The North Star Catholic / FORUM Archives - Page 31 of 39

EDITORIAL: Coffee cups can’t resurrect Christmas

The gradual decent into Christmas incoherence is not merely the fault of the unchurched masses. Practicing Christians, too, have failed to pass on many of the rich traditions that celebrate and teach the spiritual heart and meaning of Christmas. Reasons vary, but our once Christian-saturated culture has grown increasingly secular, and that affects us all, including how we celebrate Christmas. The answer to this malady doesn’t lie in pressuring Starbucks to baptize its red-washed holiday cups. Those are only the final fruits of a long chain of events. A “Merry Christmas” cup isn’t going to turn the tide. The renewal of Christmas will begin elsewhere…

How do we embrace the mystery of Jesus in the Eucharist?

I know some people find it difficult to believe that bread and wine change and become the Body and Blood of Jesus. In fact recent polls indicate that more than 35 percent of practicing Catholics do not believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. I can understand their doubts. It goes against our logic to believe that here before me is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ — God’s only begotten Son and my savior. But anyone schooled in logic will tell you that it is not enough to say I don’t understand it therefore I won’t believe it.

Natural law’s continued importance for America’s legal system

As a practitioner both of American secular law and the canon law of the Catholic Church I observe differences and similarities between these two legal systems. One sharp difference is the clear acceptance by canon law of the natural law as a source of foundational legal principles, contrasted with the almost total silence and even hostility toward natural law in the modern American legal system. There is no good reason for this radical difference and that the rejection of natural law as a direct source of legal norms has detached American law from its foundational roots in natural justice.

Stories of hope unfold at Catholic Social Services

I want to share with you the story of 24-year-old Emily, who while pregnant, became the legal guardian of her four brothers and sisters. Money was tight so they stayed at a shelter and St. Francis House food pantry in Anchorage provided them with healthy food.

Stewardship over oddball & leftover food

On a beautiful October Sunday, Omaha held its first “Feeding the 5,000” event at the landing down by the Missouri River. Although the title is a reference to Jesus feeding the crowd, the event’s sponsors are not linked to a religious group. Still, I think Pope Francis, who said wasting food is like stealing from the table of the poor, would enthusiastically approve.

Anchorage Archbishop addresses ‘Spotlight’ movie on sex abuse crisis

I write to you regarding the church’s ministry of ensuring safe environments. I share the hope and confidence of the present and I reiterate my sadness of the past. I am sorry for any harm that has been inflicted on God’s children and their families by clergy and those in leadership who failed to protect. In November, the movie Spotlight will be released which portrays the struggle that reporters of the Boston Globe faced when shedding light on the problem of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy and how some in church leadership failed to respond justly. It has been over 13 years since the Boston Globe broke this story and exposed, nationally, this evil that penetrated our church communities.

Anchorage Archbishop impressed by seeing pope’s courage

I saw Pope Francis on the eventful day of Sept. 23 in Washington, D.C. and marveled at his determination to be fully present to us. Here was a man just three years older than me. He clearly suffered limitations of his mobility but never let that stop his ministry. It made me feel that my own little aches and pains of growing older are nothing in comparison with what he was experiencing. At times he seemed very weary but continued on courageously.

Embrace greater simplicity

Speaking of the church at large, the Pew Research Center found some years ago that there is a movement among the younger generation toward simplicity. They insist that they are spiritual but not religious and are inspired by simplicity.

The Blessed Sacrament: A most mysterious belief

After we finished that first holy hour of prayer, one of the men had a shocked expression on his face and asked me what this was all about. I explained that we had been praying before the Lord Jesus Christ in his sacramental form — the Holy Eucharist.

Why nurture ‘the little pests’?

When my husband came back from a morning jog, he drank coffee on the patio as usual. Glancing into the large planters where his tomato plants still bore ripe red fruit, he made an eye-opening discovery.