Father Robert Cassidy was my first pastor at Sacred Heart Church, Pawtucket, 45 years ago. While others might use less kind words, I will write that he was very strict. more

St. Mark has 34 references to exorcisms in his Gospel account. St. John the Evangelist makes no mention of Jesus casting out demons in his version of the good news. more

The United States Bishops Committee on Doctrine recently issued a respectful but firm admonition concerning a college textbook by Sister of St. Joseph Elizabeth Johnson entitled “The Quest For The Living God.” more

The early Christian community consisted mostly of Jews. The old time Jews from Judea and Galilee, like the apostles, Martha, Mary, Lazarus, the women who supported Jesus from their means, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, made up much of that first society. more

Sts. Matthew, Mark and Luke, no doubt taking their lead from Christ, denote the Christian life in terms of the kingdom. more

Much of my priesthood was happily spent in Pawtucket. Sacred Heart Parish in Pleasant View, now sadly defunct, was an encouraging venue for a young priest to begin his ministry. more

There are no more scandalous lines in the sacred Scripture than the despondent words of the crucified savior, “My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?” Christians well know that Jesus Christ is indeed divine, that he is the second person of the Blessed Trinity, that he is God’s very own Son “… consubstantial with the Father,” as the new Roman Missal will soon proclaim. more

The local press recently featured a review of a play about the Apostle Paul. The review asked whether Jesus’ celebrated Sermon On The Mount would make any less sense if Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead on Easter Sunday. more

Hermes was the Greek god of eloquence and communication. Zeus usually employed Hermes to deliver his messages to the world because the young god was swift by air and fleet of foot. more

“American Grace” by authors Robert Putnam and David Campbell is a statistical and anecdotal survey of America’s current religious situation. more

Wisely does the church’s Lenten liturgy follow last week’s narrative of Christ’s temptations with an account of Jesus’ Transfiguration. Last week worshippers at Mass witnessed Jesus’ triple victory as he struggled to express in human terms the meaning of his divine sonship. more

Certainly Jesus Christ never experienced an identity crisis in the sense that he failed to appreciate the full meaning of his divine personhood. more

The American public has just enough Puritanism left within its ranks to bring a blush to the face when sex is mentioned in polite society. more

A thoughtful reading of the Sermon on the Mount, actually chapters five, six and seven of St. Matthew’s Gospel, provides overwhelming testimony to the centrality of the fatherhood of God in the thought and ethics of Jesus. The fatherhood of God was no metaphor in the preaching of Christ. more

One of the major complaints that hastened the American Revolution was the harboring of British troops in private homes. more

A good deal of the celebrated Sermon on the Mount as presented by St. Matthew in his version of Christ’s grand instruction to his disciples seems to consist in a refinement of the Old Mosaic Law. more

Pope Benedict’s annual address to the Vatican diplomatic corps caused quite a stir in certain quarters although American readers will never know of it because his remarks did not involve condoms or abusive clergy. more

It might be disrespectful, perhaps even sacrilegious, to write that Jesus proclaimed his celebrated eight beatitudes with tongue-in-cheek. more

As the church’s calendar begins Ordinary Time, i.e, the ordered or numbered weeks of the calendar, the public life of Jesus Christ as recorded by St. Matthew is proclaimed as well. more

Eighteenth century English author Henry Fielding wrote about a woodcutter forced to act as a doctor, owing to a prank played on him by his wife. more