Jeanie Hannaman

By Most Rev. Joseph Strickland, The Wanderer - The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us” (CCC, n. 1131). This simple but powerful statement should shake us to the bone, and draw us to our knees in prayer and gratitude. Jesus Christ is not dead. He is alive. And, He is ministering to us in every sacrament of His Church. He dispenses His Divine Life to us, through them!

By Fr. Mike Schmitz, Ascension Presents - There’s justice and prudence and temperance and fortitude, faith, and hope, and love. But do you recall the social virtues at all? Thankfulness and affability are some social virtues that show us how Catholics should connect with others in social situations… Thankfulness is the social virtue by which we acknowledge people and their generosity. It’s not just a customary expression of thanks when someone does something nice. It means going out of your way to show people your gratitude for them going out of their way for you.

By Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing - This week may mark a watershed in modern Catholicism. On Wednesday, the Amazonia Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation will be released… we have seemed to be headed to major changes on priestly celibacy, deaconesses, and – in several respects – the very nature of the Church… It’s rumored in Rome that Pope Francis may have retreated a bit on those issues now, perhaps owing to the controversy over the Cardinal Sarah/Benedict XVI book defending priestly celibacy. The Exhortation may “only” recommend establishing a commission on celibacy. If true, we’ll still have yet another case of papal ambiguity. The faithful will be left trying to determine whether the commission is intended really to “study,” or to create an expectation – as happened in the 1960s, with the Pontifical Commission on Birth Control.