The season of Advent sometimes has the Christian world standing on tiptoe looking off to the horizon for the arrival of Jesus Christ who “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” more

A few years ago I listed my great-grandfather and great-grandmother’s names on a genealogy web site and, sure enough, someone from England contacted me citing a distant relationship. more

Although southern Europe has had a number of theological rebels like Giodano Bruno and Giralomo Savonarola, the lion’s share of Reformation renegades thrived in northern Europe. Certainly, … more

When my college class graduated from Our Lady of Providence Seminary, Warwick Neck, in 1962, the motto chosen as the theme for the yearbook was “Commitment is written in words of … more

When I was a newly ordained priest in 1966, a classmate, Vin Maynard, observed, “Kiley, you preach the same sermon every week: social justice through the liturgy.” The assessment was probably valid. more

Jesus Christ was undeniably a man of the people, in fact, a man of the common people. His common touch stood in great contrast to the more fashionable ministry of his cousin St. John the Baptist. more

The Vatican, with the approval of Pope Francis, recently issued a document entitled “Placuit Deo” dealing with certain faulty trends in modern religious thought that are familiar to most … more

During these summer months, the Church’s liturgy wisely focuses the worshiper’s attention on the Eucharist. Chapter six of St. John’s Gospel is a glorious exposition on the Eucharist as a sacred banquet, a memorial meal, a cause of grace and a pledge of future life. more

Advent is a four-week celebration of the presence of God. God the Father was present to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. more

Pope Francis’ most celebrated and most misunderstood remark certainly is his in-flight comment on homosexual persons while returning from Brazil. The Pope famously observed, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?” His Holiness’ final words are well recalled, “Who am I to judge?” The Roman Catholic governor and the Roman Catholic attorney general of Illinois both cited these final words when signing into law the recognition of so-called same-sex marriage in the state of Illinois. The Advocate, the nation’s oldest homosexual publication, happily reported, “The brevity of that statement and the outsized attention it got immediately are evidence of the pope’s sway. His posing a simple question with very Christian roots, when uttered in this context by this man, “Who am I to judge?” became a signal to Catholics and the world that the new pope is not like the old pope.” Again, those final words are highlighted and the pope’s fuller context ignored. more

The staple devotion of pre-Vatican II Catholic life certainly was the Rosary. While the priest silently mumbled his Latin prayers at the altar, the faithful in equal silence fingered their beads in … more

Although the Far East nation of India is overwhelmingly Hindu, an ancient Christian church community has existed since Apostolic times along the country’s Malabar Coast. A very strong tradition … more

Front page coverage was recently accorded by the Providence Journal to the plight of a contemporary atheist who felt intimidated by vocal believers from both Christian and Moslem backgrounds. This high-school teacher From England, who admits to being a fallen away Anglican, claims to have put aside any semblance of his former faith and thinks now merely of the day ahead. The number of atheists, still very small but sadly increasing, is seen by some as a reaction to the militancy of conservative Christians and belligerent Moslems. The self avowed English atheist, speaking for like-minded unbelievers, observed that “there is a feeling that religion is being forced on an unwilling public....” more

The Jubilee Year of Mercy is placing special emphasis on the Corporal and Spiritual works of Mercy. Most senior readers of “The Quiet Corner” no doubt memorized these sometimes tangible and … more

An important portion of the Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass is the calling down of the Holy Spirit to transform the basic elements of unleavened bread and grape wine into the Sacred Body and Precious … more

Although some elements of the Christian world might have lost the enthusiasm for the Blessed Virgin Mary that the early church and the medieval church treasured, Mary herself never lost sight of her important role of bearing witness to Jesus throughout salvation history. more

The Hebrew Scriptures have a segment of seven texts called “The Books of Wisdom.” The seven traditional volumes are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom and Sirach. The Book … more

In this Sunday’s Gospel passage, while preparing his disciples for the Pentecost event, Jesus promises that he will send them “another advocate.” more

Certainly Jesus Christ never experienced an identity crisis in the sense that he failed to appreciate the full meaning of his divine personhood. more

The celebrated entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, cheered by crowds waving palm branches, is a vivid and striking testimony to the resolve that Jesus had built up within himself and shared with his disciples as he wended his way from northern Galilee to southern Judea. more