Association Of Catholic Bloggers

Noted in my news feed this morning: " One spouse is enough, Vatican tells world's Catholics " Joshua McElwee, Reuters (November 25, 2025) "Happily ever after doesn't require any complicated maths, the Vatican said on Tuesday -- for Catholics, one spouse is enough. "In a new decree approved by Pope Leo, the Vatican's top doctrinal office told the world's 1.4 billion Catholics they should seek to marry one spouse for life and should not have multiple sexual relationships. ... "The document does not discuss divorce, which the Church does not recognise as it views marriage as a lifelong commitment. " The Church however has an annulment process, which evaluates whether marriages were properly contracted , and stresses that partners are not expected to stay in abusive relationships. " [emphasis mine] This is not what I'll be talking about this week. But it's got the potential for becoming 'breaking news!', so I'll ...

The Two Trinities   Murillo [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,) Readings   (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland)  Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   John 16:12-15  (English Standard Version, Anglicised)   My apologies for having printed the wrong gospel earlier. Here is the correct gospel. Brothers and Sisters: Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us . ...

John 2:1-11 from  The Gospel of John Directed by  Philip Saville Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) Readings   (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland)   Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   John 2:1-11  (English Standard Version, Anglicised)    At that time: There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding seventy or one hundred litres. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to...

(Moorhead State's gate, a few blocks from where I grew up. (October 2011)) My wife and I met while we were Computer Science students at MSU. I don't remember if MSU was Minnesota State University Moorhead by that time, or Moorhead State University. Either way, it was Moorhead State to me: the place where my dad worked, a block or so from my home. My wife earned a Computer Science degree, I nearly learned calculus a few times. The first time we talked was in the hallway near the Computer Science department's entrance: a square arch leading to another hallway. Someone — students, I figure — had put a banner of continuous-feed paper over the arch. It bore a motto: "ALL HOPE ABANDON, YE WHO PROGRAM". Having written a few programs in the two years I lasted there, I appreciated the sentiment.... More, at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Remembering milestones along the way my wife and I marrying: friends, a movie, pizza, and reasonable questions.)

Come Back to Me , by Carolyn Astfalk, is the second in a series of romance novels, centered around the Reynolds brothers. Where Chris and Rebecca Reynolds were the lead characters in the first book,  Stay with Me ,  Come Back to Me  focuses on Alan Reynolds’ marriage to his wife Jamie. Come Back to Me Thanksgiving’s on the horizon, yet that does not stop Jamie from kicking her husband, Alan, out of the house! Alan has no clue what he did to deserve such treatment. On top of that, he has no job, and nowhere else to go, but to his brother Chris’ house. Newlyweds, and soon to be parents, Chris and Rebecca Reynolds welcome Alan into their home, allowing him to temporarily stay in what will be their first baby’s nursery.  That “temporary” arrangement lasts beyond Valentine’s Day! Will Jamie ever take Alan back? Will Alan ever figure out what he needs to change in his life to make things right with his wife? Astfalk created another entertaining story, with drips ...

The Trinity with the Dead Christ Lodovico Carracci [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   John 3:16-18 ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition) Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.   Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.' Léachtaí i nGaeilge The Two Trinities Murillo [ Web Gallery af Art ] A few years ago we in Worldwide Marriage Encounter in Bacolod City,...

Prophet Jeremiah Byzantine Mosaic Artist  [ Web Gallery of Art ] So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. Now there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud  ( Jeremiah 38:6 , First Reading). Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel  Luke 12:49-53 ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)     Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, ...