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Liturgy
This link will keep 'parishioners-at-large' in touch with current creative liturgy sources and resources that respect a variety of 'traditions' within the Church.

COMMONWEAL Magazine
A 'lay' Catholic weekly publication with an accent on an intelligent analysis and commentary on curent issues, trends and concerns of interest to Catholics.

National Catholic Reporter
A national Catholic lay newspaper covering events not usually covered or presented with a clerical bias in the local diocesan press or but of concern and interest to Catholics.

Survivos' Network for those Abused by Priests or Religious
A National Network of self-help support groups for people abused by clergy or religious.

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Vital information about the disclosure of sexual abuse and related issues affecting Catholics in the pew and the manner in which Bishops continue to exempt themselves from accountability

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A 'movement' of lay Catholics 'inspired' by the abuse scandal calling for greater accountability of bishops to 'Catholics in the Pew.'

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Daily Scripture

+ 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

Be wise but don’t be a ‘wise guy!’

Readings: I Corinthians 3:18-21 Psalm 24:1-4, 5-6 Luke 5:1-11

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God, for it is written: “God catches the wise in their own ruses,” and again: “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that are vain.”

Wisdom (Sophia) is a feminine attribute of God. True wisdom is rooted in deep faith and an abiding confidence in God’s abiding presence in all of creation and in the depth of our being. Wisdom comes from study, prayer and from the daily effort to live in God’s grace with Jesus as our mentor. Reason without faith leads to rationalization of our wants and desires. Reason combined with faith moves us to contemplation and moves us to probe and ponder the greatest mysteries of life that exceed the power of the human intellect to explicate or explain. That’s why poets, artists and composers are enable us to comprehend the qualities of God in nature, in the human body and in the qualities of a life lived in union with ultimate truth and beauty.

So we need to go to our prayer chair for at least twenty minutes at the beginning and end of every day. We need to walk among the trees and along the sea. We need to listen to music that stirs the soul and sing songs that touch the heart.

Only then can we be thoughtful people of measured speech and positive deeds.

Guest Editorial

Sunday June 6, 2010

A Pattern of Missteps, an editorial from COMMONWEAL Magazine. June 4, 2010 Apart from such political blunders, recent pastoral failures within the…Read full entry

Editorial - Op Ed

Monday September 7, 2009

Prophecy has its privileges but it also has its risks! Most of those who know me, also know that I am…Read full entry

Editorial - Op Ed

Saturday August 29, 2009

Bishop decries ‘combative tactics’ of a minority of U.S. bishops Published on National Catholic Reporter (http://ncronline.org) Albuquerque, NM A majority of U.S. bishops…Read full entry

The Grace of Good Friday

Friday March 21, 2008

Jesus is dead! Banks are closed. No mail delivery today. Off to Nassau and the islands for a break? or instead to Disneyworld? Color Easter…Read full entry

Open Letter to US Bishops

Thursday June 21, 2007

Last Sunday in observance of the fifth anniversary of the meeting of the US bishops in Dallas to hear the…Read full entry

Editorial - Op Ed

Sunday June 3, 2007

I have been thinking about drafting an ‘editorial / op-ed’ piece entitled, ‘The Catholic Wink.’ It’s a glib term…Read full entry

Editorial - Op Ed

Monday March 19, 2007

It’s a matter of conscience For several weeks in succession, I repeated the ‘pulpit’ announcement at the conclusion of Mass at…Read full entry

Tomorrow's Priests - a 'guest' editorial

Saturday January 13, 2007

November 3, 2006 / Volume CXXXIII, Number 19 EDITORIAL – COMMONWEAL Magazine The Catholic priesthood in…Read full entry

Unanswered Question Linger...

Tuesday January 9, 2007

Boston Globe on the Fifth Anniversary of Disclosure By Steven Krueger | January 7, 2007 It couldn’t be stated more…Read full entry

Guest Editorial

Sunday June 6, 2010

A Pattern of Missteps, an editorial from COMMONWEAL Magazine.
June 4, 2010

Apart from such political blunders, recent pastoral failures within the American church have also undermined the credibility of its teaching about abortion. Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix recently alarmed even many staunchly prolife Catholics when he publicly announced that Sr. Margaret McBride, RSM, had excommunicated herself by approving a request to remove a fetus from its mother’s womb in order to save her life. McBride served on the ethics committee at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. Late in 2009 a woman was brought to the hospital suffering from acute pulmonary hypertension, a life-threatening condition for any pregnant woman. If the pregnancy, then in its eleventh week, continued, both mother and child would probably die.

Abortion is not permissible under any circumstances, says Bishop Olmsted, not even to save the life of the mother. But others, including some very conservative Catholic moralists, think that, in cases where a pregnancy will almost certainly kill both the woman and her unborn child, separating the child from the mother is morally justified. The arguments here are complicated. Suffice it to say that the intention of those who remove the embryo or fetus from its mother’s womb is not to kill a developing child but to save the mother in a situation where the child has no chance of survival and the woman has no other chance. It is not clear to many Catholics why in cases of ectopic pregnancy the church will allow the removal of a fallopian tube—and with it an embryo—in order to save a pregnant woman’s life, while it will not allow the removal of a nonviable fetus to save a woman from dying because of pulmonary hypertension. It is not enough for bishops to say or imply: “Trust us. There’s a difference.” Nor is it fair to expect Catholics to overlook the death and human suffering occasioned by such theoretical subtleties.

The statements issued by Olmsted admit of no complexity or uncertainty when it comes to such hard cases. Certainly, the bishop had a responsibility to question Sr. McBride’s decision. What he should not have done was assume that she and others were acting in intentional defiance of Catholic teaching. Instead of simply announcing the excommunication of someone of good faith and great dedication who was faced with a now-or-never, life-or-death decision, why didn’t the bishop simply express concern that McBride might have erred, and explain that it is a bishop’s duty to investigate the incident? In that way, he might have avoided lending support to those who argue that the church cares more about embryos and fetuses than about their mothers, and that Catholic bishops won’t be satisfied until the law forces women to continue pregnancies that are a death sentence for both them and their unborn children.