Author: Father Thomas Kocik
Suggestions for the 2015 Synod on the Family
The following editorial by Father Peter Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D., appears in the current (May/June) issue of The Catholic Response magazine. It is posted here with Father’s permission. When the Extraordinary Synod on the Family was announced and when it concluded, I …
Holy Week: Get Your Full Ticket’s Worth
Imagine you’re in a movie theater watching the latest blockbuster, thoroughly captivated by the plots and subplots, the beautiful faces and lush scenery as the movie progresses inexorably toward its climax. Your cell phone alerts you to an incoming call. …
The Parameters of Christian Orthodoxy
God willed to reveal Himself and to enter into an intimate personal relation with mankind. This revelation and plan of salvation began to unfold through Moses and the prophets, but only in Jesus Christ do we find the fulfillment. He …
Lumen Gentium at 50
Today marks the 50th anniversary of ‘Lumen Gentium‘, the Vatican II constitution on the Church. With this brief post I present its highlights, while encouraging you to read the document in its entirety. The First Vatican Council was preparing to …
Free From Sin and Safe From All Distress
Unresolved feelings of guilt can have terribly damaging effects: self-hatred, anxiety, despair, even suicide. This holds true not only for individuals but for whole societies. The French writer Pascal Bruckner writes of Europe’s guilty conscience: “Brooding over its past crimes …
The Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies
The disorder introduced into our human nature by Adam’s fall from grace reveals itself especially through seven dominant vices known in the Catholic tradition as the capital sins. These are: pride, avarice, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. We call …
Synod and Sanity: A Reliably Catholic Priest Weighs In
No, I’m not referring to myself in the title, though I would bristle at the accusation of heresy, or even theological imprecision. The forthcoming (November/December 2014) edition of The Catholic Response magazine features this cool-headed commentary by its founder and editor, …