December 2021

My first real Christmas

I wrote the following column for a Catholic newspaper where I served as editor. It was penned just after Christmas 2015, nine months after my father passed away. I am 58 years old and this year marked my first “real” Christmas. My older brother and I were raised in a loving Italian Catholic home. WeContinue reading “My first real Christmas”

The tilma: Tangible proof of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose feast day we celebrate today, Dec. 12, is among the most well-known of the apparitions of the Blessed Mother. The story of her relationship with now-St. Juan Diego in 1531 is remarkable. You can read it here. What is more remarkable to me is the tangible evidence of her encounterContinue reading “The tilma: Tangible proof of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe”

The Immaculate Conception … explained

I think if you surveyed 1,000 people, asking them what the Immaculate Conception is, 900 people would answer that it is when the Holy Spirit came over Mary and she conceived Jesus, while remaining a virgin. They would be wrong. The Immaculate Conception is, in fact, the conception of Mary in the womb of herContinue reading “The Immaculate Conception … explained”