Catholic Church

By Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th., Church Militant - On Wednesday, Bp. Joseph Strickland of the diocese of Tyler tweeted, "I call on every Catholic priest to lead a simple Eucharistic Procession around your Church sometime before the Feast of St Joseph, March 19, for repentance, Christ’s healing hand on the Coronavirus & that all men may be Godly, manly sons & disciples of His Son Jesus Christ."… Strickland's plan of having Our Eucharistic Lord battle the coronavirus mirrors the actions taken by Pope St. Gregory the Great to battle the plague in the sixth century. In response to the plague devastating Rome, Gregory led processions and prayers of repentance through the streets of Rome.

By Shaun McAfee, EWTN News - The urgency for prayer and petition should not begin when we are most desperate. Our prayers for protection and deliverance from evil begin before that. Most of all, because we naturally desire protection: everyone values safety. Likewise, this sense of hope enables us to be situationally aware of our condition and all potential threats. That is why it’s better to listen to warnings early and pray for protection and deliverance before a threat makes itself real… Most of the world may have never heard of St. Vincenza Pasini, but she was a prayerful peasant’s wife who understood the important of the earliest appeals for prayer. …

By Fr. Mike Schmitz, Ascension Presents - A great way to make this Lent even better spiritually is to offer up not only something you chose, but also to offer up your inconveniences… Give God those moments when you’re stuck in traffic, or when someone says something bitter to you, or when you have to run an errand you just don’t want to run. Offer up those inconveniences that you didn’t choose, and God will make you stronger in them… Intentionally receive these moments, and let them provide the opportunity to die to self…

By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing - If you spend enough time studying the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church… certain patterns emerge. Some of these patterns are confounding, others are simply infuriating: a failure to take allegations seriously; a tendency to underestimate the trauma caused by sexual abuse in children; a powerful instinct to protect the reputation and assets of the institution, even at the cost of harming victims and putting others at risk; a willingness to trust experts who gave bad advice, particularly about the safety of returning “rehabilitated” offenders to ministry.