Echoes - A forum of Catholic thought. The Opinion section of thebostonpilot.com

December 8, 2023Faith

A few years ago, I wrote about the Nambuma Boys Primary School in the Archdiocese of Lilongwe, Malawi. Thanks to generous donors to the Pontifical Mission Societies (TPMS), the school had just built two ...

Faith & Family

Sacrosanctum Concilium general principles -- sacraments and sacramentalsFather John F. Baldovin, SJ

The third chapter of the constitution is devoted to reforms pertaining to the other sacraments and to sacramentals -- those rituals which do not have a sacramental character (e.g., blessings) but are ...

Faith & Family

Straighten the pathScott Hahn

Our God is coming. The time of exile -- the long separation of humankind from God due to sin -- is about to end. This is the good news proclaimed in today's liturgy. Isaiah in today's First ...

Faith & Family

Every baby brings his ownJaymie Stuart Wolfe

''Every baby brings his own loaf of bread." That's the proverb Father Tom Dilorenzo used to tell me whenever we were expecting another child. That was a frequent occurrence for about a decade. ...

Spirituality

In honor of MaryMichael Pakaluk

In honor of the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe, I invite you to ponder with me the two opening lines of Mary's song, the "Magnificat" (Luke 1:46-7). We are confronted first with ...

Faith & Family

Away from Ordinary TimesLucia A. Silecchia

There is no Advent as short as those that come in the years like this, when Christmas falls on a Monday. When the fourth Sunday of Advent is also Christmas Eve, there seems to be -- and, indeed, there ...

Faith & Family

Questions on baptismal recordsJenna Marie Cooper

Q: My cousin is getting married soon and will need to obtain a copy of her baptismal certificate for inclusion in the pre-nuptial enquiry. As a newborn baby, it wasn't clear if she would survive and ...

Culture & Events

Reflections on the Scripture readings for Dec. 10, Second Sunday of AdventDeacon Greg Kandra

Is 40:1-5, 9-11 Ps 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14 2 Pt 3:8-14 Mk 1:1-8 If nothing else, Advent should remind us of this inconvenient truth: We are people in a hurry. The other day, I was leaving Walmart ...

Faith & Family

The battle is real: A guide for spiritual warfareDr. R. Jared Staudt

For decades, we tried canceling the devil, refraining from talking much about him, or bothering much with him at all. Catholics thought they could get by without exorcisms, relegating them to the superstitious ...