Start here.
I have written here since 2010 on evangelization, parish life, Scripture, apologetics, and the moral life. These six are the best place to begin.
Go Home and Live as Missionary Disciples
If your faith feels humdrum, you may not have entered the mission yet. A talk to men on what that asks of you.
Formed By Distraction
Eliot described minds pulled from one distraction to the next. We now carry that in our pockets. What is it forming in us?
What Is a Catholic?
A plain answer: who belongs to the Church Christ founded on the Apostles, and what holds that Church together.
Why You Need Your Men’s Group
Before asking whether men’s groups work, ask what problem they are meant to solve.
Why Protestants Are Becoming Catholic at My Parish
What draws evangelicals and mainline Protestants into the Catholic Church, as they told me in class.
How God Speaks in Human Words
The first of four articles on how the Bible is at once a human book and the Word of God.
Address from Bishop Conley on New Mass Translation
You ought to read this address given by the man in charge of implementing the corrected translation of the Roman Missal into English for the Archdiocese of Denver, Bishop James Conley.
This is superb, properly framed in Catholic theology and liturgical tradition, and just down right inspiring.
Sing a New Song with Your Lives
Here are some quotes that are illustrative:
Let me say this: I’m very excited about the changes that are coming and about the opportunities we have for an authentic liturgical renewal. Practically speaking, implementing the new Missal means that all of us will be learning new translations of long-familiar prayers and responses. This makes it a perfect moment in the life of the Church for a new “eucharistic catechesis”.
The Professional Church: discipline (part 3)
Whatever the character trait you are looking for in a new hire, there is one quality above all that must be present in abundance. This quality is more fundamental than self-motivation, has a great impact than candor, and gets better results than efficient org charts.
This quality is discipline.
In the world of the Church we see personal discipline as the foundation stone of Christian living. After all, the word "disciple" means "One who is disciplined". In the business world, disciplined thought, action, governance, planning, and disciplined resource management is the key to profit and success. As social sector workers, instead of private sector, profit is not a measure of what we would label "Success". But even so, discipline remains the fundamental characteristic of any great parish, school, diocese, or other Catholic organization.
Quoting the influential Jim Collins:
"Mediocre companies rarely display the relentless culture of discipline - disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and who take disciplined action - that we find in truly great companies. A culture of discipline is not a principle of business; it is a principle of greatness."
Collins wants to apply the main principles from his book Good to Great to the world of the non-profit, so he wrote a monograph called Good to Great for the Social Sectors. I draw from this small booklet because it addresses many of the problems faced in the parish.
CCE Syndrome
In doing youth ministry over the years I have encountered two identifiable syndromes that have spread to varying degrees within my youth groups.
The first is "Catholic School Syndrome", which is a disease of the intellect that equates a living faith with a passing knowledge of the subject of Theology. God is reduced to a multiple choice answer on a test.
The second disease, one of the heart, is "CCE Syndrome", which affects the ability of public school kids to find any joy or excitement in their once-a-week faith formation program. CCE Syndrome prevents the teenage will from taking delight in the things of Heaven because they are immersed in the worst of the earth. CCE Syndrome is typically contracted through the lack of emphasis placed on a personal, living faith in God, replaced with a moldly monologue of religious instruction concerned with facts about God and Church history.
If the God of the Universe was madly in love with you, wouldn't that affect you somehow? It is a form of apathy, just like Catholic School Syndrome.
Here are some ways to smack it down.
marriage, society, and my friend Chris
My friend Chris, a conservative law school student, was at a conference for the political and legal protection of traditional marriages. It is a pretty famous group that supports the Christian conception of marriage. At this particular conference the main issue was gay marriage and how to legally defeat it in the several states.
At one point there was a Q and A session where attendees could ask questions and make comments to the presenters. My friend Chris is a lot of things, one of them is not shy. He is what you call "confrontational" and also "fearless" and "thoroughly Catholic."
So at this conference filled with mostly Christians and other social conservatives of every stripe, he takes to the microphone and addresses one of the speakers who criticized gay marriage as the "undoing of the meaning of marriage in society".
He said: "Marriage is not just about a union between a man and a woman. It is that, but it is also about the procreation and education of children. That's the 'meaning' of marriage: babies and bonding with your spouse. I think, if we are going to be honest, we have to see that use of contraception within marriage was really the 'undoing' of marriages, because it separated babies from the sexual act altogether. No-fault divorce, remarriage, and all the rest are results from the widespread acceptance of contraception in marriage."
The place was silent.