Faith & Spirituality

God’s Greatest Commandment

Carl Bloch, “The Sermon on the Mount,” 1877 (Photo: Public Domain) When pressed by the Pharisees and scholars of the law to clarify the...

Our Lady of Kibeho’s message to the world

By Kateri Williams Most Catholics are familiar with the Marian apparition sites in France, Portugal and Mexico.  Yet, many are unaware of the Marian apparitions that took place in Kibeho, Rwanda between 1981 and 1989 to three children.  Recognized by the Vatican in 2001, Our Lady of Kibeho is the only Marian apparition site approved by the Catholic Church on the Africa continent.    November 28 is the feast day of Our Lady of Kibeho, and as we commemorate the 30th anniversary of National...

From the desert, something new

By Father Greg Cleveland, O.M.V. G.K. Chesterton and several other literary figures were asked one evening what book they would prefer to have with them if stranded on a desert isle. One writer said without hesitation: “The complete works of Shakespeare.” Another said, “I’d choose the Bible.” They turned to Chesterton. “How about you?” And Chesterton replied, “I would choose Thomas’s Guide to Practical Ship Building .”  Like Chesterton, we might be looking to escape our confinement of living...

Dispensations: An excuse to skip Mass?

By Anthony St. Louis-Sanchez During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Christian faithful of the Archdiocese of Denver have received a dispensation from their Sunday obligation of participating in Mass. This dispensation was given in a decree of the Archbishop of Denver. One might wonder whether the Archbishop of Denver has the authority to issue such a dispensation. Let’s consider closely what a dispensation is and is not. A dispensation is a relaxation of an ecclesiastical law, in a...

(Almost) Saints: Six faithful Catholics on their way to sainthood

(Courtesy photos, Wikimedia Commons) All Saints’ Day marks the perfect occasion to remember all of those in heaven who intercede for us...

Blessed Michael McGivney: A light in the depth of the mines

In the late 1800s, it became common for many Catholic working men of different ages to dust off their dirty clothes after a hard...

We are a remnant people

In a letter to the world’s bishops dated August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, and approved for publication by Pope Francis on Sept. 3, Robert Cardinal Sarah, who is the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Vatican, invited the Catholic world to return to Mass. The sentence you have just read would have seemed ridiculous just nine months ago. The Sunday Mass “obligation” is a unique facet of Catholic culture of which even...

‘Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord’: The Concluding Rites

DENVER, CO - FEBRUARY 22: Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila gives the final blessing during a transitional deacon ordination for the...

Not simply ‘pro-birth’: How the Church cares for life at all stages

As Coloradoans prepare to vote to end late-term abortion in the state on Nov. 3, claims of the Catholic Church only being “pro-birth” and...

Fratelli Tutti: True fraternity is found in Christ

In his new Encyclical, Pope Francis invites us to reflect on our universal fraternity. Its title – Fratelli Tutti – comes from an advice of St. Francis of Assisi: “Let us all, brothers ( Fratelli Tutti ), consider the Good Shepherd who to save His sheep bore the suffering of the Cross” ( Admonitions , 6.1). Transformed by Christ, St. Francis was filled with a love that “transcends the barriers of geography and distance” (n. 1). He felt himself a brother to the sun, the sea and the wind, yet...

Why is devotion to Mary important?

The Immaculate Conception by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, c. 1675. (Photo: Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons) This question may seem...

Our first and most precious freedom

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 23: Mother Loraine Marie Maguire, of the Little Sisters of the Poor, speaks to the media after aruments at the US...