News - June 2020 RSS Feed

Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Roger Gries may no longer be a member of a Benedictine monastic community, but he still writes “O.S.B.” after his name to let people know he was formed in the Order of St. Benedict.

Nic Davidson, renowned speaker on the theology of the body, will emcee the Legatus Summit West this September in Colorado Springs, CO. Davidson, 42, will share his life experiences as a foreign missionary with his wife, Jacelyn. Both grew up Protestants and were attending an Assemblies of God church in 2007 when a series of weekly talks over coffee with Father Mike Schmitz led them to the Catholic Church.

Sixty Italy trips ago, I WAS developing a new concept called Buca di Beppo (Joe’s Basement) with my partners and my wife, Connie. We traveled to Italy frequently while developing the menu, décor, and product sourcing, including wine.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented levels of government action to slow its spread and to mitigate its effects.

Tragedy can test our faith. The question of why bad things happen to good people has haunted humanity from the start. When misfortune befalls people we perceive as evil, it’s easy to suppose it’s a matter of divine justice. But what about the virtuous and the innocent?

To say that the Catholic Church and her priesthood are in crisis is a vast understatement. Some priests and bishops have failed us miserably, Kevin Wells is quick to point out, and others just go through the motions.

During the pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II “we had an extraordinary example of human greatness, first with his apostolic vigor and then through his witness of faithfulness in suffering. Even in his end-stage illness, he pointed the way to an authentic human growth in all its dimensions, a growth nourished by spiritual food.”

In this lengthy Q&A with U.S. journalist Diane Montagna, he offers articulate analysis of such topics as secularism, papal authority, Vatican II, the liturgy, doctrinal issues, interfaith relations, the third secret of Fatima, the state of the faith in the former Soviet republics, and the recent Synod of Bishops for the PanAmazon Region.

Just as we are tired of hearing people say that Jesus would not recognize the Church [today], we are also tired of hearing people talk about “reimagining” the Church, as if the Church needs to be revamped for a new generation. We didn’t imagine the Church in the first place, so we don’t need to reimagine it (nor is it our place to do so).

“Faith Seeking Understanding” is a phrase attributed to St. Anselm. It asserts succinctly the nature of the search of truth under the light of faith, which emphasizes our yearning to understand more perfectly — to see, as much as is possible, the truth about the human person, his life, and eternal destiny.

As COVID-19 recedes, the “normal” to which we return will differ from its pre-Corona counterpart. Changes will be good and bad, short-lived and lasting, predictable and unforeseen. Despite the unknowns, we can count on one inevitable truth: other crises lurk. Are we ready for the next one?

By the time you read this, America will be returning back to normal. We will be getting over our temporary obsession with ventilators and respirators, with testing and vaccines, and with daily totals of infections and deaths.

For Legatus magazine readers and chapter members (I’ve had the honor of speaking to chapters throughout the country), I might seem a curious choice to weigh in on bioethics. Legatus folks are accustomed to my cogitations on culture, politics, even historical figures like Pope St. John Paul II and Ronald Reagan. What could I possibly have to say about bioethics?

In the past several months, the Mass and other Church activity – not only here, but across the globe – had been largely inaccessible to the faithful. Masses had not been available publicly, and in some places, no sacraments at all.

Aloysius de Gonzaga was barely 23 and a seminarian when he died caring for plague victims in Rome. But the 16thcentury Jesuit’s holiness was evident even as a young child – he immersed in serious prayer, taught catechism, and fasted regularly.

Studying and living the Faith is at the very heart of who we are as Legatus members. How we practically implement this can be explored in a variety of ways, but I think it is safe to say that the most applicable scenario now is not one that anyone imagined just a few short months ago.