton once commented that every modern conversation begins one step too late. His assertion pertains, unfortunately, when we think of the church. Immediately we tend to think of its structure: there are the ordained, the religious, and the laity. According to this reckoning, the laity... Read more