Several years ago, I was challenged by an acquaintance of mine.  He asked me, “Where is your line?” At first, I did not understand his question, so he asked me again, “Where is your line?”  He then clarified, “At what point will you respond to an attack, direct or indirect, be it moral, or physical, or ideological?” I was a bit irritated.  How could he be asking me this question?  He continued.  “If you cannot tell me where your line is, you will never know when the line is crossed.” Although I was irritated, I listened as he went on to explain.  He spelled out th ..read more

Today, Thursday, April 18 at 5:30 pm Eastern Time, Melanie Jean Juneau, Editor-in-Chief for Catholic Stand, will talk with Drew Mariani about Gene Van Son’s weekly series, Bring’Em Back, on how to get people back to the Church. This will be live, over the phone and go for 30 minutes. The Drew Mariani Show is the most listened-to program on Relevant Radio. Heard in afternoon drive, this current event-driven show reaches a potential audience over terrestrial radio of 250 million nationwide and covers the largest markets in the country including the New York metro, Los Angeles, San Fran ..read more

When someone tells me that their prayer seems dry, we need to consider an array of possible contributing factors. Dryness in prayer can result from one or more reasons among a variety of potential causes. What Can You Do When Prayer Seems Dry? We have more control over some factors leading to aridity than others When your prayer seems dry, it can be due to factors over which you have a great deal of control. These might include, for example, your prayer practices, disposition toward prayer and God, your lifestyle and manageable, but unmanaged, distractions. Your Disposition Toward God Your dis ..read more

Today, Thursday, April 18 at 5:30 pm Eastern Time, Melanie Jean Juneau, Editor-in-Chief for Catholic Stand, will talk with Drew Mariani about Gene Van Son’s weekly series, Bring’Em Back, on how to get people back to the Church. This will be live, over the phone and go for 30 minutes. The Drew Mariani Show is the most listened-to program on Relevant Radio. Heard in afternoon drive, this current event-driven show reaches a potential audience over terrestrial radio of 250 million nationwide and covers the largest markets in the country including the New York metro, Los Angeles, San Fran ..read more

I beg your indulgence for choosing to write this piece during Eastertide because most Catholic faithful associate reflections on the Cross of the Lord Jesus with the Lenten period. But Eastertide should remind us of the triumph of the Crucified Lord. Since the world we live in is driven by a voracious lust and desire for things opposed to the Nature of God, we need to understand suffering and the characteristics of the world to comprehend better the victory won by the Holy Cross, and then we come to glory in it. However, human logic asks what glory there can be in the cross which it sees as an ..read more

It was silly to comment on a Facebook post. I “went down the rabbit hole,” as my daughter sometimes says when one becomes too involved in a social media thread. Here’s how it happened: I follow a few Catholic groups on Facebook, so when I saw the title, “Holy Orders,” I was captivated. I expected it might be a new book about vocations to the priesthood, from like-minded Catholics. Mainstream Theater and Catholicism My expectations changed when I saw the actual source of the post. It was from a nearby regional theater, announcing the public reading of a new play. After decades of working in the ..read more

This is the ninth in a series of articles aimed at helping you to get your lapsed Catholic loved one going to Church again and once again becoming a practicing Catholic.  Excuse #3 Excuse #3 (“I don’t have to go to church to keep the Lord’s Day holy”) is, to put it bluntly, wrong-headed.  The Mass has been the method by which Catholics have kept the Lord’s Day holy for over 2,000 years.  It is not some clever method cooked up to fill the collection plate. Mass The basic form of the Mass has been in place for a really, really long time!  St. Justin Martyr wrote to Roman Empe ..read more

In the many years in which I have been involved in ministry, I have always made forgiveness a key topic in my teaching.  But what is forgiveness?  To forgive is to open our hearts to God’s love.  For that reason, it is not easy.  The world, the enemy, and our own weakness fight against what we need to receive the love and grace of Jesus.  We have often heard the saying, “to err is human and to forgive divine.”  I am convinced that the spirit of true forgiveness only comes from God. We often want to forgive those people in our lives who have hurt us, but we feel it ..read more

The Catholic Church nationwide is in the midst of a “National Eucharistic Revival,” culminating this July in a pilgrimage and a festival-like event which the U.S. bishops claim will “inspire, educate, and unite the faithful in a more intimate relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist.” Whereas a national revival of the importance people place on the Eucharist sounds like a good idea, all the time and money put toward the festivities will be for naught if the conduct in recent years by the Church’s clergy and by most Catholics, in general, is not rectified. Decades-old aberrations and deviations ..read more

Who is Jesus? The question is just as pressing today as it was two thousand years ago when the Lord put it to his apostles outside of Caesarea Philippi (cf. Mt 16). It is a question that haunts some and brings others to tears. Some run from him, some hide from him, some adore him. The fact is, we must all answer the question: Who is Jesus? In a modern world that is marred by relativism and apathy, it is a question that can hopefully shake the lapsed Christian or non-believer out of his indifference. For while some have a true hatred for Christianity, many have a simple, yet deep indifference f ..read more