Catholic Action

Mary has a unique place in salvation history and in the Church.  Because she responded yes to becoming the Mother of God, she is our first model of discipleship and our model of grace and trust in God. Among Catholics, May is most well known as “Mary’s Month,” a specific month of the year when special devotions are performed in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Ancient Greek and Western cultures view May as a month of life and motherhood.  This was long before “Mother’s Day” was ever conceived, though the modern celebration is closely related to honor mothers during the spring … [Read more...] about The Month of May—Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Everything we know about the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus comes from Scripture and that has seemed too little for those who made up legends about him. We know he was a carpenter, a working man, for the skeptical Nazarenes ask about Jesus, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55). He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24). Despite his humble work and means, Joseph came from a royal … [Read more...] about Reflections on St. Joseph Day

St. Patrick St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world's most popular saints. He was born in Roman Britain and when he was fourteen or so, he was captured by Irish pirates during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. At the time, Ireland was a land of Druids and pagans but Patrick turned to God and wrote his memoir, The Confession. In The Confession, he wrote: "The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, … [Read more...] about St Patrick’s Day 2025 Reflection

In this Sunday’s Gospel, we hear the story of Jesus’s Transfiguration. During our Lenten journey, we are called to be transformed and hear God’s voice tell us, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”  Like those first disciples, we can become afraid but we acknowledge how good it is to be here with the Lord. Do you remember a time when someone or something changed before your eyes and even though you were afraid, you saw the beauty of that moment? Jesus’s transfiguration is a glimpse of transformation to which we are all called to experience in the resurrection. However, we are … [Read more...] about Reflection for the 2nd Sunday of Lent- March 16, 2025

Among the core experiences in the story of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, was his capture and enslavement for six years as a youth. He writes in his Confessio, that he believed his enslavement was a just punishment for having abandoned God. However, we know now that God abandons no one. We human beings are the ones who instead abandon God and bring sin to this earth. The desolation and despair felt by the sixteen-year-old Patrick matches what far too many young people today experience in the most formative years of their lives. The scandals surrounding the sexual abuse of minors and … [Read more...] about DECEMBER 8th Set as DAY OF PRAYER AND FASTING FOR THE VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ABUSE

The Ancient Order of Hibernians was established in 1836 to protect and defend Our Holy Mother, the Roman Catholic Church, from the violence and bigotry of anti-Catholic nativist mobs. While violent physical attacks on our churches have become largely a thing of the past, bigotry and disdain for the Catholic Church has not vanished; it hides in the shadows where it nurses on the darkness until its next opportunity to spread the poison of prejudice. On Friday evening, October 21, President Trump through twitter promoted the work of Dr. Robert Jeffress, a megachurch pastor of First Baptist … [Read more...] about Nothing “Wonderful” About Catholic Bigotry