While Blessed John Paul II was pope as he was going through illness and difficult days, a Capuchin Friar stood below his window in Saint Peter's Square, raised his fist and cried out "Coraggio." Just what the Pope needed to hear. The Pope made him preacher to the Papal Household. We all need that "Corragio" from God and others from time to time. I hope this blog gives a lift and helps inspire all who read it, at least from time to time.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
USCCB Media Blog: HHS Exec Rivals Nixon With Line: 'I am Not Trying ...
USCCB Media Blog: HHS Exec Rivals Nixon With Line: 'I am Not Trying ...: The most memorable line since Richard Nixon’s “I am not a crook” has just come out of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (H...
Monday, October 31, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Friday, September 09, 2011
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Monday, August 08, 2011
Friday, August 05, 2011
Monday, August 01, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Can Freedom Survive without Virtue?
Michael Novak, Stonehill College alumnus and Templeton Awardee, and his assistant Mitch Boersma, wrote an article entitled "Can Freedom Survive without Virtue?" They quote Founding Father Dr. Benjamin Rush as follows: "The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without it there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments."
If the agents of secularism succeed in privatizing religion, removing it from the public scquare and civil discourse, the future of liberty is jeopardized. There are forces in this country that campaign to separate all religion from public life. Yet the Founders asserted that the republic needed good citizens to survive and prosper; good citizens must by definition be virtuous; religion is the principal agent in shaping a virtuous man or woman. Therefore, the suppression of religion and/or its banishment from public life and discourse, leads inevitably to the destruction of the republic. It seems the Founders understood the necessity of religion for a good society, when they declared that "all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that mong these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." These God-given rights derive not from the largesse of government and can be safegaurded only by the rearing of virtuous children who grow to become good citizens.
The second major threat to the survival of the Republic is the weakeninig of family life. For Liberty to prosper in the breasts of citizens, the family must be favored and strengthened by society, government and especially churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious communities. Failing this social support, the family disintegrates. Without family life, not even the force of religion can supply the basic building blocks of personal formation into virtuous men and women, the only source we can draw on to raise up good citizens.
What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts about this important issue of freedom and liberty.
If the agents of secularism succeed in privatizing religion, removing it from the public scquare and civil discourse, the future of liberty is jeopardized. There are forces in this country that campaign to separate all religion from public life. Yet the Founders asserted that the republic needed good citizens to survive and prosper; good citizens must by definition be virtuous; religion is the principal agent in shaping a virtuous man or woman. Therefore, the suppression of religion and/or its banishment from public life and discourse, leads inevitably to the destruction of the republic. It seems the Founders understood the necessity of religion for a good society, when they declared that "all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that mong these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." These God-given rights derive not from the largesse of government and can be safegaurded only by the rearing of virtuous children who grow to become good citizens.
The second major threat to the survival of the Republic is the weakeninig of family life. For Liberty to prosper in the breasts of citizens, the family must be favored and strengthened by society, government and especially churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious communities. Failing this social support, the family disintegrates. Without family life, not even the force of religion can supply the basic building blocks of personal formation into virtuous men and women, the only source we can draw on to raise up good citizens.
What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts about this important issue of freedom and liberty.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Saturday, July 09, 2011
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Friday, July 01, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Fr. Corapi announces he's leaving the priesthood :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)
Fr. Corapi announces he's leaving the priesthood :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)
This is sad news! I plan to pray that the truth will out and that the Justice and mercy of God will hold sway for all involved. Fr. Willy
This is sad news! I plan to pray that the truth will out and that the Justice and mercy of God will hold sway for all involved. Fr. Willy
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sad Day in Malta for America
For me and Bishop Lumen Monteiro,CSC, it was a privilege to meet with the ambassador. I am only sorry we do not have more like him. He will be a big loss to our diplomatic community and the good people of Malta. May God bless you Ambassador Kmiec.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, April 08, 2011
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Friday, April 01, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Friday, March 04, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
The Anatomy of Forgiveness
Saint John Vianney spent 16 hours a day hearing confessions and through him Christ the Risen Lord healed hundreds of thousands. It is shocking because the Warlord, General Butt Naked, recruited young men with his powerful and charismatic personality, convinced them that entering into battle naked protected them from bullets and was resposnbile by his own testimony for at least 20,000 civilians deaths.
One day, a visitor came to his barracks to tell him that he could be saved and forgiven. His guards claimed that they did not see the visitor come in or go out of the General's office. He began the long process of conversion, changing his heart by God's grace, leaving the civil war and renouncing violence, going before the truth and reconciliation tribuanl and confessing his crimes, going personally to as many victims and survivors as he could and asking forgiveness, and making satisfaction wherever he was able to.
As a priest who is blessed to celebrate the sacrament of mercy and forgiveness with many members of the Body of Christ weekly I am always honored and moved by the way in which God himself brings people to sorrow and contrition for their sins, to forgiveness and confession, to taking up a penance and make satisfaction for sins, to healing and reconcilation with a firm commitment not to enter into these sins again. The whole anatomy of forgiveness which we encounter in the Prodigal Son of Luke 15 seems to be present in the lives of the penitents who have the humility to come before a priest who acts in teh person of Christ and allows the Risen Lord to forgive, heal and strengthen the person. What a gift.
Some people questioned the sincerity of General Butt Naked's Redemption while we were at Sundance. I may be gullible but I believe that God's mercy extends even to such a man. Praise God!
Fr. Willy
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Friday, January 07, 2011
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