Spiritual Life>

Reflections on the
Method of Saint John Paul II

Taking the Risk of Faith,
Finding the Fullness of  Faith
Before the 1960s, the basic thinking about education was that children, and those being instructed in the Faith, should simply accept the truths as presented by the authority figures. The Church, the government, the educators and parents knew best, and education simply consisted of learning facts and learning how to conform and obey.

Following Jesus and
Thinking With The Church
Requires a New Way of Thinking
VATICAN CITY, September 23, 2012  At midday today the Holy Father appeared on the balcony overlooking the internal courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at Castelgandolfo to pray the Angelus with faithful gathered there.

New Evangelization:
Returning to First Love
VATICAN, July 28, 2012 --The new evangelization does not consist in proclaiming a new message different from the one that has always existed, nor in merely using new strategies or boisterous methods to attract people. It is in fact a question of returning to the “first love” mentioned to us in the Book of Revelation when the Church of Ephesus is reproached. The new evangelization must be geared to ensuring that the men and women of this secularized society return to living their happiness in the presence and closeness of God's love in their lives. It is a matter of returning to the freshness of the Gospel, of letting themselves be filled with surprise and wonder by the word of Jesus himself, as happened when he began his public life and the people who heard him asked themselves “What is this? A new teaching!”, and were surprised at Jesus' actions (cf. Mk 1:267).

Cardinal Dolan Sees U.S. as
'Mission Territory'
NEW YORK, NY, July 17, 2012  -- The U.S. and other Western nations are “mission territory” for the Catholic Church in modern times, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York stressed in a July 17 online posting.

Catholics and Modernity
KRAKOW, POLAND, JULY 12, 2012 -- Somewhere on the far side of what Tom Wolfe called the Halusian Gulp, Father Francis X. Murphy, C.Ss.R., is reading the July 11 Washington Post and groaning — if, that is, his purgatorial purification has been effective.

Catholic Cultural Review 'Humanitas'
Now Accesible in English
SANTIAGO, CHILE, July 11, 2012 -- The Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, has issued a letter encouraging Catholics to visit and read the recently launched English edition of  “Humanitas,” a Christian anthropological and cultural review, edited by the Pontifical Catholic University in Chile.

Government Cannot Take Away
True Freedom, Archbishop Chaput Teaches
WASHINGTON DC, July 4, 2012  -- Government cannot give or take away the ultimate freedom found in obedience to God, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said at the closing Mass of the U.S. bishops' “Fortnight for Freedom.”

Pope Says:
True Greatness Found
in Humble Service
VATICAN CITY, June 27, 2012 -- Pope Benedict XVI says that the path to real greatness in life is not found in self-promotion but in sacrificial love towards God and other people. 

Blueprint for 2012 Evangelization Synod Unveiled
VATICAN CITY, June 19, 2012 -- The working document that will guide the deliberations of the 2012 synod of bishops on the New Evangelization has been unveiled.

Archbishop Gomez:
Seminary Teachers Must Be
"Students of American Culture"
Editor's note: Archbishop Gomez' talk has relevance for the laity who are interested in participating in the New Evangelization.
PHILADELPHIA, PA, June 15, 2012 -- Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles told a gathering of seminary teachers and staff that they must study the American culture in order to form priests who can better serve the Church.

After Seven Years,
The Secret of Pope Ratzinger
ROME, April 27, 2012 – Benedict XVI will be remembered more for his homilies than for his encyclicals. And for his audacious, unconventional actions. Like in Madrid, in front of a million young people and right in the middle of a violent storm...

Blessed Are the Persecuted:
Catechesis on Persecution
By the Successor of Peter
ROME, April 23, 2012 – Benedict XVI explains how to respond to the persecutions that are still hitting Christians today. In the same way as the apostles. Without fear, without revenge. With freedom, courage, prayer.

The Apostles' Response to Persecution
Wednesday Catechesis of Pope Benedict XVI

US Bishops Say New Evangelization
Requires Lives of Witness
WASHINGTON, DC, April 17, 2012 -- In response to Blessed John Paul II's call to evangelize formerly Christian societies, the Church must build a “culture of witness,” said representatives of the U.S. bishops in a new document.