Catholic News Agency published an article stating that in the wake of monasteries closing left and right in Spain, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, the head of the Vatican’s congregation on consecrated life, insists that contemplative life will not go away: “we need contemplative life as we need food and water to live.” While I…
As a Catholic and a man raised in the institutions of the U.S. military, I have always discerned a possible vocation to the military chaplaincy. Initially, the discernment took place out of a sense of duty that all men of the faith should seek, but eventually, a profound love of Our Lord Jesus Christ and…
Young men and women who enter religious formation today bring vital refreshment to a parched and weary Church. However, there are some who enter religion only to find that God has not equipped them with the necessary faculties to persevere. What about them? They longed to join their lives to that river of grace that…
With the pope’s long awaited post-synodal exhortation not far away, we can be sure that the modernists will be taking their axes to the roots of the discipline of clerical celibacy. We will hear claims that clerical celibacy was introduced only in the 12th or 5th century and that it is not a discipline that…
Editor’s note: The following article comes to 1P5 from a Carmelite nun who fears for her order. For centuries, contemplative religious have been recognized as the “heartbeat of the Church.” Indeed, even the 2018 Vatican document “Cor Orans” calls contemplative nuns the “praying heart” of the Catholic Church — an acknowledged truth from which the…
Our Lady spoke to St. Bridget a divine warning that seems to be a message directly from Heaven to His Holiness Pope Francis: Know this too: that if some Pope concedes to priests a license to contract carnal marriage, God will condemn him to a sentence as great, in a spiritual way, as that which…
In the past, Western Catholics have at times tried to force their own discipline on Eastern Catholics (the name of Bishop John Ireland still haunts the conversation). We now recognize that this was a mistake, and one that is not likely to be repeated, given the correct insistence that Catholicism thrives within a diversity of…
Consider a young man kneeling devoutly in a quiet church. He strives to be chaste, pious, well catechized, strong, and healthy. It seems that all his life, he has desired to please God. But something is distressing him. The young man seems confused. “Lord, what would you have me do?” he implores the Lord in…
The month of November is a time to contemplate the reality of death and remember the souls of our deceased brothers and sisters. This is a brief account of the funeral of Sister Wilhelmina of the Holy Rosary, the foundress of an extraordinary community of Benedictine nuns. On the feast of the Ascension this year,…
We are about to republish a very old book, and I thought a much abbreviated history of this effort might be of interest. One day, a little more than three years ago I — not realizing into what a project I was about to launch myself — did a Google search on Armand Jean de…
The Church’s most urgent need… How would you define it? Here is how Bishop Athanasius Schneider once answered the question: Before we can expect efficacious and lasting fruits from the new evangelization, a process of conversion must get under way within the Church. How can we call others to convert while, among those doing the…
