Tag: Christianity

Every year the U.S. Catholic Church dedicates a week in November to pray for and promote vocations to the priesthood, the diaconate and consecrated life through prayer and education.

This year National Vocation Awareness Week is Nov. 5-11, and Catholic organizations, dioceses, schools and local parish communities are sponsoring events and providing different resources to raise awareness for vocations, and help those who are discerning a vocation, particularly one to ordained ministry or consecrated life.

“During this week, the Church gives thanks to God for the faithful example of husbands and wives, and joyful witness of ordained ministers and consecrated persons,” said an Oct. 30 statement from Bishop Earl A. Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.

“We pray that many more men and women will be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in their hearts as they discern the mission God has for them,” he said.

Bishop Austin A. Vetter of Helena, Montana, a member of the USCCB vocations committee,
said the week is a “wonderful time for us to hone in our efforts” to promote vocations.

“We should always have vocation awareness and always asking God for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and religious life around around the world and for our own local churches,” he said, underscoring the importance of the weeklong focus “to heighten awareness” about the need for vocations and have this on “the forefront of our minds.”

The bishop, whose statement accompanied Bishop Boyea’s remarks in a USCCB news release, also is episcopal liaison to the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors, the National Religious Vocation Conference and Serra International.

Bishop Vetter emphasized that National Vocation Awareness Week offers a special opportunity for “redoubling our efforts of prayer that young people would be able to hear the voice — the quiet, gentle voice many times — of Jesus inviting them into a vocation as a priest or religious.”

“It’s such a beautiful life and it’s such a needed life and a life that is so loved by our people,” he added, noting his own prayers “and commitment to do my part” to increase vocations.

Beginning in 1976, the U.S. bishops designated the 28th Sunday of the year as an opportunity for the Catholic Church in the United States to renew its prayerful support for those discerning an ecclesial vocation. In 2014, the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations committee elected to move the observance to the first week of November “to better engage Catholic educational institutions in the efforts to raise awareness for vocations,” according to the USCCB news release.

Karditsa, Greece, November 2, 2023

Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr     

The various philanthropic institutions of the Metropolis of Thessaliotidos of the Greek Orthodox Church have been very busy since Storm Daniel struck in September, causing serious damage to the Thessaly Region.

Greek diocese feeds thousands daily as Thessaly Region struggles to recover from severe floodingThe flooding brought on by Storm Daniel caused serious damage to the Thessaly Region of Greece last week, and many settlements remain under water, threatening the complete collapse of houses.

“>Metropolitan Timotheos ordered to immediately prepare a place to host 40 people in the diocesan nursing home and for the diocesan Houses of Love to begin preparing food for the many people who lost everything. By the next week, more than 2,000 meals were being offered daily.

Since then, nearly 100,000 portions of food have been distributed.

Met. Timotheos celebrated a blessing ceremony at the Houses of Love in Kardista, Sofades, and Farsala recently. During the service in Karditsa, the Metropolitan noted:

Almost two months have passed since the great flood disaster that struck our Holy Metropolis; the destruction is huge, but your work is unfathomable. From the day we were able to starting cooking until today, we have given out 97,850 portions of food… Fr. Theoklitos, responsible for the General Charity Fund, along with his associates, visits the villages every day until late at night distributing food, clothing, household items, and whatever else we can.

The hierarch then visited the Houses of Love in Sofades and Farsala, where he thanked the workers for their love and hard work, especially the women volunteers, whom he referred to as “myrrh-bearing women.”

“We have winter ahead of us, and things will be difficult,” Met. Timotheos noted. “One must become a brother to his neighbor.”

“I’m distressed by the signs of greed. We must first help the weakest and the powerless—I wish we could help everyone. Two months have passed, and people are still sleeping on the floor or can’t even dwell in their homes,” the hierarch said.

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“A lie travels half-way around the world before the truth gets its pants on.”

That quote has been attributed to Mark Twain, to Winston Churchill, and a host of other equally adept minds who knew how to wordsmith. We will probably never find out who the real author of these words was, but it is an undeniable fact that these words have never been so current.

As the latter part of 2023 seems intent on going out with a bang, the lies, whether intentional, benign, or the result of lazy reporting, continue their world tour. The insatiable need people have to “know” has been driving history since the time news headlines were etched in stone by a hammer and a chisel.

When the Greek army defeated an invading force, they felt compelled to send Pheidippides on a 26-mile run so he could yell to the people of Athens at the top of his lungs, “We won!” Poor Pheidippides may have also been the first news agency casualty, as tradition tells us that after his excited proclamation, he keeled over and died.

From something as grim and important as a war in the Middle East to something as important to Catholics around world as the synod in Rome, we are literally being bombarded with “news” reports and firsthand accounts of events that in a few short days prove inaccurate, over or under emphasized, or just untrue. Consuming news is now equivalent to digesting ghost peppers, with usually the same end result.

To compound the problem, we now have an internet where information, good, bad, irrelevant, and bogus, lives forever. When a recent news report about a college student protesting the current awfulness happening in Israel and Gaza proclaimed to a reporter that her opinion on the issue was the result of a six-hour Google search of the topic, I was slightly dubious. I think a region with several millennia of history should warrant a deeper dive.

Bad information is not only found on social media and overly eager news outlets trying to beat out the competition for a story. We seem to be experiencing a communal “Mandela effect” on a global scale.

The “Mandela effect” is a sociological phenomena whereby people have a memory of some fact that isn’t a fact. The examples range from the serious to the trifling. The effect was named so because a paranormal researcher famously wrote extensively about the impact Nelson Mandela’s death had on the world in the 1980s. She went into vivid detail how the world mourned, and the streets of Johannesburg exploded. The only problem was, Mandela passed away in 2013.

The “mis-remembering” of quotes from famous movies may not move the gravitas needle much, but they are indicative of the ubiquitousness of this human quirk. How many times have you heard a Star Wars fanatic say in their best Darth Vader voice, “Luke, I am your father.”? The only problem with that is Darth Vader never speaks those exact words in the film.

As our ability to transmit “news” gets faster, and it surely will continue to do so, the importance of separating the wheat from the chaff is essential. Whether it is dateline Tel Aviv, or dateline Vatican City, there is a lot of news emanating I just cannot fully believe. The situation is not helped by the amount of “expert” opinion makers who have an unnatural and unfortunate need to be the first one in with something clickable.

Thanks to an all loving and wise God, as universal it is for bad information to travel at the speed of electrons, there is the Church, a magisterium, and apostolic tradition to act as our own spiritual editor’s desk when it comes to the most important information we will ever need.

G.K. Chesterton, another infinitely quotable soul, summed it up quite nicely when referring to what the traditional teaching of the Church actually represented. “Tradition means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. … Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.”

When it comes to modern means of communications, it is only prudent to take it in with caution. In the end we can all take heart in knowing the only information that really matters is that which comes to us from apostolic tradition, intertwined with holy Scripture. In the parlance of today, that is what is called the ultimate reliable source.

Members of charity organization “Kosovo Pomoravlje”   

“Orthodox KosovoFrom the fourteenth century to the present day, the land of Kosovo and Metohija has been, and will always remain, the spiritual heartland of the Serbian Orthodox nation. Sanctified by a multitude of monasteries and churches as well as by the blood of martyrs, the holy land of Kosovo occupies a place of honor and reverence within the souls of all believing Serbs.

“>Kosovo and Metohija has no medicines left!” “Banks in Kosovo have got no cash!” “Kosovo Serbs are facing a humanitarian crisis!” These are just some of the headlines in the media of the past few days that tell the public what life is like in the southern Serbian province. Jarinje, the administrative border crossing (a “state” border for some people) through which the medical supplies and cash are delivered to us in Kosovo, was closed from September, 23 to October, 18 because of the shooting at the Banjska monastery, next to the village of the same name in the north of the province.

But for us, the Serbs who reside in the south of the province, there is absolutely nothing new in this—we’ve been living with this for years without any hysteria in the mass media. It struck me for the umpteenth time: They only talk about real problems and, with a thoughtful air, discuss the “solutions to the existing problems” when something happens in the north. Or, when foreign and domestic journalists borrow the titles of articles from each other but ad-lib more concerns and pathetic elements. It turns out that you merely exist inside the “quote … unquote” long, empty words from the “international representatives” of all sorts who puff their cheeks arguing about the “easing of tensions,” or call to contain “both” sides (exactly “both,” meaning the Serbs too, right!), or talk about the “priority of relations of peace…”

Peace is priority for those who have it. As for us, the Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija, we are only allowed to continue dreaming about it.

For example, we have been dreaming for years that the pharmacies in our enclaves would be supplied with medicine and remedies, that we wouldn’t have to rush around the area or go abroad in search of medicines, gauze, bandages, and the most basic things for pregnant women and newborns, or a enter hospital with all the necessities. The south of Kosovo has permanent and extended delays in pension and salary payments (that is, of course, when you are lucky enough to actually have a job!). Any blockade or a ban is first test-run on the Serbs of Kosovo Pomoravlje and other southern parts of the province, but the enlightened public learns about these bans and blockades only when they affect the north, not before. “The Serbs from the south, they are our test subjects. They will stomach it. It’s not a big deal, it’s all good, as long as it doesn’t affect us.” But still, you know, it’s terrifying. It is scary when, say, an elderly person is left all alone, without any medicine or money, when there is no food in the house, when his life depends on someone who will happen to remember his existence and come to feed him.

It is terrifying when an elderly person is left without any medicine and money, when there is no food in the house

It is also terrifying, when, for example, your only income is the “social security” payouts that have been delayed for months, but you still have to feed your children, pay for electricity and water, to buy firewood for the winter that is almost here, except that your money didn’t reach you yet. It is terrifying and shameful when you send your student to study, but you can’t even help him pay for his lunch in the canteen or buy a travel pass….

“You are asking me how I’m doing…. I don’t know where to find money to buy firewood—that’s how I’m doing. Social security payments are late. And prices are extraordinary these days: we use all of our money to pay for food, school, and housing… It’s hard. Everyone is suffering,” said Dusan Peric.

His family is one of the youngest in our village of Partesh near Gnjilane, formerly a Serbian town. He is twenty-nine and the father of two children. Neither he or his wife have jobs, of course. They work in their field from dawn to dusk, but Dusan will gladly take any part-time work, although it all depends on the season. Sure, young as they are, they’ve got enough optimism and enthusiasm, and they don’t even think of losing heart. Like many others among us, they cradle the hope that the situation in Kosovo will improve (“miracles do happen”). They believe that this particular part of the sky above Kosovo is their cross and their life. There is no need to leave it; so, “yes, we will stay put. He whom God helps, nobody can harm. We will keep fighting. By the way, we receive great help in our struggles from our benefactors, including the readers of the Pravoslavie.Ru. Thanks to their help, the Peric family received enough firewood to weather the upcoming winter.”

Gracanica monastery   

It is “daring” audacity, some might think, to start families and build houses in Kosovo and Metohija. In the meantime, thank God, it is no longer such a rare thing for young Serbs. Certainly, the road from a wish to its realization isn’t simple; in all honesty, it’s quite arduous. But, despite major challenges, such as jobs, housing, and safety, there are many people who choose to walk it. What helps then? Or Who helps? On the one hand, the already mentioned young age and belief in good times to come, I think. On the other hand, we are convinced by our own example that you “don’t walk over the doorstep without asking His blessing”—and, when your doorstep is in Kosovo, you simply can’t do anything without God. So, the young people stay put in their native land and also come to live here.

Many among those who stayed have received their education locally during the tumultuous times. It happens—and quite often—that a large family denies itself many things in order to send one of its children to university, while the other children can’t even dream of studying somewhere far from home. The story of Dürer and his brother comes to mind, doesn’t it? It was about the artist’s brother who, according to legend, sacrificed everything for the young Albrecht to become a good artist. But this all seems to belong to past centuries, when education was the privilege of the wealthy; but how huge is the sacrifice of a poor family sending one of their children to receive education! That’s why any support for the young people to get an education these days serves as a great incentive for families to remain in Kosovo and Metohija. The students will thus live close to their families and there’d probably be no emigration or exodus from their native land. To help families with students, we launched a monthly scholarship program. One of our first scholarship recipients was Jovan Stojkovic from Gnjilane, the best young accordionist in Serbia—and our readers heard about him. He is currently studying at a music school and the preparatory school in Vranje, really close to Kosovo, where, to our mutual joy, he shows standout success. A young musician, he has become the pride of his home area. This is what his father said when we presented Jovan with the scholarship: “I cannot even describe in words how much he means to me. We made him live away from us to continue in his studies, but our boy is always with us in our hearts.” Just like his music.

Jovan Stojkovic, the musician from Kosovo and Metohija   

We often receive poignant and touching letters from parents.

“We have four children. Our eldest son is studying in a seminary in Belgrade, our daughter is studying Serbian language and literature in Mitrovica, our middle daughter is in high school in central Serbia, and our youngest son is in high school in Gorazdevac. I work for the Red Cross, my husband is a disabled war veteran. If you can, please help us. God will not forsake you.” This is how it sounds: so simple, honest, and maternal.

Such is the concern and the struggle of our people—so modest and unobtrusive, so quiet, but firm and resolute. The question arises: how else should we fight? Surely not by throwing a tantrum in the media or indeed complaining loudly. The power of God is made perfect in weakness—and we become convinced of this on the daily basis.

That’s why our work involves solving exactly these kinds of problems, challenges and troubles of everyday life that no one in “the truly civilized” world really knows about, and help people whose voices aren’t heard. It is so touching that so many good people help the Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija from their hearts. We are grateful to all who feel our suffering and understand the reasons why we are still here. With our life on the holy Serbian soil, we are not defending the current politics or a territory. We “simply” profess our faith in the Lord and defend the right of our people to exist. That is why we agree to have trials, such as living among aliens and foreigners, suffering humiliation, oblivion, ridicule, hatred and poverty. We also believe that we will be able to stand our ground, because we know that we must endure and suffer for the sake of our children, even if we never live to see the time when the media will report that we, the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, strange as it may seem, are still alive…

For most people, the term “brain-dead” is a not-so-kind label we attach to someone we consider to be less than intelligent. But in the world of medical ethics, it is the bright line dividing whether we consider someone alive or dead. 

Recently, consensus around what constitutes “brain death” has come up for debate. And for that reason, faithful Catholics, who spend a lot of time thinking about and protecting human life from conception to natural death, should be paying attention. 

Just as we educate and advocate for a consistent ethic of life with other issues — like abortion, assisted suicide of the disabled, dehydration of people in a (so-called) persistent vegetative state, and human sex trafficking — we need to start raising our voices to ensure that members of the human family who are infirm or nearing death are treated with the same dignity we treat all human beings. 

Five decades ago, spurred by largely under-the-public-radar decisions by a medical school committee at Harvard and the Uniform Commission (a group which tries to craft the same or similar language to use across many different states), our understanding of death fundamentally changed. 

Before that, determining death was relatively easy: it is when someone irreversibly stopped breathing and their heart stopped beating. That is sometimes called a “cardiopulmonary” standard.

But since the early 1980s, virtually all states — again, with very little public discussion or debate — also adopted a “neurological” standard: one which said “whole brain death” also signifies that death has occurred. Whole brain death was understood to mean that all parts of the brain, including those responsible for higher thinking as well as those controlling involuntary functions, had ceased to work. 

It must be said that an implicit (or even explicit) reason for moving in this direction was due to a  shortage of vital organs, and these individuals would be eligible to donate their organs for transplant. 

It is obviously problematic to declare a population dead merely to produce a good consequence, like having more organs available to save the lives of others. (Full disclosure: despite these problems, I’m an organ donor. But make sure your directives are clear!) 

But some problems presented themselves: it turns out that human beings declared brain dead could still fight off infections, increase their heart rate in response to bodily trauma, successfully gestate a child to birth, and even reach puberty.

At least two different things could be going on in these cases. First, the brain in these human beings may have died, but the human body may be finding other ways to integrate these functions as a living member of the species Homo sapiens. 

If this is the case, we need a radical rethink of the idea that when someone’s brain is dead that they are necessarily dead. The brain may not be as essential to human functioning as our rationality-obsessed Western culture believes. After all, we were living (though immature) members of the species Homo sapiens prenatally before we had brains.

But there’s a second possibility as to what’s happening here. It may be that we are not testing for whole brain death, or the testing is often inaccurate, and people are being declared brain-dead when they are not brain-dead at all. 

Disturbingly, I learned through participating as an observing member of the drafting committee for the Uniform Commission’s reconsideration of brain death that a good number of physicians, lawyers, and others actually want a standard which doesn’t test for whole brain death.

In their view, it isn’t being a living member of Homo sapiens that matters — but whether certain members of the human family have “morally relevant” traits. This summer’s meeting of the Uniform Commission revealed that there are at least four different positions on brain death and what to do with it:

• Brain death is not the death of a human organism. Regardless, what matters for moral and legal status is that traits (like consciousness) have been irrevocably lost, which makes some small part of the brain’s function irrelevant.
• Brain death is the death of a human organism, which is what matters for moral and legal status. However, we do not have a test that gives us 100% certainty that the whole brain has died, so the way we are currently testing is good enough.
• Brain death is really the death of a human organism, which is what matters for moral and legal status. Yet we can and must do better when it comes to testing for whole brain death — especially for the hypothalamus, an organ intimately involved with puberty and other matters related to hormonal integration. 
• Brain death is not the death of a human organism, which is what matters for moral status. Therefore, we should return to the cardiopulmonary standard for death — the one used before a desire for more organs for transplant pushed us in this problematic direction.

If there ever were a consensus about brain death, that consensus has now vanished. 

As I reported in a recent piece for The Pillar, many Catholic thinkers have different positions on these matters. While the criterion of “whole brain death” was widely accepted by recent popes like John Paul II and Benedict XVI, that support was premised on the certainty of being able to determine that it had occurred through existing testing methods. Now that the testing is in question, so is the moral certitude Catholics had. 

Even Peter Singer, no staunch supporter of Catholic moral claims, has called for a new public debate about brain death so that it does not fly under the radar again.

Catholics should be paying close attention and join the coming debate over these positions. Indeed, beyond possibly affecting you and your loved ones personally, it has implications for the broader people of God as well. We should be sure our diocesan leaders have this issue in front of mind. Being clear about human value at the end of life is a necessary part of holding a consistent ethic of life. 

Photo: stylishbag.ru     

Let us take care, brothers and sisters, for the eternal, bright life that the Lord, in His mercy, grants us freely; and let us withdraw from the pleasures of this temporary and sinful life as from the venomous mouth of a serpent, not even touching them.

The Lord God has prepared Heaven and is calling us: And we, pleasing this body with sleep, drink, food, and sinful pleasures, renounce the Kingdom of Heaven and Him Who calls us to it. He has made a marriage for his son, that is, the Kingdom, And sent forth his servants to call them (Mt. 22:2-3), that is, the Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs. And we refuse, saying: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come, or: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; and we also say: I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it (Lk. 14:18-20); and for other worldly matters we renounce eternal life.

Do we not hear what the Lord says: Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on… Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?… Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, and take no care for anything (Mt. 6:25-26, 28). Hearing this, brethren, let us rise up now, let us make haste, let us immediately set out on the narrow path that leads us into the The Gateway to the Kingdom of HeavenThe main thing that distinguishes the Mother of God from us is her submission to God’s will. No murmuring, no resistance can be seen in this Handmaiden of God, the Queen of Heaven and Earth, our Intercessor.

“>Kingdom of Heaven; let us commit our body to labors and ascetic feats, to prayer, to abstinence and frequent prostration.

For it is said: The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force (Mt. 11:12). Why do we not pity ourselves then when, pleasing the devil with our laziness and weakness, we deprive ourselves of eternal life? Let us rouse ourselves, brethren, let us exert effort in this brief and fleeting age! What good to us is this decaying body?

Were we to burn in fire here, it would only be unto How to Prepare for DeathWe prepare for death, but in reality, it’s preparation for a passage, for crossing over. To make it across, we need special equipment, and sustenance, and a good guide.

“>death; and we would reign eternally in glory with the Lord there. But I do not say that we should cast ourselves into fire. God forbid! But let us labor to mortify our body. For the Lord said: Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit (Jn. 12:24). Here He made it clear: If you don’t mortify your body, you can’t bear the fruits of Heaven. For he that hateth his life in this … adulterous and sinful … world, said the Lord, shall find it in that world (Jn. 12:25, Mk. 8:38, Mt. 10:39).

Hearing this, my friends, let us rouse ourselves to the attainment of everlasting life, leaving this temporary and transitory life behind. The Apostle Paul says: I have fought a good fight (2 Tim. 4:7). You may say: “I can’t labor, I’m weak.”—Strive according to your strength, as you’re able, and the Lord, seeing your labor, will help you in other good deeds as well. Thus, let us labor in this world!

Is our life great? Twenty years, sixty, or a hundred. Do we have much time to labor? And yet, those who have labored but a little here will reign forever there in Heaven. Likewise, those who have lived in pleasures here but a little, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage (Mt. 24:38), will be tormented there. Let us rouse ourselves and move quickly: For Christ calls: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Mt. 11:28). Let us open our ears and the eyes of our hearts and let us listen, brethren, to this voice: It is not a man who speaks, but the King of kings and Lord of all.

So, let us direct our mind there and let us live here according to Divine wisdom, in Fasting Gives Us CourageWhen a man fasts, he becomes brave, he acquires courage, which is generally one of the most important virtues in the spiritual battle. If you have no courage, you can’t be saved.

“>fasting, in prayer, in labor, in hymnody; mourning our sins, having God ever before our eyes, and contemplating the day of our death; and let us not languish, but as we began, so let us finish. For the Lord said: “As I find you, so shall I judge you.”¹ Let us take this word to heart. Let us not grow weak before death: For we know not the hour of our death—and the soul of each of us shall be taken and condemned to eternal fire. But if that hour comes and finds our souls prepared, then we will reign unto endless ages, in Jesus Christ our Lord, to Whom is due glory with the Father and the All-Holy, Good, and Life-creating Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

St. Martin de Porres was born in 1579 in Lima, Peru. His father was a Spaniard, and his mother was a freed colored woman from Panama. Because he was mixed race, Martin was in a lower social caste, although his father made sure he was apprenticed in a good trade. 

Martin originally studied to be a barber, which at the time meant he also learned medicine. He was known for his compassion and skill, and cared for many people and animals. Eventually, he joined the third order Dominicans as a lay man, living at the monastery. Martin longed to be a missionary, but was not given the opportunity. 

Martin practiced an intense prayer life and mortified himself frequently. He was known to levitate in ecstasy in front of the altar. Many people sought his wisdom, advice, and intercession. 

Martin died in 1639, and the cause for canonization was begun shortly after. However, his canonization process took over 300 years due to a series of delays, natural disasters, and shipwrecks. He was finally made a saint in 1962. 

Riverside, California, November 3, 2023

Photo: patristicnectar.org     

Patristic Nectar Publications, among the most trusted online Orthodox outlets today, has launched a new ministry specifically for children.

On Wednesday, November 1, Patristic Nectar Kids began with video and audio versions of Presbytera Catherine Trenham presenting the life of St. Basil the Great.

Patristic Nectar Publications features a wealth of audio and video material, including homilies, in-depth lectures, Scriptural studies, wisdom from the Fathers, and much more from founder and director Fr. Josiah Trenham, His Grace Bishop Irenei of London, Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou), and others.

Patristic Nectar Kids will present free weekly content, including storytime with Pres. Catherine, voice-acted lives of saints, homilies for children from Fr. Jason Covarrubias, and a kids Q&A.

Watch the first video, on the life of St. Basil, below:

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Enjoy Patristic Nectar Kids in video format at or in audio format at

One-time or recurring donations can be offered here to help keep the ministry free.

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Mal. 1:14–2:2, 8–10 / Ps. 131:1–3 / 1 Thes. 2:7–9, 13 / Mt. 23:1–12

Though they were Moses’ successors, the Pharisees and scribes exalted themselves, making their mastery of the law a badge of social privilege. Worse, they had lorded the law over the people (see Matthew 20:25). Like the priests Malachi condemns in today’s First Reading, they caused many to falter and be closed off from God.

In a word, Israel’s leaders failed to be good spiritual fathers of God’s people. Moses was a humble father figure, preaching the law but also practicing it — interceding and begging God’s mercy and forgiveness of the people’s sins (see Exodus 32:9–14; Psalm 90).

And Jesus reminds us today that all fatherhood — in the family or in the people of God — comes from the Father in heaven (see Ephesians 3:15).

He doesn’t mean we’re to literally call no man “father.” He himself referred to Israel’s founding fathers (see John 7:22); the apostles taught about natural fatherhood (see Hebrews 12:7–11), and described themselves as spiritual fathers (see 1 Corinthians 4:14–16).

The fatherhood of the apostles and their successors, the Church’s priests and bishops, is a spiritual paternity given to raise us as God’s children. Our fathers give us new life in paptism and feed us the spiritual milk of the Gospel and the Eucharist (see 1 Peter 2:2–3). That’s why Paul, in today’s Epistle, can also compare himself to a nursing mother.

God’s fatherhood likewise transcends all human notions of fatherhood and motherhood. Perhaps that’s why the Psalm chosen for today includes one of the rare biblical images of God’s maternal care (see Isaiah 66:13).

His only Son has shown us the Father (see John 14:9) coming to gather his children as a hen gathers her young (see Matthew 23:37). We’re all brothers and sisters, Our Lord tells us today. And all of us — even our spiritual fathers — are to trust in him, humbly, like children on our mothers’ laps.

In an hourlong interview with Italy’s main news program, Pope Francis announced he would travel to Dubai in early December for the U.N. Climate Change Conference, COP28.

He also revealed that he speaks every day with the priest and women religious at Holy Family Church in Gaza, that he was pleased with the assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality and that when he insists the church is open to “all, all, all,” that includes LGBTQ+ Catholics.

The interview, conducted at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, his residence, aired Nov. 1 on RAI 1 just after the main evening news program. RAI said 4.5 million people watched the broadcast.

Many of the questions and most of the pope’s responses were standard for interviews with Pope Francis, who tried to avoid journalists when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, but who has given dozens of interviews as pope.

The more unusual questions revealed that the last time he spent a day at the beach was in 1975, that he had a girlfriend as a young man and that later, as archbishop, he met her again with her husband and children.

The interviewer, Gian Marco Chiocci, director of the evening news program, also tried to get Pope Francis to pick his favorite soccer player, giving him the choice between two fellow Argentines: the late Diego Maradona or Lionel Messi, who was awarded his eighth Ballon d’Or Oct. 30.

The pope said both were among the best players of all time, adding that Messi is “a real gentleman.” But, he said, the greatest is Pelé, the Brazilian star who died in December 2022, and had a big heart as well as being an amazingly talented athlete.

On more serious issues, Pope Francis repeated his conviction that “every war is a defeat,” and said he is afraid of the possible expansion of the fighting between Israel and Hamas, although he believes human reason will prevail to prevent that.

Asked about antisemitic acts of vandalism in response to the conflict, Pope Francis said that while antisemitism sometimes is “hidden,” or goes underground, it seems to never go away. “I can’t explain it, but it’s a fact that I see and I don’t like.”

On the Oct. 4-29 assembly of the Synod of Bishops, the pope said, “The result is positive. Everything was discussed with full freedom, and this is a beautiful thing.”

Chiocci noted that members of the assembly spoke about gay Catholics, and he asked if the pope was satisfied with the discussion.

“When I say ‘everyone, everyone, everyone,’ it’s the people. The church receives people, everyone, and does not ask what you are. Then, within the church, everyone grows and matures in their Christian belonging. It’s true that today it’s a bit fashionable to talk about this. The church receives everyone.”

Asked about the role of women in the church, Pope Francis said they should be included in the normal church structures at every level, which is something he has been doing.

But as far as ordination goes, “that is a theological problem, not an administrative problem,” he said, not specifying whether he was speaking about ordination to the priesthood or to the diaconate or both.

Pope Francis repeated what he has said in the past: “From a theological, ministerial point of view, there are different things: the Petrine principle, which is that of jurisdiction; and the Marian principle, which is the more important one because the church is female, the church is bride, the church is not male, she is female.”

Just as Mary is more important than Peter, he said, “the power of the female church and of women in the church is stronger and more important than that of male ministers.”

After the pope said the same thing in an interview with America magazine last year, the Vatican newspaper ran an article by Marinella Perroni, a retired professor of biblical theology at the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm in Rome, who said the idea of a Marian and a Petrine principle was devised in the 1970s to highlight the importance of both men and women in the church.

But, she said, “Doesn’t the Marian-Petrine principle express an ideology and rhetoric of sexual and gender differentiation that has now been exposed as one of the covers for patriarchal privileges?”

In addition, she wrote, it stereotypes the differences between men and women and gives them a hierarchical value. The feminine is presented as domestic, interior, welcoming and spiritual, while the masculine is presented as ministerial, authoritative and powerful.

Chiocci also asked Pope Francis if he had ever had a crisis of faith.

“In the sense of losing it, no,” he answered. But there have been times when he felt he was walking in darkness and “the Lord was hiding.”

Pope Francis said he also has had the experience of asking, “Where are you, Lord? And why don’t you fix this?” But then, “you hear the Lord telling you, ‘Because I don’t have a magic wand.’ The Lord is not Mandrake (the Magician), no. He is something else.”