In the summer of 1987 I was living in England and had three months free between jobs so I decided to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem--hitch-hiking and staying at monasteries across Europe. One of the place I wanted to visit was the monastery of St Gildard in Nevers, France. This is where the incorrupt [...]
I had a Southern Baptist friend who thought it was amusing, when visiting Catholic churches, to wave to the image of Mary and say, "Hi Mary!" When I challenged him on what seemed a mark of disrespect he said cheerily, "Y'all say, 'Hail Mary' and 'Hail' just means 'Hi', so it's my way of saying 'Hail [...]
Today is the memorial of St Elizabeth of Hungary--or as one of the kids joked, St Elizabeth of the Hungry. Right. Because St Elizabeth, who was a princess, after she was widowed built a hospital and gave all she had to serve the poor. But why should we do this? Because Jesus tells us to, but [...]
Any convert from Anglicanism has gotta have Bl.John Henry Newman right up there on the list of patron saints. Here are ten reasons why I love him and why he is so important for our age. He started as an Evangelical - Did you know that he used to go out on "Beach Missions" when he [...]
We were so blessed last May on our parish pilgrimage to Italy to celebrate Mass together at the tomb of St Francis. Assisi has been preserved very well considering the huge numbers of pilgrims and tourists who trek there every year. The Cloister at San Damiano You can still glimpse the medieval town beneath [...]
I was introduced to one of the great treasures of English medieval spirituality (sadly neglected by most Catholics) the Revelations of Divine Love by the anchoress and mystic Julian of Norwich when I took a course in the fourteenth century mystics at Blackfriars in Oxford. Fr Simon Tugwell OP was the brilliantly witty and erudite lecturer. The Lady Juliana was born about [...]
Idleness is the enemy of the soul, and so monks should be occupied at some times with manual labor, and at certain times with holy reading. — Rule of St Benedict I've written here on the importance of reading and study for the spiritual life. As a consequence, a few readers have asked me [...]
This post is an excerpt from my book St Benedict and St Therese, The Little Rule and the Little Way. Go here to learn more. Benedict of Nursia was born around the year 480 in the Umbrian province of Italy. According to his biography, written by Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Benedict was born into a ‘family of [...]
there is “no medium in true philosophy between atheism and Catholicism… a perfectly consistent mind, under those circumstances in which it finds itself here below must embrace either the one or the other.” - Bl. John Henry Newman I’ve got this gadget on my home page that generates quotable quotes. You don’t know what [...]
St Irenaeus of Lyons Whenever I am involved in conversations with non-Catholic Christians I go straight to the authority question. If that question is not resolved then every other discussion is only matter of swapping opinions. It is important, therefore to be clear on the basics of the Catholic understanding of authority. It is [...]