The sociologist and columnist Father Andrew Greeley often remarked that the successes of immigrant families in the 20th century were due to the many free...
As a small child, I was a bit of a religious nerd. I’m not sure why, but I was the oldest child, the only daughter, and our little Catholic mission parish in farm country was central to our lives. From a young age, faith intrigued me.
There are so many things clamoring for our attention these days, in all different kinds of ways. We are assaulted by advertisements, which are practically unavoidable on every video we watch, on billboards, on the radio and on our social media feeds.
We began the season of Lent this past Feb. 14, precisely on Valentine’s Day, a day of love and friendship. What better time to begin this season with the true love of Jesus in His self-giving for us!
In Roman Catholic parishes, the rituals of Lent begin with the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday. But many Eastern Christians – both Catholic and Orthodox – set the tone for the penitential season of Lent by observing another tradition: Forgiveness Sunday.
Defective or dangerous – that is, inauthentic – leadership, at any level, concerning any plan or project, always departs from God’s providence, which we know from scripture, tradition and the settled magisterium. We are all in different circumstances, but we are all called to learn by the Light and to lead to the Light. That is genuine leadership, whether papal, political or plebeian. Its absence is chaos, corruption and crime.
It was a crisp morning a few years back, and the streets were largely empty. I was early for a meeting downtown and I planned to pick up a coffee on my way.
FROM THE PASTORS
Read and listen to homilies posted regularly by pastors at parishes within the Diocese of Charlotte:
Our Lady of Fatima Chapel was established in 1954 to serve a large influx of Western Electric employees who relocated from New Jersey. Located on the corner of Third and Cherry streets, it is a small gray brick building originally built in the early 1900s as the city’s first public library. An influx of Hispanic Catholics in the 1990s added to the community’s diversity, and now its parishioners come from more than 10 countries.