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Serving Catholics for 25 Years
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| Note from the Managing Editor |
Happy feast of Mother Teresa!
It is a real calling, a vocation, to serve those in need — something I have come to realize this past month after the birth of my son, as I recovered in hospital and as he remains in the NICU receiving and awaiting treatment.
The nurses who have cared for us are patient, humble, and kind. No task is beneath them, no question an imposition, no moment of suffering to be met with anything but genuine concern. I look at the work they do — at who they are — and know they must be called to it.
There are certain tasks that simply require a vocation if you are to do them well and, perhaps, survive. Exorcism is such a task. In a world that does not believe in the devil, those who fight him must be called and strong.
And yet, in the words of exorcist Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti, "Satan is very powerful and moves at lightning speed. I am no match for Satan; even the smallest of demons is exponentially stronger than any human." Our Blessed Mother is a powerful defense. And it's reassuring that compared to "the infinite power of God, Satan is a 'dust bunny.'"
These quotes are from Rossetti's new book, "Diary of an American Exorcist." You can read the introduction and the first chapter below.
Another piece I loved is Msgr. Charles Pope's "By Breaking a Wooden Yoke, You Forge an Iron Yoke." It is especially helpful to read during a season of suffering. He reminds us we're not alone: our sufferings "are the wooden yoke, the cross of the Lord, and He carries it with us for we are yoked with Him (praise God). Because these burdens are from Him, they are well-suited to us; they are just what we need to avoid even worse things, including Hell itself."
Thank God he is with us. And it's good to be back! - Meaghen Gonzalez
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"You have no need of me whatsoever, but you treat me like you can't live without me." - St. Catherine of Siena
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| "He commands the unclean spirits" |
| Father Serge-Thomas Bonino, o.p., Angels and Demons: A Catholic Introduction |
| We don't always want our suffering; we are tight-fisted about it, haggle over it, often botch the job. |
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| Women of Character, Then and Now |
| Francis X. Maier, The Catholic Thing |
| An unpleasant fact of book publishing today is that Big Authors can suck the oxygen out of a market. |
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| Style Reveals the Man |
| First Things |
| Writing cannot be taught, as I came to realize after attempting to teach it for thirty years to university students, but it can be learned. |
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| A Letter of Gratitude from Cardinal Burke |
| Cardinal Burke |
| Suffering, united with the suffering of Jesus Christ, is truly efficacious in His Divine Plan for our salvation when accepted willingly and wholeheartedly. |
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| Credibility Requires Accountability: Monitoring Priests' Cellphones |
| Public Discourse |
| In light of the vocations issue and concerns about privacy, a policy that significantly intrudes on priests' privacy should be a last resort. However, given the tremendous damage the earlier sex scandals did to the Church's credibility, as evidenced by declining attendance and financial support, renewed concerns about priestly celibacy may justify such a resort. |
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| Remembering Uncle Di |
| Catholic Culture |
| A year has passed since the sudden death of Father Paul Mankowski, SJ, whose insights as "Diogenes" delighted our readers for years. |
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