In the wake of the shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, the mayor has minimized  praying for the victims . We Catholics believe that praying is the very best thing we can do as the Conference of Bishops indicates below.  We can pray for the souls of the victims, the swift and full recovery of those wounded, and for wisdom for our government officials -- especially whose who keep pushing transgender conversations of those under 18 -- which seem to create nothing but misery for all concerned.  Jesus told us to "love our enemies." This means we should include the alleged murderer in our prayers. He was obviously mentally ill. At the end of our lives, we will all want mercy from Our Lord and we should pray and hope Jesus will extend mercy to him. 

Considering Los Angeles is the host city in 2028, it is hard to figure if the Bee  is joking or serious.  The moral decay of society in the West -- and, the USA in particular -- can only be fought with God's help. Please go to church today!  Worshipping only on  Christmas and Easter isn't cutting it.  We people of faith need to redouble our efforts -- not just by going to church (or synagogue or mosque) -- but by speaking out, working to elect quality candidates, and using our economic power (hello, Bud Light!) to fight advertisers who spread filth.  How do we fight back?  I was really looking forward to the Olympics. Now, I'm not going to watch -- at all. If NBC and the International Olympic Committee see a huge drop in viewers, the advertisers will demand refunds, and NBC + IOC will stop opening and closing ceremonies last last night's because of the loss of money. We must live our faith by not patronizing immoral activities, or watching immoral movi...

As Pope Francis didn't define "deniers," we have no idea to what/whom he was referring. Two of his primary climate advisors are (highly unfortunately) Al Gore and Naomi Oreskes, neither of whom are climate scientists. Oreskes is an atheist and I don't know Gore's current thinking regarding faith. Francis can and should get better advisors.  With the above said, please allow me to clear up a recent controversy on Twitter. When Pope Francis says these things they are not  infallible statements. We Catholics believe the Pope is infallible only in narrow circumstances which are, He must be talking about faith or morals. Science doesn't count.  He must be speaking Ex Cathedra , which is in his official capacity and through an official document such as an encyclical. This qualifies as neither. And, while on the subject, Dr. Katharine Hayhoe frequently uses her (alleged) Christianity to justify her, sometimes extreme, positions on global warming. I don't know why...

Good morning, everyone... As most of you know, there has been a great deal of controversy and misinformation pertaining to Chiefs' kicker Harrison Butker's commencement address at traditionally Catholic Benedictine College one week ago. I am a practicing Catholic who has family members that attended Benedictine. While I disagree with his comments about the Latin Mass (changing the Mass to the local language was one of the best things to ever occur, in my opinion), I pretty much agree with the rest of what he said.  His entire address is here and I urge you to read it.   Because his comments about the vocations of men and women were so controversial and so widely misquoted ( The Hill  stated he said, "women should stay in the kitchen" -- not even close!), I am reproducing them here: ...For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. I want to speak directly...

I am a practicing Catholic and wish to present vital wisdom from Pope Francis regarding some of the major moral issues of our time. I wish to let you read it for yourself. The reporter is Bree A. Dail. VATICAN CITY— Pope Francis condemns surrogacy, “gender theory” and transgender sex change in new document, “Dignitas infinita”. SURROGACY CONDEMNED: 48. The Church also takes a stand against the practice of surrogacy, through which the immensely worthy child becomes a mere object. On this point, Pope Francis’s words have a singular clarity: “The path to peace calls for respect for life, for every human life, starting with the life of the unborn child in the mother’s womb, which cannot be suppressed or turned into an object of trafficking. In this regard, I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs. A child is always ...

While we enjoy posting our "Sunday Fun" features, this is a serious post on the day of the week when Christians traditionally worship God.   You will find information on the bill before Canada's Parliament here . Twenty years ago, no one would have dared introduce such outrageous legislation. Now, among the Canadian and US's 'intelligentsia,' this type of thinking is becoming mainstream. As we have seen with the -- sometimes violent -- protests against Israel in recent weeks, many 'progressives' in the USA are increasingly hostile to the Judeo-Christian ethic that has been the backbone of our nation for 248 years.  To give you a second example from last week, someone named Heidi Przybyla, posted the item below and repeated it -- several times -- on MSNBC. Keeping in mind  there is no such thing as "Christian Nationalism ," this is an attempt by MSNBC and Democrats to influence future events by creating a slur!  With the political purpose of t...

FBI did this to an innocent man.  See below The Biden Administration has declared war on Catholics.     Those are words I never thought I would write in America under any circumstances and under any political party.  What is my evidence? ·        His FBI proclaiming traditional Catholics to be potential terrorists . ·        Forbidding Catholic priests from ministering to Catholic patients and staff at Walter Reed Army Hospital , a clear First Amendment violation. ·        His FBI hauling off, at 6:30 am on a Friday, a Catholic abortion protester. The Friday is important for his having to spend the weekend in jail. He was acquitted . ·        His FBI’s plans (which may have been carried out) to spy on Catholics   in church during Mass. I fear the above is the tip of the iceberg. After all, this is only what has come to light.  The FBI agen...

The drought is severe over much of Kansas and adjacent areas (below). As I was driving through Kingman this afternoon, I thought this was a great plan.

The Bishop of Belleville, Illinois made an important announcement : It seemed to fly under the radar of both secular and most Catholic media, but recently some heartening news came out of the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois, when Bishop Michael McGovern announced that he would be selling the 13-bedroom manor that has been the home of Belleville’s shepherds for over 150 years. In  a splendid example of the Church putting its money where its mouth is, Bishop McGovern’s office said that selling the valuable property is meant to “generate resources that can be used for a maternity fund for expectant mothers as well as in support of Catholic education, youth ministry and evangelization.” Throughout the post-Dodd period, there have been those that have accused Catholics of hypocrisy in the pro-life realm. That simply isn't correct and much of the criticism is simply in bad faith. So, I wanted to provide you with yet another example of Catholics trying to care for the least among us as Ch...

Holy hordes descended on downtown Wichita this afternoon as a military procession carried the remains of Medal of Honor winner, and future official saint of the Catholic Church, Father Emil Kapaun to his final resting place. Father Kapaun's procession included full military honors. Father Kapaun's flag-draped coffin was carried into his final resting place which is Wichita's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.  Below, Fr. Kapaun's coffin disappears into the Cathedral. The interment ceremony was for Fr. Kapaun's family and fellow prisoners of war (now in their 90's). He will be placed in a tomb inside the Cathedral. Anyone can worship and offer prayers for his intercession with God starting tomorrow. Of course, the Cathedral is open to all. If you didn't get to watch the funeral, it can be viewed here . It begins with the only known recording of his voice and a commemorative history of his life. Another outstanding story is here .  But, if you do nothing ...

This is a day I never thought would occur: Medal of Honor recipient and (almost certainly) future saint of the Catholic Church, Chaplain Father Emil Kapaun is back home in Kansas. He arrived at Wichita's Eisenhower National Airport about 12:25pm.  There will be a number of Catholic Masses celebrated as well as other prayer services before his interment. Father Kapaun's tomb being prepared Fr. Kapaun will be laid to rest in Wichita's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.  If you are not familiar with the story of Father Kapaun, he was an Army chaplain during the Korean War. His platoon was the first to be overrun. He stayed behind to minister to his men and performed amazing acts of heroism as a prisoner of war. He was tortured and died in Korea and, it was believed, buried in a mass grave. I believe the discovery and identification of his remains was nothing less than a miracle. My three children attended Kapaun High School in Wichita and they have published a succinct s...

Father Emil Kapaun was a hero of the Korean War (Medal of Honor, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Purple Heart). Fr. Kapaun was an Army chaplain who not only was highly respected by his troops, he performed heroically -- saving his men -- after being captured by the North Koreans. His story is here . That story includes his period as a parish priest in Pilsen, Kansas, just north of Wichita and part of the Diocese of Wichita. An excerpt of his story is below: Bishop Carroll received Chaplain Kapaun’s last report and letter along with a package of Korean War mementos in October of 1950. There was lit- tle hint of what was to come: after weeks of making great progress, many of the U.S. soldiers thought the war would be over by Christmas. However, just as they had the North Korean Army on the run and almost defeated, the Chinese decided to enter the war. Father Kapaun and the men of the 8th Cavalry Regiment were the first to encounter the Chinese. On the night of November 1, 1950, while prote...

Father Emil Kapaun, from a small town north of Wichita, was a hero of the Korean War. His actions, which resulted in the saving of American soldiers' lives and the conversion to Christianity of some of his North Korean guards is believed to be on his way to sainthood. All three of my children went to Kapaun High School in Wichita.  This is wonderful news. For Fr. Kapaun's family, I'm glad they can hold a proper burial. The Vatican has been rumored to want a better account of Fr. Kapaun's cause of death before he would be proclaimed a saint. It is possible his remains may shed some clues.  UPDATE: More information, here . UPDATE II: Wichita's KAKE-TV found a 1955 report it did from his home town of Pilsen just four years after the great man's death. It includes a recording of one of Fr. Kapaun's sermons. I had never heard his voice before. 

Unfortunately, the tweet is accurate .  No, I don't think they are trying to "take the place of God." They are trying to crowd God out of our society. And, they are trying to do it in the most arrogant and obnoxious way possible.  And, as usual, the bishops are useless . “Since learning of the concerns of Howard County officials, we have shared our guidelines for the distribution of Communion and express our own serious concerns about their recent guidance preventing Catholic churches in Howard County from distributing Communion.” "Serious concerns"?! You are kidding, right? The Holy Eucharist is central to the Catholic Faith. Yes, this is clearly unconstitutional and will not stand. But, politicians will keep trying as long as they pay no price for trying to cut off religious freedom. In addition to filing for an emergency court ruling, the bishop(s) should be organizing peaceful mass demonstrations of people of all faiths. They should be organiz...

As a practicing Catholic, I want to be able to support Pope Francis 100% of the time. Unfortunately, in areas related to science, I haven't always been able to do so. So, when I saw these headlines I thought, "What now?" Catholic News Agency The original interview with Pope Francis -- on which these headlines are based -- is here . I interpret Francis' comments as saying we are not paying enough attention to the environment in general, not as attributing coronavirus to global warming. Here is the portion of the interview in question: Pope Francis : There is an expression in Spanish: “God always forgives, we forgive sometimes, but nature never forgives.” We did not respond to the partial catastrophes. Who now speaks of the fires in Australia, or remembers that eighteen months ago a boat could cross the North Pole because the glaciers had all melted? Who speaks now of the floods? I don’t know if these are the revenge of nature, but they are certainly nature’s...

As a product of Catholic schools in the 1950's, nuns would scare everybody straight. My knuckles are still sore as I, with good reason, incurred their wrath more often than average.

Can't believe I'm saying that twice in one week. This is a complete joke. Taking " unnecessary flights " is not  a sin.

Tomorrow, Catholic Cardinal John Henry Newman will be declared a saint of the Catholic Church. There will be a canonization Mass in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. Newman is the only university in the United States named after the soon-to-be saint. They have been celebrating all week and they will be watching at 3am CDT tomorrow when the celebration begins.

As always, the Cross endures. Photo of the altar inside Notre Dame by Reuters' Philippe Wojazer An amazing story of courage: A Catholic priest worked with firefighters and risked his life to save the Blessed Sacrament and Jesus' Crown of Thorns from the Notre Dame fire. The must read story is here . Some other thought on the loss of Notre Dame (also a must-read) are here . There is very good news: all three Rose Windows survived. Ongoing coverage here .

The Catholic Church's intolerable behavior in the wake of the sexual abuse scandals continues to puzzle. Rather than actually reform the Church with ironclad measures, members of the hierarchy continue to dribble out half-measures. This latest proposal, to put Archbishops in charge of Bishops, falls into this category. Catholic and UCLA professor of law, Stephen Bainbridge, explains here . As Steve argues, there is no solution that does not involve a significant role for the laity and further accusations must be handled on a national, rather than local, level.  I recommend Steve's piece at the red link.