Blog

Two banks approved tens of millions of euros in loans for a Catholic charity while it was in the midst of a multi-million euro fraud.  The funds, totaling as much as the charity’s entire cash reserves, could account for as much as half the money believed to have been embezzled from its accounts earlier this … Read moreCaritas Luxembourg received millions in bank loans in midst of fraud

Happy Friday friends, I have reached that point in summer where my internal emotional tension has reached its breaking point.  The news cycle slows over August, inevitably. And of human necessity people cycle in and out of the office on vacation. If you have, as I do, a disordered Pelagian disposition towards work as self-justification, … Read moreSummer school, Rorschach’s prayer, and one man’s meat

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has released a statement on an investigation into the allegedly incorrupt remains of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster of Gower Abbey, Missouri. The report  concluded that her body lacks “any detected features of decomposition” following her death in 2019. The body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster at Gower Abby. Pillar image.  In … Read moreSr. Wilhelmina’s body ‘lacks any features of decomposition,’ experts conclude

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago generated controversy this week when he offered the invocation at the Democratic National Convention. Cardinal Cupich gives the invocation at the 2024 DNC. Credit: PBS News / Screenshot. Subscribe now The cardinal’s prayer to open the convention was criticized in large part because of the Democratic Party’s policy commitment to … Read moreA brief history of Catholic convention prayers

A New York province of Capuchin Franciscans says it will fully cooperate with federal prosecutors who arrested a friar last week on charges of wire and mail fraud, with prosecutors alleging he stole hundreds of thousands in an elaborate scheme involving several invented personalities, claims of royalty, and phony Lebanese medical clinics. Fr. Pawel Bielecki, … Read more‘Catch him if you can’ – Capuchin arrested after complex false identity scam

Pillar subscribers can listen to JD read this Pillar Post here: The Pillar TL;DR Hey everybody, Today is the Feast of St. Bernard, and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post. You’re reading it a bit late, and I apologize — I’m still getting into the swing of things after the health stuff my family’s been … Read more‘We as individuals,’ the news, and Barry the great

The new apostolic nuncio to Venezuela, Archbishop Alberto Ortega Martín, presented August 14 his letters of credence as the Holy See’s diplomatic envoy to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. Archbishop Alberto Ortega meets Nicholas Maduro, Aug. 14, 2024. Such an act is usually a formality, without much political significance, but in the complicated political landscape of … Read moreBad timing: Why Venezuela’s new nuncio had to meet Maduro

When Milwaukee’s Archbishop Jerome Listecki delivered the invocation for the Republican National Convention last month, he began with an appropriate challenge to all American politicians, reminding them: “Our Founding Fathers held the truth self-evident that all are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” … Read moreLeading prayers for the culture of death

The partial halt to the enforcement of President Biden’s new K-12 Title IX transgender regulations for American schools is certainly welcome news from the US Supreme Court. It provides us with a little more time to derail these regulations. But it is also peculiar news. If you read our news story, you will find that … Read moreProvidence or mere politics? On the rebellion against Being

Two Steubenville priests made headlines this month, when the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that they have legal custody of a two-year-old boy, who is living at their downtown parish rectory.  St. Peter’s Parish, in Steubenville, Ohio. Credit: Ron Cogswell/Flickr. CC BY SA 2.0 A judge will consider the boy’s situation at a custody hearing in October, … Read moreTwo priests and a baby? What’s happening at an Ohio parish?

The Vatican’s agreement with China on the appointment of bishops is set to be renewed in the coming months.  While that project remains in the hands of the Secretariat of State, Pope Francis has been in recent months making more personal appeals to Beijing, both himself and through his “special envoy for peace,” Cardinal Matteo … Read moreIs the Vatican’s China diplomacy strategy, or chaos?

We sometimes hear that a particular person is not religious but is “deeply spiritual.” But spirituality detached from God’s good creation is out of touch with reality and can be harmful. Authentic Catholic spirituality engages body and soul, spirit and creation, divine faith and human reason—and avoids the excesses of materialism and spiritualism. Read More

There is no Starting Seven today due to a vacation. The next Starting Seven will be on Monday, Sept. 2. Read more Read More

JD shares about his vacation and gives Ed some insights into Protestantism.  Upgrade your subscription! Are you a paying subscriber?  Visit pillarcatholic.com/listen on your phone Check the top right corner of the webpage to ensure you are logged into your Substack account.   Tap ‘set up podcast’ next to The Pillar TL;DR Having issues? Check … Read moreBonus: Breaking and Protestantism

Like so many American boys, I was thoroughly absorbed with sports in my youth. When I wasn’t playing games, I was reading about athletes and daydreaming about future athletic glory. Every four years I would be thrilled just by reading about the Olympic Games (since there was no TV in our home), and inspired by … Read moreThe Olympic spirit, RIP

Everett Ferguson, a Protestant elder, biblical scholar, and Church historian, has written what’s perhaps the definitive work on the subject, Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries. Ferguson spends hundreds of pages carefully combing through the evidence to expose the first five hundred years’ worth of Christians thought … Read moreWhat Did the Early Christians Believe About Baptism?

Evangelization is not just a matter of preaching the Gospel. For any effectiveness at all, it requires that we first live the Gospel. We don’t have to live it perfectly, but we have to be seen to be “different” in that respect, and when we fall, we need to get up and try again. Where … Read moreSix inspiring books to jump-start your inner evangelist

“The entire synodal process has been, and remains, inward-looking,” writes Francis X. Maier in The Catholic Thing. Therein lies one of the greatest ironies of this troubled and troubling pontificate. Read More

St. Augustine, who was trained in the heights of the Latin rhetorical tradition, found Scripture rhetorically primitive when he was looking at it from the outside, before his conversion. But he became far more impressed with the rhetorical power of both the Old and the New Testaments once he began to grasp their inner meaning. … Read moreSacred Scripture’s rhetorical power

Scrutinize the words of Jesus in the Gospel. He’s not a gossip. He speaks compelling words of truth. He confronts the Pharisees directly and, echoing John the Baptist, courageously indicts them as a “brood of vipers.” He takes accountability for every word. He warns His disciples of the wiles of Herod, referring to him as … Read moreGossip

My title question masks a deeper one which is perhaps more to the point. Are the indifference and even hostility to Christ so great in the world today that we are excused from meeting the challenges of raising our children Catholic, seeking to deepen the faith and commitment of our fellow Catholics, and attempting to … Read moreIn our day, is apostolic work impossible?

Not a day passed—not even a news cycle—between the announcement that Vice President Kamala Harris had chosen Gov. Tim Walz as her running-mate and the statement from the Minnesota Catholic Conference offering hearty congratulations to the presumptive Democratic nominee. Read More

The Author in his own words: In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis famously poses a trilemma, sometimes called the Liar, Lunatic, or Lord argument, which works like this: Jesus presents himself as the Messiah, as the Son of God, and even as God. Given this, the three ways we can make sense of him are to … Read moreDupes, Deceivers, or… Catholics?

As I head off to my Pilgrimage and Journeying ‘experiment’ starting in Ponte de Barca, I reflect on the whirlwind of activities that has happened that past couple of days. In particular, I reflect on my experiences of my pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Fatima. Fatima is a place … Read moreIn the Midst of Fatima: An Expression of Church Universal

THE DISCOMFORT OF WAITING “Even before the light turned red, my hand was locked on my phone, thumbing its way to Instagram.”  In the perfect story of life, the next line would probably read, “and that was when I stopped acting like a technology-addicted-adult. My life has never been theRead More

It was a Thursday night, and I remember sitting on my bathroom floor weeping, thinking to myself, “I wonder how long it will take them to notice?” I was 16, newly licensed, playing high school basketball and club volleyball, attending agility training twice a week, trying to maintain my gradesRead More

It was tempting because nobody would find out. I also needed the money. And it was one paper. I remember the moment clearly, standing at my locker and contemplating the offer. $20 for a paper. My friend, desperate for a decent grade, asked me to write his English paper inRead More

The Thrill of the Fall As the leaves begin to change and the weather cools down, we embrace pumpkin spice season once again (!!) and the liturgical calendar carries us to the Solemnity of All Saints and the Memorial of All Souls. It is time to prepare for shorter daysRead More

“Whoever has God lacks nothing: God alone is enough.” Born: March 28, 1515 Died: October 4, 1582 Feast Day: October 15 Patron of headache sufferers and Spanish Catholic writers Background If you heard a teen guy describing a girl as “witty and beautiful, intelligent and charming, funny and deep,” youRead More

As a former youth minister, I remember how my Edge core team dreaded small group time. At a point, it became such an obvious frustration that I decided to investigate the cause of this hatred by leading the small groups myself. One Edge Night, I donned my “Small Group Leader”Read More

Francis of Assisi had a deep love for God, people, animals, and the environment. Put simply, he saw God in everyone and everything. Above all, he cared for and loved the sick and poor in a way that few others ever have.Read More

Affirmation is one of the Life Teen Core Values. We need to affirm each other, especially those in our life which we couldn’t do ministry without- ie. Our core members.Read More

I always think about how Jesus would react to middle schoolers. Every time they misbehave, I imagine that Jesus would say to them, “You have no idea all that I have done and will continue to do for you.” And so I aim to love them just as Christ does.Read More

This raises an important question: how does a teen like Kyle find a way to be committed to sports, academics, and his faith while so many other teens struggle? In Matthew 6:21 Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there also your heart will be.” If our Catholic faith and our relationship with God is something … Read moreFaith First: God at the Center

A legitimate concern for parents over social media use is the accessibility that companies and strangers might have to their teens. This is a valid concern, and we’d love to address a few privacy features available on each of the most popular social media platforms among teens.Read More

The extreme sacrifice she sealed with her life testifies that only those who have the courage to give of themselves totally to God and others are able to fulfill themselves.” Gianna’s situation is perhaps pretty unusual; even so, she has important lessons to teach us. So here are three things to learn from St. Gianna … Read moreThree Lessons from St. Gianna Molla