Reflections for July 31, 2011 Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Is 55:1-3; Ps 145: 8-9, 15-16, 17-18; Rom 8:35, 37-39; Mt 14:13-21 The theme of feeding is impossible to miss in this Sunday’s readings. It is also difficult to miss in the larger narrative of salvation history. Appropriately, this week’s Gospel story of the loaves and fishes feeding five thousand plus women Read more
When it comes to providing solutions to particular political dilemmas, there is always room for disagreement among honest and sincere Christians, and everyone else involved for that matter. Thus, the short answer to my question is no, there is not one, distinctively Christian response to the current debate about the debt ceiling. There are, however, fundamental principles at the root of the Read more
Over the course of the past century, ”spree killings” committed by and directed toward civilians have become a regular part of our social world. It seems that we have developed a discrete category for them in our social imaginary. In the years since the Columbine massacre of 1999, the dramatically increased frequency of these killings has had the effect of crystallizing this category in our collective consciousness. Read more
What I write here may seem so obvious that it shouldn’t need to be stated; however, an acquaintance on Facebook asked in his status update, “Where are all the moderate Christians denouncing the extremist Christian shooter in Norway?” As terror analysts, pundits, news anchors, bloggers, etc. ponder why suspect Anders Behring Breivik committed the heinous massacre in Oslo, Norway–especially given their focus on Read more
Am I my sister’s keeper? Am I my brother’s keeper? I have always found it interesting that when that phrase appears in popular media, it almost always is used in the same way as Scripture – as a deflection for accepting responsibility. That is, the character saying “what am I my sister’s keeper?” places himself or herself in the place of Cain, Read more
As I understand it, sacramentality expresses the belief that as human beings we can experience God through the “stuff” of life, and that God’s grace is made present through creation. The humble vessels of water, oil, bread and wine disclose the abundance of God’s grace in the seven sacraments. Sacred rituals bring the community together, nurturing the faith of old and young Read more
Building upon Beth Haile’s lectionary post for this week, I would just like to share some thoughts I’ve had regarding the way Christians think about the objects of our love in relation to God, whom we describe as love itself. Beth is certainly right to suggest that the main aim of this week’s readings is to invite reflection on our ultimate desires: what is it Read more
Reflections for July 24, 2011 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Kings 3:5, 7-12 Rom. 8:28-30 Mt 13:44-52 or 13:44-46 What do you love most in this world? What most captures your imagination? For what would you sacrifice all that you have? Your family? Your career? Your reputation? Your life savings? In this week’s gospel, Jesus’ parables remind us that as Christians, Read more
As has been widely suspected by those who follow such things, the former Archbishop of Denver, Charles Chaput, was officially announced today as the new leader of a troubled bastion of American Catholicism, the archdiocese of Philadelphia. In a fascinating interview with NCR’s John Allen, Chaput says something many more bishops need to say far more often to a culture addicted to Read more
Why do we have a tab/category on “Lectionary”? This category includes reflections by moral theologians on weekly lectionary readings and/or on the liturgy–with particular attention to moral dimensions to or implications of these. We hope that these reflections are helpful for pastors as they prepare their homilies, for laypersons as they ponder in advance the coming Sunday’s scripture texts, and for fellow moral theologians who Read more
Saturday Morning: 8:00 am
Saturday Vigil: 4:30 pm
Sunday: 7:30 am, 9:00 am, 10:45 am,
12:30 pm, 5:30 pm
Saturday Vigil: 6:15pm
Sunday: 9:00am, 7:15pm
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday: 8:30 am
