BIG C CATHOLICS

By Father Thomas Mattison We have been conditioned by years (centuries?) of teaching to think of love/charity as a virtue, something to do or not. But St. John tells us God is love. He does not tell us that God does love. I want to suggest that this is the insight – although never spoken – that makes Israel think of God as Elector/Electing; having no other identity than the one who chooses his own people. I do not think that we go far wrong when we assert that the only God we know is the one who loves/chooses us. With those observations in mind, I might like to revise the translation of John’s phrase and say that God is Loving, not as an attribute, but as the very dynamic of His being. You may want to reread this paragraph in order to forge ahead. If God is Loving, then all of creation is something like a love letter. You and I are words in that love letter. I don’t mean to sound like a song from the Seventies, but we must bite the bullet on this one and admit it: Unloving un

(In 2017, this feast is superseded by the Sunday liturgy.) September 10th, is traditionally the feast of Saint Thomas of Villanova (1488-1555), the 16th century Spanish Augustinian friar, theologian and bishop. Given his habits and proclivities, some thought him "eccentric," despite his brilliance and the universal praise of his students and colleagues. Thomas’ intellectual legacy is marked by his insistence that learning be inspired by the desire for God. From his parents, he inherited a special love for the poor and deep compassion. Thomas García was born the son of a miller in Fuenllana, a village near Villanova in Spain. From a young age, he exhibited a great proclivity for personal piety and scholarship. His mother’s example of charity toward the poor inspired in him a lifelong mission to aid the needy. He studied at the University of Alcalá where he received his master’s degree in 1509, and a doctorate shortly thereafter. In 1512, he became a professor of phil

Most Reverend Robert J. Baker, S.T.D. Bishop of Birmingham, Alabama (Pastoral letter delivered May 29, 2015 as Bishop of Charleston)    The faith of Christians expressed fully by Roman Catholics includes belief in the redemption and resurrection of the body. We say as much in the Creed each week. We do not believe that we become angels when we die. We remain human beings, awaiting glorified bodies. As with our Great Redeemer, Jesus Christ, we have a human nature which we will have for all eternity. Some have called this a "muscular and robust theology," but in fact it is simply constant Catholic belief. We believe that our human bodies will be changed, glorified, and perfected, but that they will still be our bodies and recognizable as such in some fashion. The disciples knew Jesus after the resurrection even though it was his risen body which they saw. "And none of the disciples dared to ask him 'Who are you?' because they realized it was the Lord&

Memorial – August 28th Augustine Aurelius was born on November 13, 354, in Tagaste, North Africa. His father was a pagan, his mother, Saint Monica, was a devote Christian. Still unbaptized and burning for knowledge, he came under the influence of the Manicheans, which caused his mother intense sorrow. He left Africa for Rome, deceiving his mother, who was ever anxious to be near him. She prayed and wept. A bishop consoled her by observing that a son of so many tears would never be lost. Yet the evil spirit drove him constantly deeper into moral degeneracy, capitalizing on his leaning toward pride and stubbornness. Grace was playing a waiting game; there still was time, and the greater the depths into which the evil spirit plunged its fledgling, the stronger would be the reaction. Augustine recognized this vacuum. He observed how the human heart is created with a great abyss. The earthly satisfactions that can be thrown into it are no more than a handful of stones that hardly c

By Father Thomas Mattison There is no such thing as a Church teaching that is not social. Once upon a time the bishop of the Diocese of Burlington was named Robert F. Joyce. He was a native of Proctor and installed as bishop of Burlington in 1957. He resigned as bishop after 15 years at age 75. He would not have been grateful to be called an ecclesiologist — an expert in the theology of the Church — but he was just that. At every Confirmation ceremony he gave the same sermon -- every one! And he would make everyone in church repeat the message after him: Don’t go to heaven alone; take someone with you. RFJ clearly understood that there is in each of us a tendency — a temptation — to think of ourselves before thinking of anyone else and, even, to the exclusion of everyone else. But he understood, too, that such a focus on the single self was absolutely antithetical to Christianity. Just being a Christian means being — at very least — connected to Jesus. We have no connect

By Father Thomas Mattison So, you will ask me — legitimately — how about the Crusades and the clashes between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire etc.? Were these not instances of meddling in politics by the Catholic Church? As you can imagine, my answer will be, “No.” The Middle Ages represent the vacuum created in the western world by the collapse of the old and totalitarian Roman Empire. Hostages to their political past, and lacking in political imagination, both sides of these conflicts claimed as their due the mantle of European supremacy. They called it “ ius divinum ” (divine right). They both claimed it — the emperor no less than the pope. The collapse of the Holy Roman Empire and the rise of what we call the nation states of the modern world left the Church still claiming its ius divinum in the face of new claimants to the same right — the kings and parliaments of emerging countries. For background on this check out the internet’s treatment of such figures as P

Memorial - August 1st Alphonsus Liguori earned a doctorate in both civil and canon law by the age of sixteen. This future Doctor of the Church was not, however, destined to remain in the secular legal profession. After the humiliating loss of a court case in his mid-twenties, he gave up law and dedicated his life to serving God and His Church. Alphonsus was born in Naples, Italy, in 1696 to a noble and pious family. Against the wishes of his father, who had encouraged his legal career, Alphonsus was ordained a priest in 1726 and soon became known as a particularly articulate preacher. His gentleness, especially in the confessional, was controversial in the eyes of some. At this time, the Catholic Church was struggling with the heresy of Jansenism. This teaching, which was actually a form of Calvinism, was strongly condemned by the Pope in 1713, but vestiges of its austerity and scrupulosity were still being felt in the actions of various religious orders and also confessors.

Memorial of St. Bonaventure - July 15th Legend has it that it was Saint Francis of Assisi who gave Saint Bonaventure his name, long before anyone else realized to what heights this young boy would ascend. As a child, Bonaventure — who was baptized John — became seriously ill. His mother, hoping that the saint would intercede with God on behalf of her son, brought him to St. Francis. Francis did pray for the boy and he was made well. The saint also foresaw a great future for the child. " O Buona ventura! " (O Good Fortune!) Francis was reported to have exclaimed, and the name stuck. Whether or not there is truth to this story is debatable; however, Bonaventure went on to live a life of compassion, holiness, and remarkable scholarship, leaving an indelible imprint on the Franciscan Order and the Universal Church. Born in the town of Bagnoregio, Italy, around the year 1217, the boy who would become the saint grew up in relative obscurity. Little is known of his early ye

LifeSite reports on an opinion piece by a former Vatican official discussing Pope Francis’ refusal to answer the dubia issued by four of his cardinals concerning the doctrinal implications and proper interpretation of Amoris Laetitia , the post-synod apostolic exhortation on the family. The confusion that emerged in the wake of Amoris ’ release has resulted in myriad conclusions and widespread uncertainty . The LifeSite article begins: "Why doesn’t the Pope respond to the Dubia? The former director of the Vatican Bank thinks he knows why. Ettore Gotti Tedeschi suggests that Francis is sending two messages through his silence: that he can contradict himself if he likes and that he wishes to impose a 'New Catholic Morality' on the Church. This new morality would be based not on doctrine but on the subjective opinions of the individual conscience... Ultimately, Francis’ silence — which allows doubts to continue to flourish — is a denial of objective truth." Mr.Te

Optional Memorial - June 22nd Saints Thomas More and John Fisher were talented and energetic Renaissance men who contributed to the humanist scholarship of early modern England. More wrote theological treatises while making a career as a lawyer and government official. Bishop John Fisher worked as an administrator at Cambridge, confronted the challenge Martin Luther presented to Christianity and served as Bishop of Rochester. He dedicated himself to preaching at a time when prelates tended to focus on politics. Both men corresponded with Erasmus, who helped Fisher learn Greek and Hebrew, and famously referred to More as "a man of all seasons". Above all their accomplishments, these heroic disciples of Christ bore witness to a deep faith in God and his Church. More considered entering religious life and was assiduous in his devotional practices. A married man, he committed himself wholly to his vocation as a father. In the 16th century, disciplinary measures with chil

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) There are three paths to knowledge that we frequently walk… thinking using concepts, thinking using pictures or images, and thinking using our experiences. They are all routes to truth even though experience seems to be the favored route these days. This is curious to me because learning through experience gives us some of life’s harshest lessons. We learn the hard way along that route. The other routes are not so harsh. From its earliest days, the Catholic Church has relied on images — pictures found in stained glass windows, statues of saints and holy people, and glorious mosaics found in so many of our churches. Television, movies, and computer images have surrounded us during the last century. As never before in human history our children are learning via images. Today I am going to share some thoughts with you about the Holy Trinity using mental images. It’s better that way.

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) All of us, at one time or another, have experienced deep disappointment. In this context, today’s words of St. Peter take on a special meaning: “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.” When I started my theology studies, that was the very first text quoted in my very first class. Forty-five years later, these words have not lost their resonance. The explanation we give for our hope will, ideally, be personal.  It really isn’t enough to say, “That’s what I was taught.”  Yes, of course there are reasons common to all believers, but we have our own reasons, too.  At some point, the hope we were taught became our own hope, probably at the moment when we realized that we really did believe in the Jesus Christ we profess in the creed.  Can you remember when that was? Maybe it

May 2nd, is the memorial of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296 – 373), the 4th century bishop, theologian, and Doctor of the Church who as a revered pillar of the Faith championed orthodoxy and the divinity of Christ against the heretical Arius (hence his title "Arius' ablest enemy"). He is a venerated Church Father. Most Catholics today have little idea what the term “Arianism” means. In the 4th century, however, it was the most pernicious heresy ever to be promulgated, and it threatened to destroy the Church's most essential beliefs about Jesus Christ. Arius, for whom the heresy is named, was a priest in Alexandria, Egypt, in the late 3rd century. He believed that, although Jesus was Lord and Savior, he was not equal to God the Father, but was merely the highest of all God’s creatures. In short, Arius denied the divinity of Christ. His teaching had divided the Church. Enter St. Athanasius. He too, was from Alexandria, having become Patriarch Archbishop

April 21st, is the optional memorial of Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)., also known as Anselm of Aosta and Anselm of Bec, the 11th century Benedictine abbot, archbishop, theologian and philosopher. He was born in the Italian town of Aosta, the eldest child of a noble family. His mother gave him a careful academic and Christian education. At 15, he sought entry to a monastery, but was refused over his father’s objections. Later, Anselm experienced a period of rebellion and excess, during which he abandoned his studies. He travelled to France in search of greater purpose and eventually reached the Abbey of Bec, drawn by the fame of its prior, Lanfranco of Pavia. There, at the age of 27, he entered monastic life. In time, Anselm’s fellow monks would name him Lanfranco’s successor as abbot. Anselm successfully made the Benedictine monastery of Bec the center of a true reformation in Normandy and England. From this position, he wisely exercised a restraining influence on popes,

Tradition holds that the medieval saint Thomas Aquinas levitated and had visions of our Lord. He was greatly concerned with explaining the mind of God, and he continues to matter because he helps us with a problem which still confounds us today; how we can reconcile religion with science and faith with reason. Aquinas’ monumental contribution was to teach Western civilization that any person could have access to great truths whenever they made use of God's gift of reason. Aquinas broke a log jam in Christian thinking over the question of how non-Christians could have both wisdom and at the same time no interest in or even knowledge of Jesus. Aquinas universalized intelligence. He opened the Christian mind to the insights of all of humanity from across the ages and the continents. The modern world insofar as it insists that good ideas can come from any quarter regardless of creed or background remains hugely in Aquinas’ debt. As a young seminarian, Aquinas went to study at th

December 7th, is the optional memorial of Saint Raymond of Peñafort (1175-1275), a 13th century Dominican priest and theologian who, as a contemporary of Saint Thomas Aquinas, worked to help Christian captives during the period of the Crusades and added greatly to Canon Law, the Church’s legal code. A brilliant evangelist, in his writings, utterances and example, St. Raymond won numerous souls for Christ. Over 10,000 Muslims converted as a result of his efforts. Named the Superior General of the Dominican Order, he retired after only two years due to his advanced age. (Afterward, he lived another 35 years during which he skillfully advanced the Good News of Christ.) His most notable work, the Summa Casuum , concerns the importance and correct administration of the Sacrament of Penance. He was born into a Spanish noble family, with ties to the royal house of Aragon, at the castle of Pennafort, in the Catalonian region of present-day Spain. The future saint received a world class edu

December 23rd, the Church celebrates the optional memorial of St. John Cantius, (c. 1390 – 1473) otherwise called John of Kanty or John Kanty, the 15th century Polish priest and theologian whose intellectual brilliance was matched only by his personal piety and generosity toward the poor. A university professor of renown, he was sent to minister as a parish priest in a small rural Church. His parishioners, like his students held him in high regard. He is known for his honesty and humility. Cantius made numerous trips to the Holy Land and Rome, journeying by foot. According to tradition, on one pilgrimage, he was robbed. The robbers asked if he had any additional possessions. The future saint answered "No." Later, Cantius realized he had gold coins sewn into his garment. Tracking down the robbers, he presented the coins with apologies. Ashamed of their theft and astonished at his honesty, the robbers returned all they had stolen to Cantius. So great was his witness, that c

Consider the following: Our original state of grace was forfeited when our first parents rejected God's love in favor of the Devil's lies. God loves us so much that even if you were the only person to have ever lived, Christ would have suffered and died just for you. We cannot deny God's love, but we can deny, ignore and perpetuate our own sinfulness. The former is inscrutable. The later, undeniable. G. K. Chesterton (1874-1836) and C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) were not collegial contemporaries save for a brief period when their respective philosophies illuminated (to varying degrees) the firmament of modern Christian apologetics. Reputedly, when  The Times  (of London) sent out an inquiry to famous authors inquiring, "What is wrong with the world today?", Chesterton honestly replied: Dear Sirs, I am. Yours, G.K. Chesterton Regarding our fallen nature and propensity to sin, C. S. Lewis was equally candid. His essay. " The problem with X... " discu

Nativity, Giotto, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, c. 1316. When we celebrate Christmas we are commemorating the three nativities of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the reason for the three Masses celebrated on this day. The first is the eternal begetting of God the Son from all eternity within the mystery of the Blessed Trinity by the Father, “You are My Son. Today I have begotten You.” This first nativity was before the seven days of Creation, when everything was darkness. This is why the first Mass is at midnight to recall the darkness that prevailed during that first eternal birth of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The second nativity, or birth of the Second Person of the Trinity is commemorated on Christmas day when He became man, born of the Virgin Mary, in Bethlehem. For the world, the darkness was beginning to be dispelled. This is why the second Mass is celebrated at dawn when the dawn is beginning to dispel the darkness. The third nativity of Christ is w

December 14th, is the memorial of Saint John of the Cross, (1542-1591) the 16th century Spanish Carmelite priest, mystic-poet, theologian, and Doctor of the Church, who was instrumental in the Counter-Reformation. Born Juan de Yepes He was the youngest child of a poor silk weaver in the village of Fontiberos, Toledo, Spain. From the very start, John yearned for God. His father was of noble birth; he had married much beneath him, and for that offense had been entirely cut off by his family. He took up silk weaving as his livelihood, but did not profit greatly from it. Soon after John was born, his father died, leaving the family in dire poverty. His family was unable to pay for an apprenticeship. John became the servant of the poor in the hospital of Medina, while pursuing his sacred studies. In 1563, at the age of 21 he offered himself as a lay-brother to the Carmelite friars, who, knowing his intellectual gifts, ordained him a priest. He once contemplated entering the Carthusian O