I remember the first time I experienced Eucharistic Adoration; I was in college and 21 years old. The experience was amazing and I left adoration elated at having spent that intimate time with Christ and disappointed that I, a cradle Catholic, had never experienced this before! I also remember being drawn to Adoration and spending time adoring Our Lord whenever I had the chance, specifically if it was late at night. I was never one who stayed up late in college and so getting up at 2:00am was difficult for me. But I chose that time with the Lord specifically because it disrupted my routine! Every time the alarm went off, I had a choice to make; will I get up and offer this to the Lord, or would I selfishly roll over and go back to bed?

From flexing women on magazine covers to the success of the Wonder Woman movie, womanly empowerment is in the air, and in general, I’m a fan of that. What I’m not a fan of is the Contraception Lie. This is the lie that says that contraception is key to womanly empowerment.

Most people have no idea that decades ago, Blessed Pope Paul VI wrote a document called “Humanae Vitae”, or “Human Life” in Latin, which has been nicknamed “The Birth Control Encyclical.” He wrote it in 1968 as a response to the question: Is birth control ever a moral means of regulating births? The short answer is: No, it isn’t. This response has never been a popular one and has caused some people to accuse the Catholic Church of being “down on women.”

My brothers and sisters in Christ,

"Then Jesus approached and said to them, 'All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age'" (Mt. 28:17-20).

Thank you for your prayers these first few months in my new role as Parochial Administrator of St. Mary Magdalene. It is a great blessing to be able to serve you in this capacity! I know that many of you are curious about Religious Education (RE) in light of Jayne's relocation to OH. We wish Jayne well and thank her for her years of dedicated service to our parish. At this time, I want to write to you today about St. Mary Magdalene's Religious Education program. Religious Education is actually a topic that I am very passionate and excited about. Growing up, my mother was always involved in RE either as a catechist, or more often than not, the coordinator/director of RE programs. Her influence and example of ongoing formation and discipleship continues to inspire me to this day. Needless to say, a lot of my mother's influence has rubbed off on me as I to share a love of educating people in our rich Catholic Faith and forming them to be disciples of Jesus Christ. It is a rewarding experience.

Contraceptives are supposed to make life easier. The idea is if married couples could have sex without the possibility of becoming pregnant that their marriages would be better, easier, and last longer. Couples would be happier. Unfortunately, it does not work that way.

Since 1960, when the introduction of the oral contraceptive pill accompanied and fueled the sexual revolution, there has been an explosion in the divorce rate. There is more sex before marriage, more cohabitation, and less commitment and actual marriages than ever. People are less satisfied and less happy. Why? Is there a link to the widespread use of the Pill? How about the use of long-acting contraceptives like the IUD or sterilizations – getting your tubes tied or having a vasectomy? Each of these interventions attempts to separate the possibility of new life arising from the act of intercourse, which ultimately separates the spouses from each other and from God. These broken relationships result in misery for the persons involved.

Imagine Thanksgiving dinner in the average American home. In addition to the food, drink, and festive décor, lively argument is often a common staple as well. In order to skirt the conflict that will likely be the result of the diversity of lifestyles present at the table, one might be tempted to make it known that certain topics are “off limits.” This typically pushes issues like faith and politics off the table.

Pope Paul VI was not the type of man that would advocate for this false sense of peace. True peace is not achieved by deciding not to talk about matters that are most central to our understanding of what it means to be a human person, or how one is to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ in the world.

When we think of Old Testament sacrifices, we often think of bloody animal sacrifices. However, animals weren’t the only things sacrificed in the Temple. There were also “un-bloody sacrifices.” One of these sacrifices was the offering of bread.

According to the book of Leviticus, there was to be a perpetual offering of bread by the Jewish people. To fulfill this command, Jewish families throughout the year would bake bread and offer a portion of it in the Temple as a sacrifice to God. Some portions of those offerings were eaten by the priests, while other portions were preserved and placed in the tabernacle of the Temple. This offering was known as the “Bread of Presence.” The Bread of Presence was a sign of God’s continual presence among His people. As long as the Bread of Presence remained in the tabernacle, the Menorah was to remain burning brightly alongside it.

This article is in continuation of a series giving a brief overview of the reform of the liturgy and sacred music...

One of the interesting details found in every Church document pertaining to Sacred Music is the emphasis on the significance and importance of Gregorian Chant. It is universally recognized as the music that belongs in a Roman Catholic Church. This is especially true with the Second Vatican Council’s document on the Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) and its implementation document for Sacred Music (Musicam Sacram). The following are some specific references to Gregorian Chant made by these documents:

The first document the Second Vatican Council produced was the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, known as Sacrosanctum Concilium, which was completed in 1963. Since the Liturgy is at the heart and center of the Catholic faith, the bishops wanted the world to know that liturgical reform would be at the heart and center of this historic Council.

Pope Benedict XVI, as a young theologian participating in the Council sessions noted, “The decision to begin with the liturgy schema was not merely a technically correct move. Its significance went far deeper. This decision was a profession of faith in what is truly central to the Church - the ever renewed marriage of the Church with her Lord, actualized in the eucharistic mystery where the Church, participating in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, fulfills its innermost mission, the adoration of the triune God.” 

In his previous article from October 1st, Fr. Will discussed the contributions of Pope Pius X regarding Liturgical Reform in the Church. Here, he takes us through the next several decades of contributions in the area of Sacred Music.

The immediate decades following the release of Pope St. Pius X’s encyclical, Tra le solicitudini, in 1903 produced very little change in the American liturgical music scene. The phrase, “active participation,” inspired great optimism and led to many theological reflections and discussions, but the picture of worship in American Catholicism remained largely the same. The low Mass without congregational participation remained the norm and parishes struggled to help the people of God participate in singing the prescribed chants of the Solemn High Mass.