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"Further thoughts on the Synod" (Homiletic & Pastoral Review, July 2015)

webmaster — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 14:53:21 +0000

Further thoughts on the Synod Homiletic & Pastoral Review, July 2015 (www.hprweb.com)

What should the October Synod discuss?

webmaster — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 07:41:21 +0000

What should the October Synod discuss? [1]
Judging by the media reports on the Extraordinary Synod to be held in Rome this October, the bishops present will be mainly concerned with issues such as the admission to the Eucharist of divorced and remarried persons, the speeding up of annulment processes, and the possible revision of the Church's teaching on contraception. Implicit in most of the reports is the view that a liberalization or 'relaxation' of the Church's present discipline in these matters could help to ameliorate the pastoral problem or concern that the Synod is called to examine. What could be said about this view?

The Home - Principal Heritage of Humanity

webmaster — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 06:44:58 +0000

The Home - Principal Heritage of Humanity [1]
Our title puts together three concepts: heritage, humanity, home. A brief initial word on each.
Heritage
Heritage implies something that is handed down, that is worth not only having but also passing on to a further generation. So it implies something of value. By what standards can one distinguish what is of value?
Values may be spiritual or material, positive or negative, real or simply apparent. If the values we have are real (and the best of these are spiritual values, such as ideals of honesty or friendship) and we assimilate them, they help us grow in humanity. If they are only apparent (and this can happen especially with material values), their probable effect is to hinder or lessen our development as human beings.

Culture of Life and the Family (Hong Kong, 2007)

webmaster — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:24:43 +0000

Culture of Life and the Family [1] Position Papers, Jun-Jul 2009, pp. 231-240

Creativity
Culture suggests art; and the Chinese are renowned world-wide for an artistic tradition that goes back thousands of years, and is still expressed today with that fine touch of delicacy and beauty so often lacking in modern western art. I was reminded of this just yesterday when looking once again at one of those marvellous representations of Our Lady, Queen and Empress of China. What taste, I thought, the artist has!; what sense of beauty and tenderness!; just to look at that work of art raises one's heart to God.

Sexual identity in marriage and family life (The Linacre Quarterly, vol. 61/3 (1994), pp. 75-86)

webmaster — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 13:22:23 +0000

"Why can't a woman be more like a man?", complained Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady". Today he wouldn't be let get away with the remark without some people (not necessarily feminists) retorting: "and why can't a man be more like a woman?" Others might not only reject both complaints, but even question the importance of a man having to be like a man or a woman having to be like a woman. Indeed, if asked, they might be hard put to say what being a man or being a woman properly means, apart from elementary bodily differences. We live in fact in an historical period when sexual differentiation is becoming confused, sexual character is of little value, and sexual identity is in danger of being lost.

Developing Families with Personality

webmaster — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 13:20:17 +0000

Developing Families with Personality
Lecture Washington, D.C., Dec. 2004 (Position Papers, July 2005, pp. 209-214)

Culture of Life, Culture of Death; and the Family

webmaster — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:19:45 +0000

Culture of Life, Culture of Death; and the Family: Conference at the Catholic University of America, Dec. 2004 [1]

Bear with me if I start with some ideas which may not seem very much to the point of our topic, but which are in fact.
On Easter Day 1999, John Paul II dedicated a Letter to Artists; "to all who are passionately dedicated to the search for new epiphanies of beauty so that through their creative work as artists they may offer these as gifts to the world".
I don't know how grateful the world is for the gifts modern artists are making to it [2]; and I am not sure how much most modern artists look on their works as "epiphanies of beauty", as revelations of something marvelous to be found behind the appearances of things.

Annulments: the good of the spouses, the family and the Church (New York Lecture, 1999. Linacre Quarterly, 2000)

webmaster — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 13:19:12 +0000

As my title suggests, I propose to look at several aspects connected with the topic of annulments, none of which has to do directly with canonical procedures. But a prior word may not be out of place on two questions that I am at times asked. One is, if I am in favor or against annulments? Perhaps a somewhat naive question, since naturally I am in favor; very strongly so, when a proper judicial process shows that a declaration of nullity corresponds to the facts. Then one is dealing with a matter of justice, of the upholding of ecclesial rights.

Seers in a Blind World (Nazareth Journal, Summer 1997)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:24:05 +0000

[The following homily was given during the closing Mass of the Second Panamerican Conference on Family and Education in Toronto, May 30, 1996. It is based on 1 Peter 2:9; Mark 10:46.]

The Family in Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine, Our Sunday Visitor, 1997 (Ed: Russell Shaw)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:23:24 +0000

The family is both fruit and school of love. It begins in the self-donation of the spouses who chose each other as husband and wife. It comes into proper being as their marital union gives birth to their children. It is the natural setting in which the most important lesson of life - to love and grow in love - is learned.

School of love