Jeanie Hannaman

By Daniel B. Gallagher, The Catholic Thing - This October marks five years since the biggest bungle of the Francis pontificate. Sadly, it is closely connected to the very name Jorge Bergoglio chose upon his election to the See of Peter. Interpreting Saint Francis, his legacy, and the charism he bequeathed the Church has always been difficult. Fratelli Tutti massively compounded that difficulty... Most criticisms of Francis’s 2020 encyclical focus on a specific item in the laundry list of issues he presents as crucial to our time: racism, immigration, interreligious dialogue, the dignity of women, capital punishment, and others. But I’ve seen very few critiques of the document’s foundational principle.

By Thomas Griffin, National Catholic Register - St. Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582), a Carmelite nun, devoted herself to prayer and to teaching others about how to grow closer to God through it. The following are some of her most powerful quotes, centering on how prayer brings us into deep contact with the person of Christ and allows us to act for him in the real world... Teresa wrote that “prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. … Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.” Making time for him is the starting point and can be the most challenging for us. Our calendars are so full that we often neglect to make time for Jesus.