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In 2004, the Democratic nominee for president was Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), a Catholic who defends abortion rights. In the wake of his nomination, Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, Missouri, declared that he would deny Holy Communion to Senator Kerry, and he later wrote a pastoral letter to the Catholics in his archdiocese, explaining that Catholics should not vote for politicians who support abortion.

Other U.S. bishops remained silent, and the Vatican itself did not weigh in on the issue, though one could reasonably assume that there was no need, since a series of papal encyclicals, documents from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church all support Archbishop Burke's position. Still, some took the silence to mean that Archbishop Burke stood alone.

Thus, when the archbishop was named prefect of the Apostolic Segnatura earlier this year and transferred to Rome, it was natural that, as Fr. John Zuhlsdorf reports, some people would think that the move was an attempt "to get him out of the way before the November elections." But in his first major interview in his new position, Archbishop Burke has made it clear that nothing could be further from the truth. Read more...

It's official: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has announced that his choice for vice president is a Catholic, Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden.

On the April 29, 2007, episode of NBC's Meet the Press, Senator Biden described himself as a "practicing Catholic" who is "prepared to accept my church's view" that life begins at conception. (Fr. John Zuhlsdorf has the relevant portion of the transcript in a post on his indispensable blog, "What Does the Prayer Really Say?".)

Unfortunately for Catholics considering voting for the Democratic ticket, Senator Biden believes that his "political responsibility" outweighs his "religious and cultural views." Read more...

A reader writes:

My husband and I like on Sundays just to ride around in our car and see different things. We like to stop at different stores just to wander around the stores. Maybe sometimes we would find something that we would buy. Why would this be a sin? I do attend Saturday evening Mass, read the Bible, and say the rosary every day. Why is it not a sin to go to a restaurant to eat but not to go to a grocery store to buy some food? If everyone didn’t shop on Sundays, the people that have to work on Sundays would make no money, and we would be hurting them. This doesn’t make sense to me. I can understand not working on Sundays and devoting some time to helping people and reading the Bible.

The reader has raised a number of important questions. Our obligation as Christians to keep Sunday as a day of rest extends beyond our Sunday duty to participate in communal worship. But how far do we need to take it? Read more...

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A couple of weeks ago, in response to a reader question about repetitive prayer ("Reader Question: Just Words?"), I noted that "The final stage of prayer is listening. . . . If we don't take the time to listen to God, we'll never come to understand what He wants us to do."

An article in the Arizona Republic this week nicely illustrates that point. Christa Parra, a 27-year-old woman from Phoenix, will become the first novice for the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (more commonly known as the Loreto Sisters) in ten years. And it all began with a prayer--and with an answer.

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In recent years, the "church growth" movement has received a lot of attention. Primarily an evangelical Christian phenomenon and most closely associated with Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago suburbs, it has alternately been praised for bringing the "unchurched" back to church and criticized for pulling people away from their own denominations. And over the last year, even Bill Hybels, the pastor of Willow Creek, has begun to question whether the focus on growth is enough.

From a Catholic standpoint, simply having bodies in the pews is never enough. Real church growth begins after the bodies are already there. I was reminded of this today when my family and I made our annual visit to St. Stanislaus Kostka parish here in Rockford, Illinois. Read more...

A reader writes:

I've read on some Catholic websites about a day of fasting and prayer to stop the war between Russia and Georgia. I'd like to participate, but they're suggesting that we fast on the Feast of the Assumption. Is it appropriate to fast on a feast?

This is a very good question, and not an easy one to answer. Is fasting ever inappropriate? Read more...

On August 15, we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, a holy day of obligation for all Catholics. On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII, exercising papal infallibility, declared that it is a dogma of the Church "that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory."

Because the declaration of the dogma is so recent, many people have the impression that the Assumption is an innovation, a new idea that Pius XII made up. Nothing could be further from the truth. Read more...

(Photo © Slava Gallery, LLC; used with permission.)

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