The Catholic Church has an extensive set of teachings about love, and marriage, and sexuality. These teachings are quite articulate. But again, they are vast because they are “extensive.” So, the summaries and impressions often shared about these teachings can easily go astray from what are our religious beliefs, or moral principles, really are in …
Category Archives: Sacramental Life of the Church
Three Short Homilies on the Priesthood
Bishop McDermott asked priests to preach about priestly vocations this weekend. Here are three short homilies on the priesthood in Holy Orders. Homily A Bishop John McDermott has invited all priests this month to speak about the call to the priesthood within holy orders. It is my delight to do this. But first I want …
Humanae Vitae, Contraception, Marriage, and the Cross of Christ
For many reasons I have wanted to start a discussion about Humanae Vitae. That 1968 document from Pope Paul VI, to me, gets at the core of everything that has gone wrong with sexual mores – rather sexual immorality, sexual confusion, and now 21st century sexual Gnosticism – in the past 60 years. What follows …
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What does “Mass” mean? (Part II)
Link to Page 49 of the latest Vermont Catholic Magazine As promised… brief follow up article on “what does the word ‘Mass” means.”
Why do we call the Mass, “the Mass”?
Hello all, My article here was published in the May 2022 issue of the Vermont Catholic Magazine. I am re-posting it here and now, because I have a “part II” in the next Vermont Catholic Magazine, fall edition. Please read on. It is not very long. https://www.vermontcatholic.org/uncategorized/why-do-we-call-the-mass-the-mass/ I will share the upcoming article (same topic) …
Statement of Faith: “male and female He created them.”
We confess with full religious conviction that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was born as a man, that is, he was male, with the bodily constitution for the capacity to become a biological father. It is attested by Scripture and Tradition that Jesus lived a life of sexual celibacy, which did not repudiate the …
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Propter Nos
The Church’s tradition sees the word “man” as an appropriate word to indicate the fullness of human nature, i.e. the nature in every man and woman. The Church does oppose all theorizing – mainly coming from the ancient pagan writings much more than from Christian tradition – which claims that a woman is an imperfect …
The Vermont State Knights of Columbus Support the National Eucharistic Revival
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Communion of the Body of Christ: Do you ever spend an hour in the Church in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist? This tradition of a “Holy Hour” is very common when a parish offers Eucharistic Adoration (or “Exposition” of the Eucharist in a Monstrance for displaying …
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Vatican II and the Proclamation of Scripture
Glory be to Jesus Christ. I wish to speak of a cross carried by the parish priest. We might say there is a tension between the spoken word and the gestures of the liturgy. No doubt this claim will sound very strange. I assure you it is a reality. This is a tension, and it …
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Peter and Paul: a Litany for Private Devotion
Sunday, July 4th 2021, my weekend homily was inspired heavily by reflection on the Acts of the Apostles. In Short, the grace that Saint Paul kept speaking of, from his encounter with Christ, should be the grace we experience when we encounter, taste, and receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Separately from this consideration, I …
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Ubi Petrus VT 