Perspective Archive

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Perspective

Queen Elizabeth II: Faithful Disciple

I was in Rome last week to give a presentation to the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences. I was supposed to go the following week with my Word on Fire team […]

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Perspective

Love and Support Catechists

Catechetical programs have resumed activities or will soon start in most Catholic parishes in the United States. Children, youths, young adults, and adults prepare to return to sessions where they […]

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Perspective

Love and Lament Alike – A Brief Reflection for All Who Care About the Church

As a priest and pastor, I work very closely with others: clergy, religious, laity who work for the Church, and laity who volunteer. We all work for the Church because […]

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Perspective

You Never Really Pray Alone

There is no such thing as “private” prayer. There is – and certainly should be – deeply personal prayer, but really no such thing as “private” prayer. All Christian prayer, […]

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Perspective

‘Let Go’: Shia LaBeouf on Conversion and the Meaning of the Gospel

“Pio … saved my life, this is not just a movie or something, and I don’t mean that lightly,” said “Transformers” star Shia LaBeouf in a soulful interview with Bishop Robert […]

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A more human society

A Depopulated Future

I remember when people thought overpopulation would destroy us and the planet. Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 book “The Population Bomb” popularized this idea, leading to urgent calls for “zero population growth.” Dr. […]

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Perspective

Following the Path of Inspiration 

During his down time at work, a Minnesota surgeon often browses the New Yorker in the hospital library. One day he spotted its famed cartoon caption contest – a caption-less […]

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Perspective

A Tree Falls and is Noticed

I’ve never lost a tree before. Our property had three magnificent oaks, each more than a hundred, maybe 150 years old. Like J.R.R. Tolkien’s Ents, each had its own gravitas. […]

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Perspective

Homosexual Men and Chaste Friendships

Catholic men facing same-sex attractions often struggle with how they are supposed to handle their homoromantic feelings. Some clearly understand that the Church invites them to order their feelings and […]

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Perspective

Discipleship is Hard, but God Gives Strength for the Journey

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Luke 14:25-33 The Book of Wisdom provides this weekend’s liturgy with its first scriptural reading. This book was written, according to scholars, in Alexandria by […]

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Perspective

Stages of Persecution

With the recent article in The Atlantic linking the rosary to extremist gun culture, we see a gross misunderstanding in the nature of spiritual warfare and its true target, Satan. The rosary […]

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Perspective

Our Catholic President and the Moral Issue of Our Time

On numerous occasions throughout his public career, President Biden asserted his personal belief as a Catholic that human life begins at conception and that abortion, therefore, is morally wrong. He […]