Blog & News
Fathers & Spirituality
A Priest's Powerful Call for All Men to Spiritual Fatherhood: For a perspective from the Church on the topic of fatherhood, I want to turn to the early desert fathers, our spiritual desert fathers of the third century through the sixth century. Our hermit fathers doubted that religion and politics could ever produce a truly Christian society. They were on to something...
Not Optional
Five things the Church did not stop teaching! I am grateful that many Catholics are starting to wake up to the awareness that there is much they do not know. On the other hand, I want to smack my head on brick walls. Why? It represents a resounding failure on the educational apparatus of the Church. Who is to blame?
5 Holy Poets
Five Amazingly Gifted Saints who Wrote Poetry. God gifted some saints with a literary flair. Since the saints often direct their poetry toward God, it is best to read their poetry in a prayerful manner. Let's look at a few saints who were also great poets in their lifetime:
5 Prayers from Fatima
Five Prayers Revealed at Fatima Every Catholic Should Know. The apparition of an angel and Our Lady to three poor children in Fatima, Portugal, in the early 20th century is one of the most famous miracles in the Catholic world. The children received many messages, mostly calling for personal conversion and prayer, as well as the words of five new prayers. The first prayer is one many Catholics are likely already familiar with, but the other four are not as well known. Here are the five prayers given to the children at Fatima:
First Fridays
The 12 promises of Jesus for those who practice devotion to His Sacred Heart: Christians have devoted themselves to the veneration of Jesus' Sacred Heart for centuries! While many saints have claimed to have had private revelations about Jesus’ Sacred Heart, the modern Catholic devotion is based primarily on the visions of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century. As with all private revelations, Catholics are not obliged to believe them.
Green Scapular
Our Lady’s Green Scapular: A miraculous, little known, sacramental for healing and conversion. Have you ever heard of the Green Scapular of the Immaculate Heart? Our Lady gave us this little known sacramental through Sister Justine Bisqueyburu of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. After several visions, Our Lady presented the Green Scapular on September 8, 1840.
Blood Relic
Are you aware of Pope Saint John Paul II’s shirt relic? A nurse saved his bloodstained shirt after he was shot, and it is now a relic. The Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul keep this relic in Rome. The shirt contains blood stains from his assassination attempt on May 13, 1981.
Boxer Turned Priest
This sounds awesome! Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson to star in new film about boxer turned priest, Father Stuart Long. Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson will star in a movie about Father Stuart Long, a late priest of the Diocese of Helena in Montana. Wahlberg will portray Father Stu, while Gibson will portray the priest's father, Bill Long. Wahlberg will partially finance the film.
Mother's Day
Mother’s Day and the Forgotten Christian Roots: Did you know Mother’s Day actually has Christian origins? Explained in this brief video are some of the fascinating and surprising historical facts behind Mother’s Day. "There’s actually something more to Mother’s Day – something many have forgotten, and something you may want to revive," the narrator begins.
True Devotion
The Miraculous Discovery of Saint Louis de Montfort's True Devotion to Mary. Hidden for 150 Years, Saint Louis de Montfort's masterpiece, Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, remained mysteriously concealed. Although Saint Louis wrote the book in the early 1700s, it was only in 1842 that the manuscript was unearthed by a librarian at the motherhouse of the Montfort Fathers at Saint Laurent-sur-Sèvre, France.