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From the USSCB teaching on Faithful Citizenship: “A legal system that violates the basic right to life on the grounds of choice is fundamentally flawed,” Since we can’t deny that the malignancy of abortion has reached even more deeply into our society than we realized a decade ago, we must redouble our efforts to pray and fast in reparation. And we must choose other courses of action that help us live according to what we now see.

The remedy for this precarious situation is for Catholic school administrators, along with supportive parents and teachers, to stare down the secular mob and respond with a clear, Catholic message: “Yes, we hear you on the need to combat racism and promote justice. But we will do so on our terms, according to the teachings of Jesus Christ which have been entrusted to the Catholic Church that sponsors this school. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Any program that does not place Him at the center is destined to fail. We will not adopt programs of identity that pit students against each other. No. We will use prayer, sacraments, the Bible, and the Catechism to transform our students into saints. This is the only path to lasting justice.”

"I'm sharing all this with you to say that on Mother's Day, let us remember the unique role a mother and father have passing on the faith by word and example. It can't be outsourced to a parochial school or religious education! Those wonderful teachers and catechists are great partners in your child's faith formation but not substitutes or replacements. I don't want my Mother's Day message to sound like a reprimand but rather the opposite. Never underestimate what you do as parents can do to bring your children to Christ to become real disciples. Remember, they will most likely imitate the faith they see you practicing; you are their model."

Catholics will be forced to take a stand and “pick sides” in the figurative battle, she said. “We know that God is in charge and that He’s far greater than the devil,” said Sister Byrne. “It is He that’s going to make things better. And so we have to be just there, prayer warriors and be battle ready.”

Catholics need to recognize that sometimes councils succeed, and sometimes they fail. A common misconception among Catholics is that the Holy Spirit guides every aspect of ecumenical councils; therefore, all councils are “successful.” This is not Catholic teaching. The Holy Spirit acts primarily as a protector—He protects the deposit of faith by ensuring that no council can definitively declare heresy as Catholic truth. It’s a negative, not a positive, protection.

To refuse to give Holy Communion to dissident Catholic politicians, however, is not to politicize the Eucharist. The politicizing of the Eucharist occurs in the act of the Catholic politician presenting himself or herself to receive Communion even though he or she is well aware that to do so is contrary to what the Church teaches. Those who are objectively in the state of mortal sin, or who dissent from or promote contrary positions to the Church’s fundamental dogmatic or moral teaching are forbidden to receive the body and blood of Jesus, for they have made themselves unworthy to do so.

Pope John Paul’s dire warnings applied not just to the economic sphere, but to the political as well: “As history demonstrates,” he wrote, “a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism.”

If crossword puzzles can make us more positive, imagine the power to rewire our brains if we lift up our minds up to God in joy and gratitude. This past Lent, Father Russell Kovash, pastor of St. Joseph in Williston, ND gave a retreat on "Gratitude is the Virtue That Changes Us." He explained that praying a daily “rosary of gratitude” has dramatically changed his life. He first heard about it from his friend Patty Schneier whose spiritual director had recommended it.

“It is impossible in human terms to exaggerate the importance of being in a church or chapel before the Blessed Sacrament as often and for as long as our daily duties … allow. I very seldom repeat what I say. Let me repeat this sentence. It is impossible in human language to exaggerate the importance of being in a chapel or church before the Blessed Sacrament as often and for as long as our … duties allow. That sentence is the talisman of the highest sanctity.” —Father John Hardon

First, we must create an overhaul in the way we teach the faith to the next generation of disciples. Unfortunately, the vast majority of young people who make contact with the Catholic Church are in faith formation and sacramental preparation not our Catholic schools. While we must focus on implementing programs and curriculum that are academically challenging and spiritually vibrant in our Catholic schools, we must make an even greater effort to fight against the tide of failure in faith formation. Second and more specifically, make preparation for the Sacraments of Baptism, Penance, Holy Communion, Confirmation, and Marriage inspiring and somewhat rigorous endeavors. Challenge the candidates to take the next step in their faith lives while showing that these are not hoops one jumps through in order to obtain a trophy or have a graduation moment. Highlight and give witness to the momentous and life-altering nature of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church.

The more subtle and more likely path to losing freedom lay through a paradox: as people demanded more and more individual autonomy, they would also demand a powerful central government to ensure that their neighbors could not interfere with their cherished rights.

When you teach children that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He perished as a ransom for many, and that He rose from the dead, or if you dare to pass on to the next generation that God is a good God who creates order out of chaos and loves His children, you as a parent are tiptoeing on the threshold of abuse (or, as Richard Dawkins has put it, you are already explicitly guilty of such abuse). Any loving parent, they say, would wait until their children are adults before exposing them to any religious tenet whatsoever so that they can fully choose whether to be religious or not (though somehow I find it hard to believe that the Left would approve of the evangelization of my grown children). Remarkably, even the most basic of values, like taking responsibility for your own life, are being cast out the window with the bathwater.

The lesson we should take is that the Church of England’s demise was caused by putting the kingship of the individual above that of Christ. This wasn’t a gradual distortion, either, but a poison pill they swallowed at the moment they were founded...of putting an individual’s whims, or even the honest judgments of their conscience, at the top of the hierarchy was the cause of death.

And here and there one sees signs that the wake-up message is getting through. A more than ordinarily thoughtful Catholic friend, reacting to something I’d written, says this: “You are right that the laity can’t sit around and wait for ‘the Church’ – i.e., the clergy – to do something. I think the faith will be preserved by families joining together to form their children. That task will certainly involve the clergy – supportive and unsupportive alike – but it can’t wait for them.”

It’s not possible today to decide for or against Christianity without deciding for or against Newman, Péguy, Dante, Copernicus, Boethius, Christmas, birthdays, the Milan Cathedral, St. Thérèse, Chesterton, Mendel, Leonardo, Elgar’s Dream, the Summa, “Pied Beauty,” Flannery O’Connor, Georg Cantor, Allegri’s Miserere, “Silent Night,” St. Francis, the Sistine Chapel, the Pietà, the beautiful church down the street (if you are so fortunate), Thomas à Kempis – not to mention the abolition of slavery, the concept of natural rights, universities and hospitals, courtship, chaste love, esteem for mothers in households, esteem for childhood, and a free society on principle – to give a quirky and parochial list. But you get the point.

Looking at the Church, we see Jesus Christ. Or should, anyway. If we do not see him, then there might be something wrong – with us. Perhaps we have gotten distracted by what some Catholics are getting up to. Perhaps we have gotten distracted by the situation of the Church in Germany or in China. Or perhaps we are just jaded and don’t see spiritual things any more. It is really good that we spare a thought and a prayer for our brothers and sisters in Germany and China. And perhaps, too, a thought and a prayer for wayward Catholics. They’re in grave peril. But so are we all. How many of us today realize that we are in a communion of grace and truth – the Church – in order to live with Christ, to live his life. He is the source of the beauty of the Church, and he gives it a real face.

We are rapidly saying farewell to the last generation in America that can remember what it was like to have musicians playing live, every weekend at a dance hall within walking distance or a short drive; or what it was like to be young, in love, doing all the fun things that your schoolmates were doing, plenty of them involving a lot of physical delight, but not requiring that you take off a stitch of clothing.

I would argue that the proper response is counter-intuitive: become more explicitly “religious,” not less. Make Catholicism a clear alternative to the culture, not just another option among many. When religions try to ape the culture, they always lose, because the culture can always do it better. But the culture can’t do religion better. In fact, no one can do religion better than the one true religion, Catholicism. So instead of trying to be “relevant” and culturally hip, go the other direction. Zig when everyone else is zagging.

1. I wish to speak to you about the most important and central teaching of our faith. What I share is “not too high for you.” It is not theology that is only meant for theologians and priests. This concerns the most important reality of our lives – the saving presence of our Lord. This is not a teaching that can be dumbed down or over simplified. This is a truth that we need to be clear and certain about. Be bold, then! Take up and read, drink in the truth, discuss and share it with others and allow Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist, to conform you further to Himself and fulfill the deepest longings of your heart.

We spend 40 days preparing for Easter. We choose something to fast from; we put thought and effort into our prayer lives; we look for ways to give back to others in need. Then Easter arrives, and so many of us, myself included, are content to celebrate for the day and then go right back to our regular life, as though we have returned to Ordinary Time on Monday. But like Lent, Easter is a season. And the Church, in her wisdom, has more for us. More joy, more feasting, more life. Fifty days of it to be precise. Eastertide, or the Easter season, lasts from Easter itself until the feast of Pentecost. So how can we, as Catholic families, experience Easter as a season instead of just a single day? Here are a few ideas from my own family.