The political air is filled with the oxymoronic phrase “gay marriage”. The two words have no connection.There is no such thing.The Presidential election is underway. The enforcers of the new cultural revolution will try to make those of us who insist that marriage is what it is seem to be intolerant. Nothing could be further from the truth.Those who support marriage as a lifelong committed relationship between one man and one woman are being pilloried in the press.

Yesterday, a new candidate emerged on the American Presidential playing field. Along with only a few others, he has the courage to speak of real first principles at an absolutely critical time, when our beloved Nation is struggling for her soul and attempting to chart a path for a better future. He seems, at least so far, to be unafraid to speak of the fundamental human rights issue of our age, the inalienable right to life and the real first freedom among all of our cherished freedoms, the freedom to be born.

The tradition records massive conversions to the Christian faith as a result of the holy life and death of one Deacon who understood the true heart of his vocation. He was poured out, like his Master, Jesus Christ the Servant, in redemptive love, on behalf of others. It is still said to this day that all of Rome became Christian as a result of the faithful life, and the death, of this one humble deacon. He was buried in a cemetery on the Via Tiburtina. On that spot, Constantine would later build a Basilica.

Catholic identity at a Catholic College requires that the academic community understand its ecclesial nature. In an institution, just as in persons, it begins from the inside and works its way throughout like leaven or yeast in a loaf. Catholic identity must become the beating heart of a Catholic College and provide the infrastructure for its entire educational mission. When it does, the building of a Catholic culture on campus becomes a fruit. This kind of Catholic culture helps to ensure the integration of the faith in every aspect of the academy, through both word and witness.

On the Lord’s Day,one of the most gifted political personalities in recent American history, Senator Barrack Obama, stood before a congregation of concerned Christians and said "…From South Central L.A. to Newark, New Jersey, there's an epidemic of violence that's sickening the soul of this nation…The violence is unacceptable and it's got to stop." Senator Obama, what about the children in the womb killed by legalized abortion? Who hears their cry?

Tuesday July 10, 2007 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released its long expected document reaffirming Catholic Ecclesiology entitled "Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine on the Church".  It is a very succinct, well written three page document containing an introduction followed by five questions with five answers. In essence, it simply reaffirms the teaching of the Second Vatican Council regarding the theology of the Church (ecclesiology), as well as modern encyclicals and magisterial documents which have so beautiful expounded upon it.

My sincere hope is that the liberalization of the use of older form of the Liturgy will raise the water level of all the proper Liturgical celebrations in the One Church ! May the hermeneutic of continuity be demonstrated and embraced by all of Christ's faithful and, in particular by priests. May the Novus Ordo Mass, the Tridentine Mass and the Byzantine Liturgy, all be celebrated with the beauty, dignity and fidelity that the faithful deserve and may the Holy Spirit continue to guide the Church into this new missionary millennium.

Life for a Christian is not circular but linear. It is always moving forward to fulfillment in Him, both personally and universally. There is a beginning - and an end - which is but a new beginning in the One who is Himself both the Beginning and the End. Time is now purposeful and unfolds into eternity, in Him who has entered time and transformed it by His life, death and Resurrection. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.The Resurrection of Jesus Christ makes all things new!

I awakened this morning with a deep pain of loss in my heart. It has been two years since a waiting world heard the words, “Pope John Paul II has died.” My own heart broke in two. Time stood still. The tears of the faithful around the world watered the world with their love. Since that moment, we have carried on, living in the light of the life and example of this incredible gift, Pope John Paul II.

On this day when the whole world is Irish, we need to join together in this wonderful prayer of Patrick. It is called a "Lorica", meaning in the Catholic tradition, it is recited for protection. Patrick knew that Christian missionary activity was, in its essence, spiritual warfare. It still is. May his example and his prayer guide all of us in our missionary work in the Thrid Millennium.

The Presidential election of 2008 is in full swing because the primary system is so front -loaded. It is also because there is a growing dissatisfaction in the American people concerning the state of our Nation. This has fed a sincere hunger for new direction and new leadership. I offer "first principles" to assist in evaluating the Candidates.

Randolph W. Sly, long active in Christian ministry and pro-life work, early pioneer in convergence movement and Archbishop of the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church has entered into the full communion of the Roman Catholic Church with his wife Sandy.

“Therefore the Lord Jesus came to baptism, and willed to have his body washed with water. Perhaps some one will say: “He who is holy, why did he wish to be baptized?” Pay attention therefore! Christ is baptized, not that he may be sanctified in the waters, but that he himself may sanctify the waters, and by his own purification may purify those streams which he touches. For the consecration of Christ is the greater consecration of another element.

The tradition records massive conversions to the Christian faith as a result of this holy life and death—poured out, like His master, in redemptive love. In fact, it is still said to this day that all of Rome became Christian as a result of the faithful life, and death, of this one humble deacon. He was buried in a cemetery on the Via Tiburtina. On that spot, Constantine would later build a Basilica.

For the Christian, the center from which the Divine design proceeds in our own lives- and through which we begin to discern the beauty of God’s perfect plan - is the Cross of  Jesus Christ. It is the central patch of cloth from which the pattern proceeds. It is also where the pattern returns. However, seeing this pattern requires ongoing conversion. We need the eyes that can only come through living faith. We need the strength to pull ourselves up by grasping the wood. It is only there where we begin to see that the threads all form a pattern woven by love.

After Roe is overturned... there will be States where the littlest persons are free and those where they are still treated as property. Our work will not be over, it only begins. Our goal is not simply to expose and oppose the current culture of death; it is to build a new culture of life, and a civilization of love to replace it. This requires the abolition of the “new slavery” which has secured in law the treatment of little persons in the womb as property.That is why we need a new abolitionism.

One of the obstacles that I find in giving Jesus, God's "Yes", to others is a wall that is often built around human hearts and minds. There are so many misconceptions about religious faith. So often in ministry, one finds oneself not being asked to actually respond to someone’s heartfelt hunger for God, but rather, being subjected to automatic replay messages from the past, laden with misconceptions concerning who - or even if  - God truly is. Jesus Christ alone is able to quench the desperate thirst that still drives men and women into the desert. He is the Good News of God.

The Social Teaching of the Church provides “principles for reflection, the criteria for judgment and the directives for action which are the starting point.” It is a guide for Christian Citizen Activism. As the next campaign season unfolds in earnest, we have a resource available that has never been available before, “The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.” We need to turn first to Christian teaching and take back our prophetic and servant role in culture.

Through prayer, daily life takes on new meaning. It becomes a classroom of communion. In that classroom we learn the truth about who we are - and who we are becoming - in Jesus. Through prayer we receive new glasses through which we see the true landscape of life. Through prayer darkness is dispelled and the path of progress is illuminated... Prayer opens us up to Revelation, expands our capacity to comprehend truth and equips us to change. Prayer is making a place for God.

We live in what was aptly labeled a “culture of death” by the late Pope John Paul II. Some refer to our age as “post modern”. I prefer to go further, it is neo-pagan. However, the Catholic Church has walked this way before...She is navigating the waters of this new pagan age as she has navigated other rough waters in ages past..throwing out the nets to the increasing number of empty souls who are searching -knowingly or unknowingly- for the God who is their Maker and Redeemer, having become emaciated by the fare of the new nihilism.

In this culture of death and use, where children are viewed as disposable and truth must bow to the so called "right" to abortion, there is now a campaign of chemical warfare against the once safest place in the world, a mothers womb.

We live in a “functional” age. One of its bad fruits has been the tendency to reduce human beings to human doings. It is an empty age, an age of Nihilism, where the perceived “value” of a person is often gaged by what they “do”, rendering them producers rather than persons. Sadly, these errors have permeated every level of our existence together.

Roe v Wade is on its way out;it is imploding from within. It was not founded upon law, but relied instead upon junk science, bizarre ramblings and errant history. It is on a collision course with itself in light of subsequent opinions. It will be reversed as soon as the next inevitable appointment(s) are made to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, The end of Roe is not the end of the culture of death. In fact, when the reversal comes, our task really begins.

What the Compendium does is to give Catholics, other Christians, other people of faith and all people of good will a complete sourcebook for Christian Social teaching. In this one volume we find all the references needed to study this Social Teaching and then to go “right to the source” by turning to the back of the book. It provides the instruction that has been so desperately needed to give clear direction to those who are committed to a new Catholic Action. It will also be welcomed ecumenically by anyone concerned with true social justice and Christian activism.

The Church is not some “thing”, outside of us, which we try to “fix” or have our “issues” with. Upon our Baptism, the Church becomes our home, our mother, the place in which we now live our lives in Christ. That is not to say we do not sometimes have struggles with our mother. However, she always remains our mother. This profound ecclesial identification is not simply meant to be a source of inspiration or piety for the Christian; it is to become the pervading reality of our lives, now lived in Christ.

In Jesus Christ, we are invited into communion with God the Father. In Him, we find communion with one another. In Him we are invited into the world that He still loves to carry forward in time His redemptive mission. In His "High Priestly Prayer", the Son of God still prays to the Father, "…that they may all be one". Yet, in His Church, His Body on earth, that unity appears to be an illusive dream. That is without the eyes of faith. We are broken, at enmity with one another, and we fail to take the call to unity seriously. The heart of God breaks.

“The heart has become the battlefield between love and lust. The more lust dominates the heart, the less the heart experiences the nuptial meaning of the body…. The body remains an object of lust and, therefore as a “field of appropriation” of the other human being”

Pope John Paul II

An “education to freedom” is the antidote for a Western culture that has become diseased, drunk and debauched on what this Pope has elsewhere called a “counterfeit notion of freedom.” In fact, it may be the greatest need of a culture and society that is on the road to its own demise. We live in a culture and an age that has succumbed to a false understanding of freedom.

Tabernacle: From the word tabernaculum, meaning "tent or hut," this is the place in a Catholic church where the Blessed Sacrament is kept. Typically a small chamber with a door, it is designed specifically to honor the Blessed Sacrament and encourage our prayer and private devotion. From the word tabernaculum, meaning "tent or hut".