Tag: God

On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino

God’s unfailing mercy and our response

Dear Friends,

Last week I was blessed to be in Rome for the ordination for two of our men (Scott Emerson and Gabriel López-Betanzos) to the Order of Deacon in St. Peter’s Basilica. It was a wonderful event, and I was so pleased to experience it, with so many faithful from our parishes and some brother priests.

I know you’ll all join me in prayer for our two new deacons and the three we saw ordained this spring (Deacons Chahm Gahng, Christopher Gernetzke, and Tafadzwa Kushamba), as they make their way to priestly ordination this coming June 26!

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On
Fr. Robert Barron

The sciences and God

Given the ruminations of Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, and Daniel Dennett, one might have thought that the absolute limit of scientistic arrogance had been reached. But think again.

Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology, has asserted that “science” is on the verge of providing a complete understanding of the universe — an explication that precludes the antiquated notion of God altogether.

Limitations of the sciences

Before addressing the God issue, let me make a simple observation. Though the sciences might be able to explain the chemical make-up of pages and ink, they will never be able to reveal the meaning of a book; and though they might make sense of the biology of the human body, they will never tell us why a human act is moral or immoral; and though they might disclose the cellular structure of oil and canvas, they will never determine why a painting is beautiful.

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On
Kevin Wondrash

Parish offers creation care class

MADISON — Blessed Sacrament Parish will host the Just Faith Ministries’ module, “God’s Creation Cries for Justice,” which probes a faithful response to climate change.

In this eight-week class, participants will examine climate change through the lens of Catholic social teaching — reflecting on their place in and responsibility for God’s creation. With a particular focus on the impact of climate change on the poor and vulnerable, the group will explore what action steps they can take to insure a sustainable future for all.

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On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Prayer: It’s the FIRST thing we should do

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

Sometimes when we are facing problems and challenges in our lives, we try many alternatives to fix the problem or meet the challenge. When all our alternatives are seemingly exhausted, we finally turn to prayer.

We say to ourselves, “Well, I guess all I can do now is pray about it.” In effect, it’s our last resort.

Experiencing many tragedies

Recently our world has been experiencing many tragedies: conflicts between the Israelis and Palestinians, shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in the Ukraine, Christians fleeing the city of Mosul in Iraq for fear of being killed by the Islamic State group . . . the list goes on.

In addition, many people have been killed and injured in weather-related disasters. People have been murdered in drive-by shootings and gang warfare in our own country.

What can we do in the midst of all these awful things happening around us? Pope Francis keeps reminding us to pray in the face of each disaster. But are we really listening to him and turning to prayer?

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On
Jacqueline von Zwehl

Finding the one . . . just ‘let it go’

Gifts for Your Soul column by Jacqueline von Zwehl

One of my rituals I always look forward to is girl’s night out. A group of four of us have been meeting for dinner about once a month for years now.

Over the years, two of us have gotten married and had kids, one member of our group has been in a steady relationship for a year, and one friend is currently single. We love each other like sisters and look forward to this evening with great anticipation.

After we finished dinner and had dessert served, my single girlfriend blurted out, “I don’t think God is listening to my prayers.” I immediately dropped my fork, forsaking my tiramisu. She continued with a heavy heart, “I’ve been praying and praying. I volunteer, pray for others, go to mass, everything,” exasperation entered her voice, “but I’m still single and can’t seem to meet the right person to share my life with. I just don’t know what to do anymore, and I’m afraid I’m losing my faith in my prayers.”

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On
Fr. Robert Barron

Why goodness depends on God

One of the most common observations made by opponents of religion is that we don’t need God in order to have a coherent and integral morality.

Atheists and agnostics are extremely sensitive to the charge that the rejection of God will conduce automatically to moral chaos. Consequently, they argue that a robust sense of ethics can be grounded in the consensus of the human community over time or in the intuitions and sensibilities of decent people, etc.

What I would like to do is lay out, in very brief compass, the Catholic understanding of the relationship between morality and the existence of God and to show, thereby, why it is indispensably important for a society that wishes to maintain its moral integrity to maintain, at the same time, a vibrant belief in God.

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