The 20th century was not kind to Europe’s kings, emperors and monarchs. World War I occasioned the end of the Kaiser in Germany, the Czar in Russia and the Emperor in Austria-Hungary. During the century, Portugal, Greece, Italy and the Balkan nations lost their royal rulers. The Spanish royal family was happily restored mid-century by the graciousness of Franco. more

The end of the world is regularly thought to be a dreadful event. The end-times connote destruction for the universe, condemnation for sinners, even trials for the righteous. more

The Public Broadcasting System recently offered a three-night presentation entitled “God in America.” The title really should be, “God in Protestant America,” since the Catholic Church hardly figured at all into the six-hour program. more

All Saints Day worshippers will have an added cause for celebration this year. John Henry Cardinal Newman was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in mid-September in Birmingham, a large English industrial city. more

Pastors — and maybe even parishioners — who get perturbed when crying babies and unruly children interrupt the Sunday sermon are often reminded of Jesus’ attitude toward children when the apostles tried to shush them as they crowded around Jesus on the streets of Jerusalem. more

A monastic practice that probably dates back to St. Benedict himself is a blend of Scripture reading, study, thought and prayer called “lectio divina,” that is, divine reading or sacred reading. more

A month ago the entire Western world was in an uproar over the prospect of erecting a mosque in lower Manhattan near the former site of the Twin Towers. more

All great cultures are based on religion. Certainly that is a sweeping statement but a cursory examination illustrates the contention as plausible. more

Bernie Kilcline was the neighborhood undertaker in Woonsocket when I was growing up. He had taken over McKenna’s Funeral Service on Harris Avenue which was located next to Kiley’s Oil, a home fuel delivery company, founded by my uncle Jack and later managed by my father. more

The Parable of the Unjust Steward in which Jesus commends a crafty manager for playing fast and loose with his employer’s accounts has evoked occasional moral discussion over the centuries regarding Jesus’ apparent recommendation of dishonest behavior. more

The innate, self-centeredness of mankind is evident even in the naming of Christ’s celebrated parable of The Prodigal Son. Consider that there are three substantial roles acted out in this famous parable of mercy unique to St. Luke. more

The second reading this coming Sunday is a portion of the brief, personal letter that St. Paul wrote to a Corinthian gentleman named Philemon regarding the man’s runaway slave named Onesimus. more

Students of Scripture know that Jesus preached more than 40 parables. Some of these thematic tales, like the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan, are rather lengthy. Others, like the Pearl of Great Price and the Treasure Hidden in the Field, are quite brief. more

June 19 marked the conclusion of the Year of the Priest, intended by Pope Benedict to offer spiritual support to priests and appropriately to mark a century and a half since the death of St. John Marie Vianney, universal patron of the Catholic priesthood. more

My mother worked for many years as bookkeeper at the B & S Electric Auto Service on Front Street in Woonsocket. Even after I was born she continued to “do the books” at our home for this small auto repair business. more

St. John the Evangelist and St. Luke, the author of Acts of Apostles, are 50 days apart chronologically but they are in total agreement theologically regarding the gift of the Spirit. more

A phrase that has stuck in my mind perhaps since seminary days is the observation, “There is no going beyond Jesus; there is just deeper and deeper involvement with him.” No doubt the “Quiet Corner” has been graced with these expressive words over the years in assorted forms and various renderings. more

Surely it no coincidence that the first words out of the mouth of the resurrected Christ in St. John’s Gospel are a challenge to the Eleven Apostles to continue the ministry of reconciliation that Jesus had just inaugurated by his death on the cross: “The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. more

The divine and human natures of Jesus have regularly influenced church history. Sometimes the church has inclined greatly toward the divinity of Christ. During those centuries labeled the Dark Ages, monasticism, worship, prayer, the preservation of the Scriptures and other pious pursuits dominated most of Church life. more

The Council of Jerusalem, highlighted in this Sunday’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, made Christianity’s gradual break with Jewish practices the official policy of the new church. more