Jeanie Hannaman

By Gene Thomas Gomulka,  John Eighteen Thirty Seven, (Complicit Clergy) - After the man shared his history of relationships and friendships, I told him that I was not worried that he might be “turned” like many innocent and sexually inexperienced young Catholic men who today are closeted homosexual priests and bishops. While older and more experienced men have a better chance of making it through the seminary without being sexually harassed, groomed, or abused, I told him I was more worried about what might happen to him after he was ordained.

By Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing - Pope Leo has been traveling in Turkey and Lebanon, doing what popes do on such occasions: Visiting religious and political leaders, signing agreements about further “dialogue,” calling for peace and respect for human dignity... The main thing, the reason for the trip in the first place, was and is the truth confirmed at the Council of Nicaea (Iznik, Turkey today) in 325 A.D. that Jesus was not only a great man – as even many secular people today concede – but that He is the eternal Son of God and the Savior of the world.

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture - Advent begins with the same warning that ended the liturgical year: Be watchful. Stay awake. You do not know the day nor the hour (cf. Mt. 24:37-44). Jesus speaks these words not to frighten us, but to shake us free from spiritual lethargy. Advent is our time to wake up, purify our souls with God’s grace, and clear the obstacles that keep us from receiving Jesus—in Bethlehem, at the end of time, and at every Mass... Advent is the season of spiritual readiness for the coming of Jesus. Not paranoia, not anxiety: readiness. Jesus tells us to stay awake because He desires to come to us with mercy, not catch us off guard with judgment. The Church gives us these weeks to reorder our lives, examine our habits, and prepare the way of the Lord.

By Michele Chabin, National Catholic Register - Following two years of subdued Christmas celebrations due to the ongoing Hamas-Israel war, this year the holiday will be celebrated in the Holy Land in all its splendor, especially in Bethlehem... “The tree is already up and employees are working 24 hours a day to prepare for Christmas,” Bethlehem Deputy Mayor Lucy Talgieh told the Register. “After five years of COVID closures and then the war, we want to celebrate.”... The festivities will include a tree-lighting ceremony at Manger Square, and the streets leading to the square and the Church of the Nativity will be full of decorative lights. ...