A Mass of hope and sadness, and the necessary thing October 10, 2024By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Commentary Muscular evangelization is not helped by a plethora of crumbling church buildings and sacraments going unbestowed amid dying congregations; evangelization requires energy, and bringing young, enthusiastic believers into community together begets exactly the happy vigor needed to effectively share the faith.
Nose to ground: Identifying the ‘root cause’ of sexual abuse in the church September 4, 2024By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Commentary Fingers pointing at materialism and media must ultimately point to the church’s own miserable failures of leadership and its inability to inspire trust and confidence within a laity that may generously be described as “disappointed” or “disillusioned” with her efforts on many fronts, but especially on the issue of sexual abuse.
Supernaturalism: The natural state of faith-infused living August 16, 2024By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Commentary I passionately advocate for acknowledging the profound supernaturalism of the Catholic Church, where bread and wine, consecrated through prayer and ritual, bring into our space the very presence of the incarnate Lord, who feeds us, entering into our very veins and sinews, so we might become his vessels, bringing the light, the concern, the Body of Christ into the world.
The world says ‘jump!’; Jesus says otherwise August 13, 2024By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Olympics Jesus wants us to love each other — to recognize the God-borne humanity in each person that comes before us and — before reacting, deciding or judging — loving them for it.
Of faith and finances, churches, charity and change July 20, 2024By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Giving Salvation has never been about one’s worthiness, but about one’s willingness.
‘We’re all mad, here!’: ‘Diabolical disorientation’ and the church July 1, 2024By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Commentary We are left to ponder the notion of “diabolical disorientation” while being forced to remind church leaders that art — even the greatest works of artistic expression — can never be more important than people.
The little way to pray all day, even if you have no time to spare! June 17, 2024By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Commentary For many the idea of “finding time for real prayer” seems daunting as they imagine adding an hour to their already crammed schedules and then begin to consider all the things they will “need” to really get going: a prayer corner, with icons and statues and Bibles and breviaries.
A refuge for parents? Find it deep within the Sacred Heart June 6, 2024By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Marriage & Family Life The Sacred Heart is rather like the Cabinet of Curiosity featured in several of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books — a mysterious structure no one fully understands yet everyone instinctively knows is vital to the proper functioning of, well, all things.
Four days in May reveal one deadly but unifying factor in the Catholic Church May 22, 2024By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Commentary Thanks to both social and mainstream media, these four days exposed a striking, ungodly amount of noisy Christian infighting to the rest of the world.
Meeting Jesus at midnight or in the wee small hours May 20, 2024By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Commentary One need no longer hold a cold and lonely vigil at a locked door because — thanks to what used to be called “new media” — monasteries and diocesan adoration chapels from all over the world maintain live streams of the Blessed Sacrament for remote adoration, whereby the energy of the Christ is transmitted through energy both housed and in the ether, to encounter our own.
Praying through the headlines in the year of prayer April 18, 2024By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Commentary It is an important and, yes, powerful thing to invite our guardian angels to guide us, as we peruse the news, toward stories most worthy of our attention; to guard us against rash judgment or bitter cynicism.
The Year of Prayer: Don’t wait for guidance; just do it April 4, 2024By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Commentary Prayer is also merely dialogue whose simplicity can resemble all the manner of conversations we have throughout our days, large and small, pleasant or sarcastic or even heated.