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Dr. John P. Joy |
Continuing our series on St. Pope Paul VI’s Creed of the People of God, we come next to the profession of faith concerning the Church.
This Creed is based on the Nicene Creed we say at Mass, but it goes into greater detail about what Catholics are required to believe in order to be “practicing Catholics” and (more importantly) in order to have that faith without which we cannot be saved.
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| Fr. Steve Grunow |
In the spirit of the upcoming All Hallows Eve, a.k.a. Halloween, Word of Fire staffers fired some questions at the walking encyclopedia that is Fr. Steve Grunow. He responded with everything you ever wanted to know about Halloween and its deeply Catholic roots.
This article is the second in a three-part series.
Question: What is the relation of Halloween to All Saints/All Souls? Which came first?
Father Steve: All Saints Day appears to have a more ancient genealogy than All Souls Day.
The practice of a festival day to honor the whole Communion of Saints, rather than that just a single saint, seems to happen for the first time in the Catholic Church with the consecration of the Pantheon as a public place for the Church’s worship. This happened in the year A.D. 609 (or A.D. 610) on May 13.
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Spirituality for Today
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The thing I remember most about St. Mother Teresa was her joy.
I met her three times in my life. Once when we were giving talks on the same program, once at a Vatican seminar on family life, and once when she asked me to give a week-long retreat to her contemplative novices on joy.
Almost two million Americans are now addicted to opioids. The National Institute on Drug Abuse notes that more than 100 people die each day in the U.S. from opioid overdoses.
This unprecedented level of abuse — which involves not only heroin, but also prescription pain relievers such as OxyContin, Percocet, morphine, codeine, and fentanyl — has become a national crisis.
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Two very different men, facing different sets of dire challenges with prophetic courage, faithfully journeyed along two different paths to the same destination: sainthood!
Who would have predicted it?
Fr. Steve Grunow […]
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In 1972, Respect Life Month was initiated by the American Catholic bishops. It is observed yearly during October in American Catholic dioceses.
It stresses the value and dignity of human life in all its stages. It is dedicated to increasing a greater culture of life through public information, education, pastoral care, public policy, and prayer.
“So, what’s in this room?” a friend asked once, when she was visiting us long ago.
She opened the door to our very cluttered “junk room,” saw the teetering piles of mail, unfinished projects, and general chaos, and laughed.
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In late July of 2018, Pope Francis ratified five members elected by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to represent the United States at the upcoming Synod of Bishops (October 3-28). The Synod will focus on “Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment.”
One of the chosen delegates is Bishop Robert Barron, and he was interviewed about the Synod in the National Catholic Reporter.
Below is an edited reprinting of this interview. For full interview visit https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/bishop-barron-calls-evangelization-apologetics-upcoming-youth-synod
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I was in Washington, D.C., recently for the meetings of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Since formal proceedings didn’t begin until the evening of my first day, I found myself with a little free time.
