All Part of God’s Plan

Bishop's Blog, News

A few weeks ago I wrote about the young Italian boy, a wiz at computers, who used his skills to create an exhibition of Eucharistic miracles that has travelled around the world. He died of leukemia at age 15. His Beatification was postponed because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Vatican has announced that Carlo Acutis will be beatified in Assisi on October 10. With that announcement more information about this very normal yet so amazing teen has surfaced. The new insights come from an interview given by his mother, Antonia.

Diocesan Event Celebrates Life and Legacy of Venerable Augustine Tolton, First African-American Priest

Diocesan News, News

“In this Church, we do not have to fight for our rights because we are black. She had colored saints: Augustine, Benedict the Moor, Monica. The Church is broad and liberal. She is the Church for our people.”

Father Augustine Tolton, the first African-American priest, delivered these words at the First Black Catholic Congress in Washington, D.C., in 1889.

The words are as relevant today as they were then, said the presenters of a Zoom session the Diocese hosted July 31 to promote Venerable Tolton’s cause for canonization and a film about his life and legacy.

Hauntings, Possessions, and Exorcisms

Book Reviews, Catholic Commentary, News

Even though as a book reviewer I have a steady stream of books coming to my doorstep, occasionally I will revisit books that have impacted me. I have often written – and in my podcasts spoken of – the very real battle surrounding all of us. Spiritual warfare is real. When it is said that the devil prowls around the earth looking to ruin the souls of man, it’s true. Adam Blai explains the demonic in his must-read book Hauntings, Possessions, and Exorcisms.

What Blai does in this book is offer a guide for readers to understand how to defend themselves against the demonic. You might ask just what credentials Blai has that make him the perfect person to write this book. Well here’s your answer. Blai is an auxiliary member of the International Association of Exorcists in Rome. He regularly trains priests on how to perform exorcisms, and he has written the “training manual” currently used by exorcists.

Stop and Hear the Whisper of God

Catholic Commentary, News

Last night was the first time in a very long time that I made a point of watching the national news. It’s not that I’m not interested in what’s going on in the world, but I’m not interested in the almost panicked way in which the opening reports are shared. I actually can feel my pulse increase and fear rise in my heart, even after all this time.

This morning, as I opened the internet to a news site, I took notice that of the top 20 stories, the first 10 of them were all about COVID-19 and the effects of the pandemic on each of us, as well as how the economy has been harmed. All of the reports sound the alarm of “Be prepared for the next moment of doom!” It is enough for me to run from my computer and shut myself in my bedroom and declare that I’m hibernating until 2021 or until the pandemic ends.