Meet Fr. Paul Schulte, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate and the sort of priest you’d love to have had for your spiritual father. Paul was in seminary when World War I broke out in 1914, and he was trained as a pilot; the first powered flight of the Wright Brothers had been only ten years…
Most of us are tired of all of the discussion about COVID19 and general upheaval, so we are relieved to speak of something else. To that end, let’s talk about Cardinal Sarah’s latest book, The Day Is Now Far Spent. At a time when we are uncertain whom to trust, here is a slam-dunk: Cardinal…
What is THE one, best thing any one of us can do for our children? It’s a gift that will never wear out or depreciate in value, never be donated to Goodwill, eaten by moths, or stolen from a vault. THE ONE BEST THING. It is the passing on of the faith. And the source…
When you consider a new recipe, you look at the picture of the finished dish. When you plan a vacation, you look at the photos of the hotel rooms before you book. When you interview for a new job, you meet your prospective co-workers, and ask yourself, “Would I fit into this place?” We need…
Last week, I toured the “Painted Churches“of south Texas for a solid week. A pilgrimage route called “El Camino de Lavaca” has been established that includes most of the Catholic churches (painted or not) in four counties located in the Austin/Houston/San Antonio triangle. The extended time led to some reflections about churches, and bodies. Designated…
Our TOBET staff just came home from a presentation to school teachers in a vibrant, faithful Catholic diocese. They were very impressed with the reverent behavior of those who received the Eucharist at Mass. They were even more impressed with those who went up to the altar, made a deep bow of homage to the…
In the middle of the devastating news coming from south Texas this week, there’s strangely been an undercurrent of goodness. An entire city virtually disappeared under water, but on the news we see nobility on a grand scale. It’s not the usual parade of human beings at their worst. Ever since Harvey made first landfall,…
TOBET got a jolt of theological caffeine over the July 4th weekend! That is, we were invited to participate in the Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando, sponsored by the USCCB and totally exceeding all our expectations. This event didn’t appear on CNN or 60 Minutes, but it was BIG. Whenever the whole conference of…
The biggest event in the world this week isn’t occurring in Philadelphia, or anywhere else in politics-torn America. Nope, the biggest event is the 2.5 million young people who have traveled from all over the world to Kraków, Poland this week for the 31st year of World Youth Day. Poland has had to fight and suffer a lot…
There’s a brittle quality about us these days. We’ve had to submit to one outrage after another, week after numbing week and the intervals between gut-wrenching ordeals are getting shorter. The life-and-death, decency-shredding circumstances that we face don’t give us a break to recover ourselves; they’re coming at us like a polluted river that’s overflowed…
