Non-believers often challenge Catholics by asking them why so much money is spent on Church buildings instead of being given to people who are starving to death throughout the world. What many fail to realize is that throughout history, the Catholic Church has...
First, let me tell you that I'm not Catholic. But having lived in Europe for several years, I've probably been in more Catholic Churches than most Catholics. Not that this makes me an expert, but more of a connoisseur. However, I have asked several of my Catholic...
Step into most Catholic churches these days and you will quickly notice that the number of "gray hairs" is greater than the number of young adults, young families, and teens. Is the Catholic Church dying? It might appear that way, but in several areas of the...
We love this free video series, 5 Reasons To Be Catholic, produced and presented by Catholic author Brandon Vogt, and we know you will find it to be a great resource for your apostolate or personal use. 5 Reasons To Be Catholic 1. Because It's True...
The civil war in Syria is now into its seventh year and the country that once was known for its beauty and history is now synonymous with suffering and violence. In all the news coverage of the last seven years, it has been harder and harder to remember the individual...
Christmas is a time where we are invited to open our hearts up to Christ, a time to allow Him to be born within us. Today's video looks at offering you 4 ways to embrace this invitation. We invite you to watch Father's video, then prayerfully read the Gospel and...
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo painted this stunning depiction of the Virgin Mary in 1767-1768. The work was part of a project of seven altarpieces commissioned by King Charles III of Spain for the new Church of San Pascual, under construction in Aranjuez. The Baroque...
I’m not really interested in art. I know that sounds terrible but what I mean is that most pieces of fine art leave me cold. I can appreciate their beauty. I can appreciate the enormous skill it took to create them. I can be humbled by the genius of the artist. But...
This insightful animation from Moondog Animation Studios is a part of the Willy Grunch series. Willy Grunch "is a carefree philosophizing poet happily stumbling through life… He’s not so different than everybody else, but we get to laugh at our own misery at his...
Seventy of the top Catholic filmmakers throughout the US and Canada are coming together to create an 8-part anthology film exploring the Beatitudes and connecting one of the most beautiful teachings of Christ to the experience of human life. “The Church was once the...
4PM Media (The Wild Goose, The Vigil Project) has partnered with Project Light to produce a powerful film that addresses many of the struggles that women in our society today must confront. The world has set such unrealistic standards of beauty, success, and...
When I struggle or become frustrated with my prayer life, I know it is often because I've become self-absorbed and preoccupied with my own worries, failings, or grievances. It is a cycle that is difficult to break out of, because what, when we are self-absorbed,...
Friendship, especially in our busy modern age, can be overlooked as a nice addition to life, but not necessarily as an important priority. But friendships are important. They are how we learn to choose to love, share, and give. They are how we learn to accept love...
Synergy: "the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects." It's a phenomenon that - if you've experienced it - almost comes with it a spiritual and...
"Spotlight of a Calligrapher", published by Ascension Presents, tells the story of Erica Tighe, a designer and calligrapher. Erica's story of how she came to be a full-time calligrapher is moving and poignant. She tells how she came back from a year and a half of...
Does a beautiful Church building matter to Christians? What about adornments like statues, altar rails, decorative pews and such? Stained glass... Stations of the Cross... the placement and design of the Tabernacle... If God is everywhere, especially in the humble and...
"A foretaste of the Heavenly Liturgy"¹ Several years ago I stumbled upon a video of a lecture given by Denis R. McNamara, that blew me away, and has subsequently traveled with me, so to speak, in my meditative, Mass-going, beauty-loving journeys as a Catholic. Every...
Most nights, although I'm exhausted at the end of the day, before I can fall asleep I stay awake thinking of all the things that I could have done differently as a mom. I replay the day in my head and inevitably hear the harsh sound of my own voice reprimanding...
Have you noticed the proliferation of zombie apocalypse imagery and themes everywhere in popular entertainment? The phenomenon is ironic to me, because just now as zombies preoccupy campy media, real life has become increasingly anesthetized. Death and sin are swept...
Today, we resume our series on sacred art as an aid to praying the Holy Rosary. Sacred art makes sense, and it is just one more of the countless treasuries of our Catholic heritage. The Incarnation of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, would forever infuse humanity - human...
I was once walking around the outside of an incredibly beautiful cathedral; I walked around it twice just gazing in marvel upon the architecture, and trying to work out, or glimpse an understanding of what must have gone through the architect’s mind as he designed and...
What is the essence of music? As a philosopher, music fascinates me. As a Catholic, music does something much more – it brings me before the face of God. Josef Pieper, one of the great philosophical thinkers of the twentieth century, once gave an address during...
Far from a distraction away from God or - even worse, as some claim - idolatry, sacred art makes sense. Whether as a teaching tool, a meditative window or - on the part of the artist - an act of human participation in the creative impulse of God, beauty in art speaks...
The following is a companion piece to Part 3 of our Masculinity Series, "Becoming More Manly." The glory of God is man fully alive. - St Iranaeus Jason Momoa’s short film Canvas of my Life is an extraordinarily powerful and beautiful depiction of manhood, despite its...
“Live. Love. Laugh.” It’s a slogan that’s typically found on at least one wall in every home. And why not! I’m not going to deny that it’s a genuinely beautiful message; an ode to the goodness of life and of our existence with others. To the way that we should live...