We recently received an e-mail from a former Catholic Worker in Houston wondering if we could share ideas about living with the human side of the Church. She specifically asked about Dorothy Day’s reflections on this thorny question. This young friend, filled with faith and commitment to the poor, had had a conversation with another… continue reading
Love Alone Is Credible: Recognizing Christ In the Poor Requires an Encounter With the Lord
Love desires no recompense other than to be loved in return; and thus God desires nothing in return for his love for us other than our love. “Let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18) Whoever does not come to know the face of God in… continue reading
Cardinal Newman on the Incarnation
His condescension in coming down from heaven, in leaving His Father’s glory and taking flesh, is so far beyond power of words or thought, that one might consider at first sight that it mattered little whether He came as a prince or a beggar. And yet after all, it is much more wonderful that He came… continue reading
Ordination Demands Deaconal Commitment: Bishop Flores Invites Deacons in Galveston-Houston Archdiocese to Live Matthew 25
We recently attended the ordination of transitional deacons for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, especially for Miguel Alvizures, whose story was in the last issue of the Houston Catholic Worker. Six deacons were ordained, including one for the Diocese of Dallas and one for Victoria; seminary students from those Dioceses also study at St. Mary’s Seminary for… continue reading
Saint John Chrysostom, One of the Great Fathers of the Church’s Social Doctrine
The life and teachings of St. John Chrysostom, Holy Bishop and Teacher, resound in every century and even today elicit universal admiration. It can be said that John of Antioch, nicknamed “Chrysostom”, that is, “golden-mouthed”, because of his eloquence, is also still alive today because of his works. An anonymous copyist left in writing that… continue reading
The Cardinal Flies South: Immigrants from the South and North Bring Cardinal to Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
The great influx of Catholic immigrants from all different directions, from Latin America, from Asia, and from Africa, and including Yankees from the North, has contributed to the election of Archbishop Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston as a Cardinal of the Catholic Church. In his press conference when his elevation to a Cardinal was announced, Archbishop… continue reading
Reaction to Benedict XVI in Brazil: Our Lady of Guadalupe Bridges the Gap
Pope Benedict XVI was criticized when he said at the V General Conference of CELAM in Aparecida, Brazil, that the evangelization of Latin America did not impose a foreign culture, but brought to fullness and purified the indigenous religions, where God had already been present. While there has been in recent years an emphasis on… continue reading
Deliver Us, Lord, From the Fear of the Enemy
Dorothy Day often quoted the Psalms. In January of 1967 she said in The Catholic Worker,“‘Deliver us, Lord from the fear of the enemy.’ That is one of the lines in the Psalms, and we are not asking God to deliver us from enemies, but from the fear of them. Love casts out fear, but we… continue reading
Into the Dark with God: A Christmas Meditation on the Incarnation, for a Troubled World
And the angel said to them: “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you Good News of a great joy that will come to all the people: for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you… continue reading
Pope Benedict XVI’s Matthew 25 Encyclical, God is Love: Charity and Justice Must Meet
In his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est , God is Love , Pope Benedict XVI puts service to the poor and love of neighbor at the same level as the essential activity of the Church of the administration of the Sacraments and proclamation of the Word. When one reads in his text that love for widows, orphans,… continue reading