Catholic Church

By Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, Catholic Exchange - In the hundredth-anniversary year of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, Fr. Andrew Apostoli was scheduled to be the spiritual director on a pilgrimage I was leading to Fatima, Portugal. As the pilgrimage drew near, Fr. Andrew told me that his superiors informed him that he could not go; it would be much too strenuous for him. His health had begun to deteriorate in the few months prior.

By John Grondelski, EWTN News - November, by tradition, is the month when the Church shines particular focus on praying for the faithful departed. As the last month in the liturgical year, the readings at Mass—both Sundays and weekdays—take on a decided eschatological tone… It’s a paradox that as the culture of death acquires an ever-greater grip on modern people, the discussion of death grows ever more mute. That silence is not unique to secular culture: the “four last things”—death, judgment, hell and heaven—have been AWOL from preaching for a long time.

By Charles Coulombe, Crisis Magazine - The Catholic cybersphere has recently exploded, first with a video showing Pachamama statues being dumped into the Tiber, and then the video’s sequel, in which 26-year-old Alexander Tschugguel explained that he threw the statues in the river because he felt their presence in a Catholic church violated the First Commandment. It turns out Alexander and I attend the same parish in Vienna. Despite his unpardonable sins of being much younger and far taller than I, he has always impressed me as a sane, measured individual.

By Msgr. Charles Pope - For the faithful, the day we die is the greatest day of our life on this earth. Even if some final purifications await us, the beatific vision for which we long lies just ahead; our exile in this valley of tears is ended… Is calling the day we die the greatest day of our life too strong a statement? I have seen some fellow Christians wince at this statement. In this age of emphasis on worldly comforts, medicine, and the secular, we rarely speak of Heaven—or Hell for that matter.