Yearly Archives: 2009

Bishops Remember the Vulnerable in Health Care Debate on Respect Life Sunday

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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

In a statement to mark Respect Life Sunday, October 4, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia called attention to those who are most vulnerable in recent debates on health care reform – the unborn, the poor, the elderly and the immigrant – and called upon Catholics to “examine how well we, as a nation and individually, are living up to our obligation to protect the rights of those who, due to age, dependency, poverty or other circumstances, are at risk of their very lives.”

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A Poet’s Prayer

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Today is the Feast of the Guardian Angels.

Throughout history many poets have found the angels to be a topic of great inspiration and insight. My final post in this short study on the angels features just such a poem. It is written by J. Corson Miller, an American poet who was born in 1883. The time of his death is unknown.

However, we do know that J. Corson Miller was a devout Catholic of whom one critic wrote, “Imagination, passion, facility of musical and expressive word and phrase, lyrical tone — these natural endowments are augmented by education, vision and Catholic faith.”

Interestingly and not without note, Miller pledged his life to Our Lady and promised to be her “consecrated knight in deed and song.” Many of his poems were written about her and to her. 

As you read Miller’s poem, Hymn to the Guardian Angel, look for his profoundly Catholic worldview, his knowledge of the faith, and the imagination and passion he employs to communicate it.

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St. Therese of Lisieux and Her Guardian Angel

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Today is the Feast Day of St. Therese of Lisieux, one of my favorite saints since childhood.

Since today is her special day and this week of my blog is dedicated to the angels, I am posting a poem St. Therese wrote to her guardian angel.

May it inspire you to seek the intercession of St. Therese and also that of your guardian angel!

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Judge in “ND 88″ Case Asked to Recuse Herself

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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

The controversy surrounding the prosecution of 88 pro-life demonstrators who were arrested on the campus of Notre Dame (ND) last spring intensified when it was discovered that the judge assigned to the case is married to a prominent pro-abortion ND professor.

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Vatican Official Sets the Record Straight on Abuse Scandal

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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

In answer to criticism about the Church’s handling of the sex abuse scandal, the Vatican’s UN Observer, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, said the scandal involves homosexuality much more than pedophilia and that similar abuse is going on in other denominations at a much higher rate than in the Catholic Church.

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Pope Says Legal Divorce “Demolishing the Family”

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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer 

A day before making an impassioned plea for families at the shrine of the Infant of Prague in Czechoslovakia, the Pope discussed the modern crisis of divorce, saying legal divorce seemed “bent on demolishing” the family.

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