Amos 6:1,4-7; 1 Timothy 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31 The prophet Amos spoke to the people of Israel at a time when they had become financially prosperous.  Comfortable in their homes and their way of life their days were filled with eating, drinking, and being merry.  At the very same time their society around them was...
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What do I tell my child about heaven and hell? There is nothing more vivid than a child’s imagination in describing to you what heaven, hell, angels, even God look like. The scary details are surpassed only by the child’s sincerity. Building on the things that children know is the best way to teach...
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Amos 8:4-7; I Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13 Every minute of every day, the nations of the world spend 2.85 million dollars on military armaments.  Every day, 16000 children die of hunger. Every year, 1.2 million babies are aborted in the U.S.  Every day, a species becomes extinct.  Every year, an area of the...
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I wonder if there’s anything I can do to influence my friends to get involved in church-and even go more often? Can you help? Evangelization is always a delicate balance. Faith itself is a gift, yet it needs to be nourished. So any influence you have needs to be the kind that encourages and...
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Exodus 32:7-11,13-14; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-32 Discipleship, if you really think about it, is an adult experience of faith.  While children can and do believe in Jesus, their expression of faith is pretty much limited to the choices their parents make for them.  A child cannot typically live the call to discipleship because...
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I have recently received news about the Cooper House from Beyond Shelter’s Lisa Rotvold. Since so many people have asked about how things are going there, I thought I would share her entire letter: Thanks for checking in. I think overall things are going pretty well at Cooper. We have learned a lot from...
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Wisdom 9:13-18;  Philemon 9-10,12-17;  Luke 14:25-33 A century before Christ was born, crucifixion was introduced by the Roman authorities as a punishment for those who committed treason.  Crucifixion soon became commonplace in Palestine, the region where Jesus was born and raised.  When Jesus was about ten years old, history teaches us that the Romans...
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The Pax Christi Minnesota State Assembly will be held at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery, Crookston, September 25, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Bishop Thomas Gumbleton’s keynote address, “Choosing Peace in Today’s World: Nuclear Disarmament,” will focus on questions related to peace and nuclear weapons. Retired auxiliary bishop of the Detroit archdiocese, Gumbleton is...
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Dorothy Day House is a volunteer based organization that provides meals and shelter for homeless and low income persons.   This is made possible through the hard work of volunteers.  The mission of Dorothy Day House is to provide a consistent, caring presence for the poor and homeless.  They are hospitality.  “We are our brother’s...
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Labor Day is a national holiday with a clear and direct connection to Catholic Social Teaching. From the landmark encyclical “Rerum Novarum” in 1891, through Pope John Paul II’s “On Human Work” in 1981, and now in each Labor Day Statement issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Church has given unwavering...
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