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The La Crosse seminarians at the NAC pose after Justin and I received the ministry of acolyte (from left: Deacon Joe Redfern, Justin Kizewski, myself and Jesse Burish.

Practice Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter (read)

Crossing the Rio Grande (April 26, 2006) Although Mexicans have been entering this country “illegally” ever since large tracts of Mexico became the southwestern United States, only in recent decades has so much attention been concentrated on the man-made divide known as the Mexican border. The illegal in theory has gradually become illegal in fact, swallowing up our epoch's Ellis Island. In any case, the legally sanctioned means by which so many of our ancestors pursued their American Dream have become an illegal nightmare. Today, Ellis Island is but a mirage. For so many dreamers, only the muddy water of the Rio Grande, splashed furtively underfoot, will waken American Dream to American Reality. (more...)

Epistula I ad Corinthios 15:29
Pro mortuis: baptismum, resurrectio, patientia apostolica (13 Aprilis, 2006) Interpretum crux hic locus in S. Pauli scripturis est. G. Fee 40 expositiones diversas notavit, atque H. Conzelmann, peritus de hac cruce utique illustrissimus, plus quam 200 in opere suo exploravit. J. White typos generales delineavit, quibus amplexae sunt has diversas expositiones, quae effici possunt: quae versum litteraliter accipiunt morisque expositionem quaerunt; ac quae ad "mortuis" sensum non-nomenativum proponunt. Non est solum interpretum crux, sed plus in America provocatio pastoralis, quoniam mormona ecclesia habet baptismi vicarii morem ex hoc versu justificatum. Multa studia de hac interpretum cruce in protestantismi americani actis sunt, sed in actis catholicis pauca. Rationem esse catholicam videri potest actualem fuisse Corinthiorum morem. Sed ecclesiarum patrum traditio alterum dixit, et doctorum recentium numerus cum eis consentiens crescit. Necesse est nobis quaerere, ideo, si Corinthii istum actualem morem habebant. (download the paper...)

The Spirit Paraclete in the Gospel of St. John
Might 13:20 shed new light? (April 13, 2006) The Johannine account of the Last Supper embraces chapters 13 through 17. Within the middle three of these five chapters, there are four explicit mentions of a mysterious entity called "the Paraclete". Much exegetical energy has gone into identifying this elusive entity. The safest exegesis sides, of course, with St. Augustine, when he refers to Jn. 16:7: Hic est utique in Trinitate Spiritus sanctus, quem Patri et Filio consubstantialem et coaeternum fides catholica confitetur. Modern exegetes have written huge tomes on the grammatical and historical contexts of these mentions of the Paraclete, some agreeing with Augustine's identification, and others preferring to posit another figure. Lost somewhere in this mound of pneumatological material is an overlooked passage which bears striking similarity to the four Paraclete passages. Might 13:20 tell us something we don't know about the Paraclete? (download the paper...)

Station Churches (March 23, 2006) Rome is quietest between five and six o'clock in the morning. The late-night revelers have chugged their last beers, and the motor scooter commuters have not yet begun to zip along the Tiber River. Only the beggars sleeping under the bridges and the paper hawkers setting up their street corner stands preserve the warm security of humanity. A group of seminarians faithfully enters into this street lamp-lit ambiance early every Lenten morning. (more...)

Practice Homily for the First Sunday of Lent (read...)

Carrying the sword of freedom February 26, 2006 Ne puero gladium – “Don’t give the child a sword”. Thus runs the counsel of ancient Rome, passed on to us by Erasmus. I can only guess at the circumstances of this maxim’s origin. Whenever and however it came to be said, even today it has a ring of relevance, probably because there are still plenty of children and plenty of swords.
The Mohammed caricature controversy has been raging on three continents for the last several weeks. During this time, many children and the dangerous weapons they wield have been exposed. (more...)

First Encyclical teaches love January 27, 2006 Pope Benedict XVI released his first encyclical, Deus caritas est, on Jan 25. A teaching letter can make or break a papacy. As Pope John XXIII put it in his first encyclical a few years before Vatican II, “Great numbers of people have placed their hopes and expectations in me.” Some popes fail to get their message across, like Pope Paul VI, who didn’t write another encyclical for ten years after the negative reaction to Humanae vitae in 1968. But some have succeeded, such as John Paul II whose Redemptor hominis, is described as a manifesto: the first stone cast against the impregnable defenses of communism. (more...)

Past editorials.