Religious Education - Children
Catechist BlogMigrants and Refugees
“Towards an Ever Wider ‘We’ ” Catholics have been observing the World Day of Migrants and Refugees since 1914, each year recognizing the vulnerability of displaced persons, while embracing the opportunities that arise when migrants and refugees are supported in their...
Season of Creation – Amazonia
The Pan-Amazon nations, our South American neighbors, are home to the world’s largest rainforest and millions of indigenous persons. The importance of this region for both its immense biodiversity and climate stabilizing capacity, cannot be overstated. Yet, after...
Pope Francis Speaks
A first-ever joint statement by Christian leaders urging citizens and world leaders alike to address the moral and life issues underpinning the current ecological crisis, marked this second week of the 2021 Season of Creation. Pope Francis joined Ecumenical Patriarch...
Words of Encouragement
In today’s first reading we hear from the Prophet Haggai, who ministered in the post exilic period when the Jewish people, under a grant from King Cyrus of Persia, returned to Jerusalem. But it was not the Jerusalem remembered by their parents and grandparents. This...
Seek the Lord
In today’s Gospel we hear that Herod the tetrarch was seeking to see Jesus: “Herod kept trying to see him.” Why? Herod had heard all the wondrous things that Jesus was doing. People were saying that “John has been raised from the dead.” After Herod had imprisoned...
The Presence of Mercy
In our first reading for today’s Mass, we encounter Ezra. You might ask, “...and who is Ezra?” The genealogy of Ezra (Ezra 7:1–5) traces his priesthood back to Aaron, brother of Moses. He is also called a scribe, well-versed in the law of Moses (7:6), indicating...
From Conception to Natural Death
Every October, we in the Catholic Church consider more deeply why every human life is valuable and reflect on how to build a culture that protects life from conception to natural death. Why it’s Important One of the most fundamental truths that we proclaim is that...
The Possibility of Being a Saint
Few of us would consider ourselves Saints. We hesitate to call ourselves disciples of Jesus. When we think of saints, we think often think of individuals who were in some form, super human. Without faults or sins. The story of Matthew should tell us that just maybe...
Peru has the Highest Covid Death Rate
According to an article from BBC on-line on June 1, 2021 - Peru has the highest Covid death rate as a proportion of population in the world. The official death toll is more than 180,000, in a country of less than 33 million people. Why is Peru having such high numbers...
Peru’s Fragile Democracy in Peril
Mary Anastasia O'Grady Wall Street Journal Guerrillas slaughtered 16 people in a south-central Peruvian village in May. The BBC reported “the bodies had bullet holes” according to a local official, and some, “including those of two children, had been burned.” The...