Catholic Church

By Sean Fitzpatrick, Crisis Magazine - The secret that the day before Christmas is the day of Holy Eve is one that is kept as guardedly as nakedness, for it is a precious observance. But it is on this day of anticipation that the glory is truly given to Eve, the mother of man, since it was she whose felix culpa brought us the fiat of the Mother of the Son of Man. She, whose name is “Source of Life,” is the Greatest Grandmother of the One who is Life. Holy Eve, pray your mother’s prayers for us, and continue to give us the gift of hope on this, your day, Christmas Eve.

By Michael Pakaluk, Crisis Magazine - But Catholics, if they wish, can consult a very different guide, a papal encyclical written in the aftermath of the war, which diagnosed how things stood then and presciently warned about even greater calamities which were to come unless a certain definite remedy was adopted... I mean the first encyclical of then newly-elected Pope Pius XI, called Ubi arcano Dei consilio, published on December 23, 1922, exactly 100 years ago today.

By Fr. Raymond J. de Souza, EWTN News - Pavone himself asked, “What took so long?” in response to the news, as Bishop Zurek has been trying to laicize him for more than five years for contumacious disobedience...  "Disobedience to his bishop is the reason for Pavone’s dismissal." "Kathryn Jean Lopez has said flatly that this “is not about abortion” but rather about Pavone — despite the good that he has done — going “rogue.”"

By Constance T. Hull, Catholic Exchange - Let us take these final days of Advent to surrender our lives more fully to Christ. May He fill us with the comfort, strength, and peace we need to make our pilgrim way to the manger at Christmas no matter the Crosses we are asked to carry in this life. He is always with us, especially on dark nights when the weight of the Cross threatens to knock us to the ground. He is walking with us in these final Advent days and He will be waiting for each one of us in the manger at Christmas.