Dear Friends in Christ,   The Church today celebrates the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary. It’s a day linked to an earlier Marian feast that marked a 1571 naval victory against the Ottomans during the Battle of Lepanto, in the waters off southwestern Greece. People unfamiliar with ...

Dear Friends,   Marvel Studios has outdone itself again with “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” [spoiler alert].  At the heart of the plot is the importance of family life—centered on the child to be born. The movie briefly explains how four astronauts turn into super-heroes via cosmic rays while in ...

Dear Friends in Christ,   Today, September 23, is the feast of St Padre Pio of Pieltrelcina, a Capuchin Friar canonized by Saint Pope John Paul II in 2002. He is best known for his stigmata, visions, and the gift of healing. One of the most striking virtues he leaves ...

Dear Friends in Christ,   As I was sorting through photos this past week, I came across a picture of my older brother as a toddler. His sweet face smiling at the camera warmed my heart.  The second child of five, my brother was born in 1963 with Down Syndrome. ...

Dear Friends,   I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord (Psalm 27). Toward the end of The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantés ...

Dear Friends in Christ,   The Church this week will mark the feast day of St. Teresa of Calcutta. The world knew her as Mother Teresa (certainly easier to remember than her birth name, Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu), the diminutive ball of energy who came to personify charity to the poorest ...

Dear Friends,   For most of us in the northern hemisphere, August’s end marks a time of transition from summer’s end to new beginnings; a transition into a new school year or a return to business after vacation days. Farmers are anticipating harvesting summer’s final fruits. Suburbanites and city dwellers ...

Dear Friends,   I recently saw a reference to an article about the increasing number of converts from protestant religions to Catholicism as being driven by belief in the Eucharist. This article was directed to other protestant teachers, instructing them to sharpen their counter arguments. I found it fascinating that ...