Bandana Color: Purple and Yellow Departure: Holy Trinity Parish Church, Oconto, WI Arrival: Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, Champion, WI Total Distance: 55 miles (88.6 km) Total Time: 5 days (Monday-Friday)
Celebrate Easter All Year Long
One of the reasons I love being Catholic is that our church knows how to party. Most people think Easter is over now. For Catholics we’re just getting started. We start with the “Octave” meaning that Easter itself is 8 days long. Every day until the Sunday afterwards is considered a feast day. That includes no fasting from meat on …
What You’re Missing When You’re Missing Mass
Catholics have an obligation to attend Mass every single Sunday, barring cases of illness and emergency. I know many people that feel bad if they miss Mass simply because they love coming to Mass. That’s the right attitude to Mass. But not every Catholic is there, and I get that. Then there are those who tell me, “I believe in God …
Why Catholics Don’t Eat Meat on Fridays
Not really. The first Pope was actually a fisherman. But back then meat wasn’t a staple food. For most ancient peoples, “flesh meat” (birds and mamals) was a luxury enjoyed by the rich. The rest of the people only ate meat on special occasions. Abstinence from meat meant everyone had to eat like the poor.
How to Stay Spiritually Healthy in Ministry
I presented recently at a Diocesan meeting of youth ministers. I was given the topic, “How to Stay Spiritually Healthy in Ministry.” The first thing I thought of was how to stay physically healthy: diet and exercise, avoid junk, get good sleep, and friends who support and encourage you. So I came up with five parallel habits for spiritual health: …
How To: Bless a Home with Chalk at Christmas or Epiphany
Subtitle: Is the 20+C+M+B+16 written over your doorway some kind of secret code? Catholics love stuff. From Holy Water to holy medals, we like things we can see and touch. We also like to bless everything: our food, our home, our car, hospitals, boats… We will even bless bridges and airports if you ask. Some brilliant Catholics found a way to combine …
Why do Catholics Celebrate Advent?
Everywhere you go these days, you see Christmas decorations and hear Christmas music. Everywhere except a Catholic Church. We have purple decorations and keep singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” The Church is not anti-Christmas; we are just celebrating the forgotten season of Advent. The word advent comes from the Latin ad-venio meaning to come to, come towards, or come near. It …
A Decade A Day Keeps the Devil Away
Are you looking for a way to make this Advent special? Try gathering with your family each day to pray a decade of the Rosary. The Rosary is a classic Catholic prayer. The Rosary is a form of imaginative prayer that mediates on the life of Jesus through the eyes of His Mother Mary. Children can learn the Rosary once …
It’s Time to Burn Your Bible — An Answer to the Rapid Decline of Christianity in America
The Burning Question One day we discovered two bags of old Bibles and Lutheran hymnals abandoned in the church lobby. Someone figured the church would know what to do with a bunch of old Bibles. They were pretty worn out; I decided that I should burn them reverently. So I piled them in a little metal fire pit and put a lighter …
FAQ: What does the Catholic Church teach about “Works Righteousness”?
SUBTITLE: YOU’RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO GO TO HEAVEN If you ask the average Catholic, “When you die, do you think you’ll go to Heaven?” more often than not the answer is something like this: If your questioner happens to be an Evangelical with a good knowledge of the Bible, they will immediately pounce on the Catholic: “So, you think …