Am I the only one who gets depressed at the state of US politics? I heard today of a new proposal from the President. It began with a wonderful proposal of not only accepting the DACA young people, and even expanding the number of those accepted to 1.8 million. I...

During my life as a priest the sacrament of marriage has been a major interest of mine. We say, "Marriages are made in heaven", but that seems to be one of those pious phrases we could do without. In the marriage service we say about marriage that it is "the one...

NICK’S BLOG  - CHRISTMAS 2014 I have just read an article in the English Tablet (December 13, 2014) about a survey made by Benedictine University in Springfield, IL, USA about why people are leaving the Church. They are: 1.     Disagreement with certain Church...

We were giving a renewal in Westport, CT last week. During Question Time someone asked about the people leaving the Catholic Church and joining evangelical churches. It was suggested that the Catholic Church doesn't seem to want to build community or family - it is a...

ZEALOT: Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth A few months ago I read about an interview on the Fox network that made an ugly accusation. Reza Aslan who had written a book on Jesus Christ was an Islamic. What gave him the right to publish such a book? They didn’t...

EMBITTERED MORALIZING - AN OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD FOR GOOD, FAITHFUL PERSONS In a masterful book on grace, Piet Fransen suggests that we can test how well we understand grace by gauging our reaction to this story: Imagine a man who during his whole life is entirely...

Living in the Catholic Church: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow Thomas F. O’Meara, O.P. Prelude 50 Years of time since Vatican II.  You have “taken time” for us to reflect together this afternoon.  Let me begin with time. These days we are looking at church and university...

Fr Richard Leonard SJ. Today's Gospel teaches us that our Christian life should be marked by five characteristics, that we: willingly share with those in need; are ready to act justly; stay alert to the presence of God in the world; guard against those people or...

Niall Williams studied scripture under people like Raymund Brown before writing this novel on John the Evangelist. It begins on Patmos with John and a few of his disciples on the Island of Patmos during the time of  their banishment there. John is nearly a century...

I was recommended to read this book by Fr Ronald Rolheiser. He chose it as one of the best reads of 2012. It is well written, and is close enough to the truth to be more a biography than a novel. It tells of the tragic consequence of the pedophile scandal in the...