Jeanie Hannaman

By David G. Bonagura, Jr., Catholic Culture - Sure enough, in the century-long crescendo to the liturgical reforms initiated by the Second Vatican Council, liturgists became enamored with ancient forms of the Mass and desired a return to them. After the council, a committee commissioned by the pope—this time, without his direct involvement—scrapped the Roman Rite codified over a millennium earlier in favor of a new order of the Mass that was allegedly closer to the original. Once again, some Catholics did not receive the new version with joy, though, unlike in the seventeenth century, Rome was keen to see nearly every church and monastery adopt the new order.

By Msgr. Roger Landry, National Catholic Register - On Gaudete Sunday, we have another reason to rejoice this year: 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of St. Paul VI’s apostolic exhortation on Christian joy, Gaudete in Domino (“Rejoice in the Lord always”) from Philippians 4:4, the same expression from which the Third Sunday of Advent gets its nickname... While we sing of joy throughout the Advent season — “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!” — this Sunday’s Mass begins with a special imperative taken from St. Paul’s charge to the first Christians in Philippi: Gaudete semper in Domino. Iterum dico: Gaudete! (“Rejoice in the Lord always. ...

By Daniel B. Gallagher, Catholic Exchange - My family still celebrates St. Nicholas day on December 6th, a tradition my wife and I inherited from our parents. Our kids wake up to shoes stuffed with goodies brought by the holy 4th-century bishop. As they grow older, they will begin to understand the reason Nicholas practiced such generosity towards children and the poor: his belief that Jesus is one-in-substance with the Father, a truth Nicholas vigorously defended at the Council of Nicaea—the anniversary of which Pope Leo just commemorated in Turkey.