One of the kids had brought $5 from home to buy Pokemon cards. But, because of bad behavior, that didn’t happen. Mom drove out of the Target parking lot and no one was happy. It was then they saw a man, with a woman and two children, holding a sign: “No job. Have kids. No food. Please help. God bless you.”
“Aren’t you going to stop Mom? We need to help,” came a voice from the back seat.
So, what did Jesus really look like, what kind of person was he? This question still surfaces occasionally in the Q/A columns of a few Catholic periodicals. People in the Middle East, of course would simply say, “Well, he probably looked like any one of us; he had Arab-like features; such basic characteristics do not change appreciably over the centuries. Issue closed.
CatholicAnchor.org Alaskans are invited to participate in the international fall prayer campaign of 40 Days for Life. The annual event will begin with a kick-off rally on Tuesday Sept. 22 from 7-8 p.m. The following day, Sept. 23, the peaceful prayer campaign will run from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. for 40 days at the Planned Parenthood…
In less than a year, a group of Alaskans will head to Kraków, Poland with millions of youth from around the world for the World Youth Day gathering with Pope Francis. According to local organizers, those intending to make the pilgrimage need to register soon in order to guarantee a spot.
Most mornings, we gather together after chores and breakfast to pray for the “Fourteen P’s,” a list of requests that, over the years, we’ve managed to finagle all beginning with “P” (pope, president, priest, papa, pets, etc.). I also read something: perhaps a passage of Scripture or prayer to memorize, sometimes a saint’s biography or section of the children’s catechism. Now, it is short, child-sized teachings from Laudato Si.
Traditional Yup’ik dance was a form of prayer, a ritualistic plea to the spirit world in the land that would one day be known as Alaska. In that long-ago age, the shaman donned masks representing animal spirits and led the tribe in singing, dancing and drumming to petition the spirits for specific needs. In the late 1800s Christian missionaries including Jesuit priests banned the Natives’ ancient ceremonial dancing, condemning it as evil pagan idolatry.
As a homeless man in Alaska, Jeff Lane lived at the mercy of four omnipresent factors — weather, the law, wild animals such as urban moose and bear, and attacks by teens looking to victimize the homeless. A hierarchy exists among the homeless, according to Lane, and any sense of loyalty to one another is underpinned by the crushing tyranny of alcoholic thirst: the next drink is king.
To the delight of some and the dismay of others, the meaning of marriage in the civil sphere is no longer what it once was, and in this sense, the legal institution of marriage has been “redefined.” But it may be more accurate, more descriptive, to say that the Supreme Court has furthered the deconstruction of this venerable institution. Reading through the majority opinion of the Court, one often encounters the phrase “right to marry” but struggles to understand how this means anything more than the right to be friendly companions.
A prominent national pro-life organization is urging Alaskans to contact U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, urging her to support the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. Introduced in June by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) the measure would ban most abortions after 20-weeks. The bill passed the House in May with a bipartisan margin of 242-184.
“The history of growth in faith in this part of the United States has been amazing to witness,” Sister Magee said. “This project allowed us to see beautiful glimpses into all the activities that make up the church — joyful priests, children’s programs, liturgies, church dedications, and most evident, the sacraments, all truly told by the people of God.”