Catholic Exchange: For All of Us Who Feel Ignored by the “Listening Church”

here are a lot of wounds in the Mystical Body today and, in many ways, the Synod on Synodality is pouring salt into those wounds. Since 2018—and even before that—it seems as if the cries of the evangelized People of God continue to go ignored. Whether it is the scandals, corruption, the lack of supernatural …

Catholic Exchange: Turning the Other Cheek in a Digital Age

The Internet and mainstream media have been set ablaze with the latest outrage that seems to be manufactured every five minutes. Each side rushes to judgment and paints the other group as the villain. Meanwhile supporters canonize the person or persons they agree with and the vitriol reaches an intensity that should startle every person …

Catholic Exchange: To Evangelize the Culture, We Must Equip the Laity

When I read Bishop Robert Barron’s Op-Ed last week entitled “Getting out of the Sacristy: A look at our pastoral priorities” a lot of questions immediately came to mind. I’ve read many of Bishop Barron’s books and I recently made sure that every member of our parish’s Evangelization Team, and both of our priests, got …

Will I Love As Christ Loves Or Will I Walk Away?

  “Life is not neatly divided between beauty and ugliness, light and dark, beatitude and despair. Rather, it is a struggle and a longing, full of vicissitude and vacillation, with glimmers and glimpses which paradoxically attract and repel us, making us feel both at home and alien.” Austin Choate, "Terrence Lamick: You Will Love, Whether …

Catholic Exchange: Put Your Faith in Christ, Not in Feelings

Rather frequently, I hear people make arguments about aspects of the spiritual life, the Church, morality, or relationships that are predicated upon a particular individual’s feelings. Some will complain that the Mass doesn’t make them “feel” good or the Church’s teaching doesn’t cause a flood of the emotions they are looking for in their lives. …