Lay Evangelist
Till Christ Be Formed in Every Heart
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Posts in Church Life
7 Reasons Why You Should Not War Over Christmas

The last few years saw a lot more hype about the War On Christmas (cue exciting news channel montage) then this year, it seems, as previously Christians by the truck load were complaining about their local store not saying "Merry Christmas" as they completed their financial transaction. On this, I would like to make a few comments. (Or you could just ignore what's below and head over to EyeoftheTiber.com and read this hilarious fake news article.)

First. Dear businesses of the Western Hemisphere, you're welcome. You are very welcome for the Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the God-man, of which an integral part of that celebration is the giving of gifts to one another. You are welcome for the fact that many of your businesses are in the red until a massive purchase frenzy ensues to prepare for Christmas giving. Enjoy the fruits of our celebration.

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Church Life, PoliticalMichael GormleyChristmas, New Evangelization, inculturation, secularism
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha

The first time I heard that name, I immediately fell in love with it and knew that, wife willing, my first daughter would be so called. It is unique without being crazy, and has deep traditional ties to it. My wife agreed to the name, and so our first born child, my first daughter was named Kateri.

Kateri Tekakwitha was the child of a Mohawk chief who captured his Algonquin bride in a raid. Kateri's mom had a deep spiritual life and was a Catholic. Her father kept the old ways, but both of them died when she was a young child by a small pox epidemic that ruined many in her town. She survived, but with scars all over her face and greatly diminished eye sight.

Though rejection of the Catholic French Jesuit missionaries was common by the rightfully suspicious Mohawks, Kateri was able to seek out the Jesuit instruction and become a Catholic herself. She was one of those rare people who so give themselves over to the Lord that they never stop growing and progressing in the spiritual life.

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Church Life, PersonalMichael GormleyKateri, Tekakwitha, canonization
The Spiritual Danger of Private Revelations

What is Public and Private Revelation?

Hey Catholics, stop reading books and web sites (especially web sites) based upon private revelations that are not approved by the Church. If you are putting stock in these things, and they turn out to be false, you've been building yourself up to a disaster. At best, if they get approved, they are still only private revelation. Private revelations are not meant for the Universal Church, but for a specific time, place, or group. It ain't Gospel and never will be. Yet, often the followers of private revelations try to demand universal assent of faith to these unapproved apparitions and locutions as if they were the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception or something akin to it.

It is not a healthy spiritual practice to dive into these texts or web sites until they are approved. My advice is to stay away until the Church deems them credible. Let the Church guide you. Don't be a jerk, but be cautious, and look out for those red flags that something's fishy with a message.

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Church Life, SpiritualityMichael GormleyOur Lady, apparitions, deposit of faith, private revelation
The Apostolic Church, Reinterpreted Today

What does it mean to live as Christ lived in present day America? I have no idea. The new evangelization requires us as Christians to live differently in the world today. We cannot walk around with this pre-Enlightenment European air of entitlement, spouting sayings about "Christian nations" and all that nonsense. This is not a Christian nation. Other than Vatican City, there are no more Christian nations. "Christendom is dead. Long live Christianity!" as Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen used to say.

I have been reading Acts of the Apostles lately with an ongoing irritation that I cannot seem to shake. The way they lived was not a once-only event. It needs to be revisited and reinterpreted in the light of today. I am not living the way that I think I should be, the way that I think my neighbor needs me to live so that they might have life. Here are three major things that stand out to me about the Apostolic Church.

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Church Life, PoliticalMichael GormleyActs of the Apostles, Apostolic Church, Modern life