Romantic Thoughts for Ash Wednesday
“Terminate torment Of love unsatisfied The greater torment Of love satisfied.” — T.S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday Can Catholics celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, considering that Ash Wednesday this year falls on the same date? Is the feast of love compatible with the beginning of Lent? When the obligation to do penance conflicts with the convention […]
Movie Review: “King’s Faith”
The Christian movie King’s Faith (2013), available on Netflix, is a beautiful and moving story of faith and redemption. Best of all, it manages to convey the reality of faith without being corny or trite, examining complex human issues like death, crime, divorce and abortion with tenderness, displaying the full reality of the pain and […]
On St. Paul, Sports, and Sanctity
My high school batch at St. Paul College of Pasig, a Catholic school for girls here in the Philippines run by the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres, just celebrated its homecoming. We prepared for it for a year, a year that was spent reminiscing about high school memories and organizing a grand celebration dinner. […]
The Holy Spirit in the Fast Food Restaurant
By guest writer Susan Windley-Daoust. Recently I accepted a new position to work more directly in evangelization, and while I am excited and grateful, there are a lot of days where there is spiritual warfare going on in my head. Today was one of those days I was not feeling great (an understatement) about my […]
Cardinal Pell’s response to his charges
The sexual abuse crises in Catholic dioceses from the USA to Ireland have created great distress and fomented considerable media attention. It is a sickening tragedy and grave injustice, always and everywhere, when adults in positions of trust take advantage of vulnerable children and young adults under their supervision. However, it is also a tragedy […]
The Blind Man & the Child
By Ann Tran as told to Jean Seah. Some years ago in Adelaide, I was struggling with my faith and with attending Mass. One day in the Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier, I was kneeling in prayer when I felt a tap on my leg, a sign that someone had entered the pew. I moved […]
St. James and Our Lady of Del Pilar
Today, January 2, is the 1,978th anniversary of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. James the Greater at the pillar in Zaragoza, Spain in the year A.D. 40. I never have been particularly devoted to St. James the Greater, but for some reason, he seems to be devoted to me. I heard […]
Fr. Douglas Bazi: Praying the Rosary in ISIS Captivity
Fr. Douglas Bazi (a.k.a Abouna Douglas Joseph Shimshon Al-Bazi) recently spoke at the 2017 Spirit in the City conference in Brisbane. He spoke of how his people, our Christian brothers and sisters, have been systematically killed or driven out of their homeland since the 2003 Iraq War destabilized his country. He told us how his […]
Catholicism is Impossible
Earlier this week a friend of mine shared an article on Facebook, written by Melinda Selmys of Catholic Authenticity on Patheos. In the blog she describes some of the challenges surrounding the use of NFP, particularly the issues that arise when the risk of an unintended pregnancy are so high as to be unacceptable, but […]
Cuisine or Chaos
Some memories stick with you forever, for good or ill. The mind is such so that even if you can laugh about sad moments a long time after they occur, often you still feel a sense of dread and sorrow whenever the event is called to mind. That being said, I will never forget my […]
The Security Peg: Virtues vs Sins
No man can enter into the house of a strong man and rob him of his goods, unless he first bind the strong man, and then shall he plunder his house. – Mark 3:27 (cf. Matthew 12:29) A few Fridays ago, my friend invited me to exit the house via the garage since she was […]



