Why the Fathers of the Church are Important

I recently read The Fathers of the Church 3rd Edition: An Introduction to the First Christian Teachers by Mike Aquilina (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division. 2013). When I saw an ad for the book, I was drawn to it for two reasons. First, unity in the church is important to me. When I …

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Forward or Backward?

We are a full two years into the Coronavirus pandemic. Many of us have been worn out by the pandemic. We are tired of shutdowns, social distancing, and facemasks as well as the polarization over these. Presently, there is good news! The number of cases has dropped significantly. We give thanks for this and we …

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Living Our Faith in a Secular World

Our first reading today is taken from the Book of Deuteronomy. The Israelites were preparing to cross into the promised land. It has been a long time since Jacob brought his family to Egypt in a time of drought. They lived there as an alien people. It was not home for them but over time …

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Final Reflections on “The Catholic Gentleman”

Three weeks ago I began a series of articles reflecting on my reading of Sam Guzman’s book, The Catholic Gentleman: Living Authentic Manhood Today (San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2019). Today, I would like to offer my sixth and final article on The Catholic Gentleman. (For the previous articles see “Are You for Real?”, “More from “The Catholic Gentleman”, “We …

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Work, Sainthood, and Holiness

This is the fifth of sixth articles I offer here inspired by my reading of Sam Guzman’s book, The Catholic Gentleman: Living Authentic Manhood Today (San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2019). (For the previous articles see “Are You for Real?”, “More from “The Catholic Gentleman”, and “We Need to Stand for Something”, and “How Do You Look at Things?”.) Many people …

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How Do You Look at Things?

This will be my fourth article inspired by Sam Guzman’s book, The Catholic Gentleman: Living Authentic Manhood Today (San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2019). (For the previous articles see “Are You for Real?”, “More from “The Catholic Gentleman”, and “We Need to Stand for Something”). I hope these articles are helpful in your spiritual journey. I am enjoying writing …

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We Need to Stand for Something

Today I continue my series inspired by Sam Guzman’s book, The Catholic Gentleman: Living Authentic Manhood Today (San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2019). (For the two previous articles see “Are You for Real?” and “More from “The Catholic Gentleman”) Today I would like to reflect on what Guzman says about “virtue” and “code.” Here, I refer to a …

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More from “The Catholic Gentleman”

A few days ago I began a new series of articles based on Sam Guzman’s book, The Catholic Gentleman: Living Authentic Manhood Today (San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2019) with an article titled “Are You for Real?” Today I offer my second article in this series. In “Are You for Real?“, I left off discussing where the meaning …

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Are You for Real?

“Authentic. Genuine. Handcrafted. Vintage. Real.” These are the first words in chapter 1 (page 17) of Sam Guzman’s book, The Catholic Gentleman: Living Authentic Manhood Today (San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2019). Are we who we claim to be? Do we really live like who we claim to be? For those of us who are Catholic, …

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