BISHOP OLMSTED

A particularly dramatic moment of human freedom occurs in a Catholic wedding when a man and woman stand before the altar and answer three...

Editor's note: This is the second part in a series of columns by Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted that celebrated of the holy Year for Priests....

Editor's note: This is the first part in a series of columns by Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted that celebrated of the holy Year for Priests....

In the nuptial blessing of a wedding Mass, the following words are found, “May your abundant blessing, Lord, come down upon this bride and...

The 25th of this month of July will mark the 44th anniversary of one of the most prophetic documents in the history of the...

“Give me liberty or give me death,” Patrick Henry’s famous cry, at our nation’s birth, continues to stir hearts today; the struggle for freedom is no less urgent now, as evidenced in rallies and fortnights throughout our country protesting against the HHS mandates and other threats to religious liberty.

“It is not enough to say ‘I am free’,” Blessed John Paul II was accustomed to say, “One needs also to say ‘I am...

In the previous part of this series, we looked at the first of three stages of education for human freedom, and saw how it is built on natural inclinations given to us by God and on the discipline of obedience. Now, we shall consider the second stage, where we progressively interiorize what has been learned in stage one. Here, personal initiative comes to the fore and virtues begin to be formed. We develop a consistency of personal intention to act in accord with excellence.

In this fourth part of our series, we shall now consider the third stage of education for freedom, which is known as maturity in charity.

The Holy Father has allowed the granting of Plenary indulgences for the faithful during the Year of Faith at places and dates determined by the local bishop. An indulgence is the remission before God of the temporal punishment for sin the guilt of which is already forgiven, which a properly disposed member of the Christian faithful obtains under certain conditions.