For two thousand years the Roman Catholic Church has survived through many periods of difficult times. The most recent period of clerical sexual abuse has been the cause of considerable angst for the Church and has resulted in some substantial economic losses for many areas within the Church. Through the many hundreds of years following its beginning by Jesus Christ, the Church has maintained a governance structure that has changed very little. The ascendancy of Pope Francis to the papacy ...

Our knowledge of God the Father is very limited. Because the Son of God, Jesus Christ is the Person of the Blessed Trinity, who took on humanity and lived among us, it is He to whom humans can best relate. Nevertheless, as maker of heaven and earth, as well as all things visible and invisible, our Father in Heaven is highly deserving of our thoughts and prayers. Although our knowledge of the Father is very limited, it is the purpose of this book to examine, as best as we are able, the magn...

It is not often that we think of the greater love that can be achieved from suffering and pain during our lives on earth. Rather, we are inclined to pray to our Lord to relieve the suffering and pain of those who are experiencing it and that is an appropriate way to express our love of our fellow human beings and indicate our desire that their pain be diminished. But suffering, pain and sacrifice can also be endured as a means to demonstrate a greater love of our Lord and of one another. W...

Throughout its history, the United States has experienced some outstanding periods that are unparalleled by any other nation. Such times of greatness have been achieved when this country most closely adhered to the faith-based morality intended by our founding fathers. A faith-based morality requires a belief that all humans receive their freedoms and unalienable rights from a Supreme Creator. That belief led to the formation of this nation. Greatness is achieved when government does most ...

There is no greater need in the Catholic Church today than to assist our younger generations in understanding the Holy Eucharist. Such understanding is crucial to having greater participation in their Catholic faith. It is church teaching that the consecration of the Eucharist changes the nature of bread and wine into the body and blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The church calls this change transubstantiation, which is a miracle because it is a supernatural event. The miracle of the Euc...

Surveys indicate that approximately 80 percent of the world’s population believe in an afterlife. It is also the belief of most religions of the world that there is some form of afterlife. The belief in an afterlife is founded on faith. We do not have earthly proof that an afterlife exists. It is a Christian belief that the afterlife will be a life that extends throughout eternity. Because afterlife is an eternal existence, it would seem that a significant percentage of people would want t...

Life, death, judgment and eternity are certainties that all human beings will face. In a humanistic world it is an unfortunate truth that many humans ignore all those certainties, except life. When ignoring those certainties, humans are also prone to focus on that which brings success in life but not death, judgment or eternity. Because our life on earth determines our place in eternity, it seems that wisdom would dictate a life that focuses on obtaining an eternal life of bliss. As long a...

As a youth, my parents, pastor and teacher taught me that our purpose in life was to know, love and serve God. I was also taught that by fulfilling our purpose in life we would be taking the right path to Heaven.It is my unwavering belief thatthese are the most important lessons of life. Our acceptance of these teachings and our faith in Godare enshrouded in mystery. Why and how each of us accepts our faith in God varies. Therefore, there are numerous personal experiences and beliefs inclu...

There are few fictional stories that can match the true story of the Mohr family and their long quest for freedom which began in Romania as World War II was getting underway. Their journey from Romania to Weimar Germany would begin a perilous four years in the lives of the parents and their children, especially Melitta. She vanished into a Nazi institution on the day of her birth and would not be seen again by her family for six months. The miraculous circumstances of the reunion with her ...

"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government". That observation was made by our third president, Thomas Jefferson. He also made the statement that "The course of history shows that as government grows, liberty decreases". This book chronicles the steady growth of our government since this nation was founded. It also notes the manner in which that growth has diminished the liberty of this nation's citizens. Each...

In the era we live in today, a substantial amount of time is devoted to the development of human intelligence and to the material things around us. We depend on government's secular laws and regulations to help provide our code of proper conduct. Those in elective offices of government enact the laws and regulations which attempt to make available the best standards for citizens. But throughout the history of mankind such standards have often led to wars and other immoral practices. Secula...

The founding fathers of this country had a vision for the type of morality that would sustain our nation for many generations. The type of national morality they envisioned was evident in many of their writings. The first two sentences of the Declaration of Independence provided us with an insight into the morality they believed was appropriate to form a new nation. Such a morality would lead to the highest level of justice attainable in a country. Their view of morality and justice has be...