Whether they know it or not, Legates in San Francisco are impacting a whole generation of priests. The chapter’s chaplain, Fr. Michael Barber, uses his Legatus experience to inform his classroom of what Catholic leaders want in their priests and their parishes. A theology professor and director of the Spiritual Life Program at St. Patrick’s Seminary, Fr. Barber is also a Navy chaplain influencing a whole generation of Marines. He’s served as a Legatus chaplain in the City by the Bay for five years.
Healthnetwork Foundation has provided a vital and direct link for thousands of members and their families to top physicians and hospitals across the United States since 1991. As an organization that is firmly committed to giving back, Healthnetwork also donates substantial resources to leading physicians and medical institutions in order to make medicine better for everyone.
Over the years, I have come to recognize that one of my many faults is driving too fast. In recent years, I have been stopped for speeding on numerous occasions in Michigan and Florida. Somehow, on each of these occasions, I have always gotten off with just a warning. In fact the last time I was stopped, the policeman sent a baseball to my office for me to sign!
Pope John Paul II revolutionized how we understand the human body and God’s purpose for our lives, which is stamped into our very being. In his Theology of the Body, the Pope explained the divine meaning of human sexuality and why the body provides answers to fundamental questions about our lives.
For years, the authorities told us everything was fine. Former Treasury secretary Hank Paulson said the world economy was in the most robust shape he had ever seen it. There was no housing bubble, said the Federal Reserve’s economists; rising housing prices were the result of real factors and more or less sustainable. Those who warned that much of the apparent prosperity was illusory and that a crash was inevitable were laughed at and dismissed.
There really shouldn’t be a need for the Vatican to produce a document explaining what marriage is and how babies come to be. However, we live in a world which can no longer see reality for what it is. I once listened to a week of lectures on human sexuality by an Anglican theologian from Cambridge. Never once did he mention children in relation to sex.
Conviction is the music of leadership. I once heard a famous psychiatrist decry the fact that a single song can have greater influence on a person’s brain activity than a therapist can in years. Music captures emotions and frees the mind. It can prepare you for battle and calm you during stress. The more dramatic the music is, the more powerfully the lyrics are received. We all know what it’s like to listen to uninspired music. It repels sophisticated and educated people. They don’t “buy” it in spirit or in stores.
So, why are there more books in the Catholic Bible? Most simply: Catholics and Orthodox rely on a pre-Christian Jewish list of inspired books. Protestants rely on a post-Christian Jewish list of inspired books. This is unfamiliar territory for a lot of us.
Born in Northern Italy, Dominic was the second of 11 children born to poor, hardworking and pious parents. Early in his life, he grasped what it meant to be a true apostle. Though tempted with surges of anger, he quickly learned self-control.
In just a few weeks, President Obama will deliver a commencement address at America’s most prominent Catholic university. That is, unless Notre Dame rescinds the invitation or the president cancels his appearance. Neither is likely.