We're probably all familiar with those who mean well but wrongheadedly change the texts of the Mass to make them "inclusive." E.g., those who adjust the preface dialogue and say, "It is right to give God thanks and praise," even though the antecedent for the expunged "him" in this case is "the Lord,...

The Lord's Transfiguration reveals the destiny and hope of a glorified humanity, accomplished through Jesus' Passion and death. My homily for this weekend is posted here....

Yesterday I had a delightful meeting with a parishioner who was seeking ways to respond to Jehovah's Witnesses. He seems to have befriended one who has been "working on" him for some years. Apparently one of the main attacks this Witness makes on ordinary Christianity is the observance of the "man m...

The other day when I was making my thanksgiving after Mass I got to reflecting on my experience of Holy Communion. It has shifted over the years. When I was younger in the faith my day-to-day spirituality was much more agonistic than it is now, and I think I used to view Communion as a kind of condu...

The flood was the prefiguring of the baptism we now share with Christ, and which we prepare to renew in this holy season. My homily for this weekend is posted here....

Once when I was in formation a friar came to teach us about the Eucharist. In an effort to illuminate our understanding of the real Presence of Christ in the eucharistic species, he developed a certain charming metaphor. I had my doubts about whether this metaphor led to a proper Catholic understand...

My seventeenth Lent! I know I write a version of this same post every year, but you can forgive me or just ignore it. It's just that Ash Wednesday strikes me as one of the most deep and clever rituals we Catholics do each year. Why would we line up to have someone put dirt on our head--in the form o...

Then, as now, we who seek Jesus' teaching, healing, and forgiveness gather at his house. My homily for this weekend is posted here....

This post is a response to a couple things I've read lately. The first is this post from Jeff about the controversy over displaying crucifixes and icons in classrooms at Boston College. As usual, he is a faithful and thoughtful voice for moderation and against the polarizing forces of contemporary C...

I've been following the uproar over the auxiliary bishop-elect of Linz, Fr. Gerhard Maria Wagner, who has asked to have his election rescinded. People have been outraged, they claim, because of his comments suggesting that hurricane Katrina was sent to punish the people of New Orleans for their sins...