In ancient times, before the founding of the city of Rome, the Etruscans began the practice of burying their dead in underground chambers.  Although the early Romans usually cremated their dead, the early Christians revived the use of catacombs because cremation was thought to deny the Christian belief in the resurrection of the body.  By the second century, Christians had begun excavating extensive catacombs in … Continue reading Catacombs

When Pope Benedict XVI was elected on April 19th, he inherited more than just the leadership of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics.  He also got a really nice vacation property just 14 miles southeast of Rome. Castel Gandolfo is a small town on the shore of Lake Albano.  It first came under the patronage of the Holy See in 1604, when it was acquired by … Continue reading Castel Gondolfo

Within the clerical hierarchy of the Catholic Church, there are really three levels:  deacons, priests, and bishops.  Among bishops there are several varieties:  bishops, archbishops, and cardinals.  The pope is, of course, a bishop: the bishop of Rome.  But beneath the pope in the hierarchy are the cardinals: bishops or archbishops of higher rank.  Although they have special responsibilities and greater prominence in the universal … Continue reading Cardinals

If you visit the campus of a large university in the US or Canada, and locate the office or building for Catholic campus ministry, it’s likely that it will be called  the Newman Center.  These ministries are named for John Henry Cardinal Newman, an English cleric of the 19th Century.  You may be wondering what the connection is between the two. Cardinal Newman was born … Continue reading Cardinal Newman

If you quizzed most Catholics about their rights in the Church, you’d probably get more than a few who would summarize those rights with the words “pray, pay, and obey.”  Apart from the fact that those are really responsibilities, not rights, they convey the common notion that the folks in the pews really don’t have any rights.  But the Church’s Code of Canon Law makes … Continue reading Canonical Rights

There was a time when the world was lit only by the sun, or by fire.  Throughout most of human history, our early mornings and nights were lit by candles.  Today much of our world is illuminated by electricity.  But for us Catholics, candles are still important. Each year at the Easter Vigil, our most sacred liturgy, we begin by blessing a bonfire, and then … Continue reading Candles

During the summer travel season many people of faith will take the opportunity to not just travel, but to go on a pilgrimage. For the last thousand years or so, one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations has been the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella in Galicia  in northwestern Spain. According to legend, the cathedral is the resting place of St. James the elder, one … Continue reading Camino de Santiago de Compostella

If you ask most Catholics to name the corporal works of mercy, most would probably come up with feeding the hunger and tending the sick.  But the work of mercy that is probably the least practiced today is burying the dead.  Today, burying the dead is a billion-dollar-a-year industry, and for most of us, that corporal work of mercy has been reduced to writing a … Continue reading Callistan Guild

This week marks the end of another year.  No, we don’t have our dates mixed up; the week, with the Feast of Christ the King, we are at the conclusion of another liturgical year, the cycle that the Church follows which delineates the feasts and seasons of the year. The new liturgical year begins next week, with the first Sunday of Advent.  During this season, … Continue reading Liturgical Calendar