Guest blogger Caitlin O’Rourke is a member of St Bridget’s, Church, High Dudgeon, New Jersey. Caitlin is ten years old. See what you probably didn't know is that my middle name is Agnes but I don't tell anybody because I don't like it very much because Granny had a friend she used to take me to [...]
St Lucy Not Lucile Ball, but St Lucy is the one I love. It is her feast day today, and here are some reasons why she's important: Firstly, there is the symbolism of her name. "Lucy" comes from the Latin for light--"Lux" or "Lucis". Lucy is the saint of Light in the season of [...]
One of the difficulties about preaching is there is too much to say and too little time to say it. This is especially true of the celebrations that only come around once a year. So for Christ the King on Sunday I spoke about Blessed Miguel Pro and "Viva Christo Rey!" and the need for majestic [...]
Sin is monotonous. Sanctity is totally original. Underneath this observation lurks a deeper truth--that sin is boring. We believe in original sin, but there is nothing original about sin. This is because evil is derivative. Satan cannot create anything, all he can do is twist or destroy or distort what is good. Take any sin at [...]
St Therese dressed as Joan of Arc "Sanctity! It must be won at the point of a sword!" said the little warrior St Therese. If anyone has read her Story of a Soul and gave it up as a sentimental exercise in French bad taste they should pick up The Last Conversations. The first book [...]
St Therese of Lisieux C.S. Lewis once observed, ‘How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints.’ In his little biographies of Thomas Aquinas and Saint Francis of Assisi, G.K.Chesterton revelled in the sparkling individuality of both saints. Aquinas was the greatest philosopher of his time [...]
A debate has been cooking amongst various bloggers who are atheists about whether there is such a thing as objective morality. I was interested in the observations that animals behave in a 'moral' way--elephants grieve their dead herd members, dogs stand loyally beside the grave of their dead master, monkeys share and gorillas are tender toward [...]
Click to enlarge Did you know that Ignatius of Antioch was not only appointed to the see of Antioch by Peter himself, but tradition has it that he was one of the children that the Lord took up in his arms and blessed? Ignatius of Antioch was martyred in the Roman Coliseum by being [...]
Did you know that the original Infant of Prague was owned by St Teresa of Avila? Here's the story: In 1628 the small, 19" wooden, wax coated statue was given by the Spanish princess Polyxena Lobkowicz to the Discalced Carmelites. The princess who was Spanish, had received the statue as a wedding gift in 1603 from [...]
On this feast day of St Thomas More we do well to remember that the Tudor Revolution in England (sometimes given the euphemistic term: Reformation) was not immediately violent and catastrophic. It began with Henry VIII and his counsellors deciding that the church courts should not deal with cases of civil law. In the Middle Ages [...]