When the Hawaiian authorities established a leper colony, a prison for the sick and dying, Father Damien volunteered to be the first to minister to them. The young priest went there with a specific intention: he was going to sacrifice his life for the lepers.
What is the place for women in the Catholic Church? Find answers in the life of St Catherine of Siena, who carved her own path in 14th-century Italy, and whose influential friends included the Pope, who was convinced by the saint to return the home of the Papacy from Avignon to Rome.
The Gospel According to Mark is widely considered to be the most ancient of the four Gospels, while its short length makes it particularly easy to read straight through. But who was the man behind this Gospel and why did he write it? Explore these questions and set the scene for reading St Mark's Gospel with this blog.
Both secularism and superstition have popularised some very distorted ideas about exorcism. In this blog, an experienced exorcist offers some clarity on causes of demonic influence, explaining that while the devil has a share in all our sins, some sins have a special affinity with the devil. It is these sins in particular that may become the cause demonic influence.
For many people, the celebration of St Patrick's Day has more in common with Bastille Day in France or Independence Day in the USA than a Catholic feast day. It is a day of shamrock and of being ‘Proud to be Irish’ and hymns about ‘Erin’s green valleys.’ But who was the real St Patrick and did he actually exist?
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the same sacrifice as that of Jesus on the cross at Calvary, “a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other historical events happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal Mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because…[Christ] participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all”.
