The actor Mark Wahlberg does not hide from his Catholic faith. Recently, he was quoted as saying
“Being a Catholic is the most important aspect of my life,” the first thing I do when I start my day is, I get down on my hands and knees and give thanks to God. Whenever I go outside of my house, the first thing I do is stop at the church. The kids will be mad with me. “Daddy! It takes too long!” I’m saying: “It’s only 10 minutes and this is something I really need to do.” Because I do. If I can start my day out by saying my prayers and getting myself focused, then I know I’m doing the right thing. That 10 minutes helps me in every way throughout the day.” Keep reading…
No, I don’t want to contract COVID, but I also don’t want to live in fear. I hope not to get involved in a car accident either, but I continue to drive on the freeway every day. The automobile and driving, once considered a major breakthrough for the everyday convenience of humankind, are now a significant cause of death. Most of us take for granted that driving fatalities are a fact of life. An estimated 1.35 million people die in road accidents worldwide every year — 3,700 deaths a day. And millions of those who survive are left with permanent injuries. Most people have decided to measure the convenience against the risk and continue driving. An estimated 100 people die in car accidents every day just in the United States.
Please make no mistake; I do not want to die. Life is a gift, so I try to balance caring for myself and others along with living. I hope to live many more years, but I recognize that much of life is simply beyond my control, as God is demonstrating with this terrible new virus, and as we see every day.
—In 2017, a total of 2,813,503 deaths were reported
in the United States
Almost 40,000 people died from falling in the United States, and another 60,000 or more died from accidental poisoning. Every day we are bombarded with information telling us, “don’t eat this —eat that”, “do this — do that”. The fact is, we are all going to die, and we don’t know when or how.
There’s a popular notion that if we have strong faith, we should not suffer any undue fear in the face of death, but rather face it with calm, peace, and even gratitude, because we have nothing to fear from God or the afterlife. Christ has overcome death. Death sends us to heaven. So why be afraid?
I think living life in fear is worse than death. The potential consequences of fear on overall, physical, emotional, environmental, and spiritual health are well known. According to the American Journal of Managed Care, the potential effects of chronic fear include:
Immune system dysfunction
Endocrine system dysfunction
Autonomic nervous system alterations
Sleep/wake cycle disruption
Eating disorders
Alterations in the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis
The potential consequences of chronic fear for spiritual health:
Bitterness/fear toward God or others
Confusion/disgust with God or religion
Loss of trust in God and/or clergy
Waiting for God to fix it
Despair related to the perceived loss of spirituality
With that said, God will do what he wants. I don’t pray for COVID-19. I do, however, pray for the people who live with the fear of what it might do, and I pray that it might bring them closer to God. For me, I don’t want to stay in my home for the rest of my life, not hug or touch someone, because I might die. For me, the cost is too much. I do not wish to live with that kind of fear. Some may find me selfish, but I want to live.
I understand this is a very different virus, and it is incredibly potent. I am neither a doctor nor a scientist. But I am a Psychologist who believes we must count the other costs. There is more to life than just not getting sick and not dying. People have lost their jobs, and suicide has skyrocketed. We must consider these losses when deciding on how to move forward.
Center for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield said in a Buck Institute webinar that suicides a
Some Background
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in 2009, a novel H1N1 influenza (flu) virus emerged to cause the first flu pandemic in 40 years. The 2009 H1N1 pandemic was estimated to be associated with 151,700 to 575,400 deaths worldwide during the first year it circulated. Although the CDC and its many partners have made great strides in the fields of influenza surveillance, prevention, and treatment since 2009, the H1N1 virus has continued to circulate seasonally to this day.
The (H1N1)pdm09 virus was very different from H1N1 viruses that were circulating at the time of the pandemic. Few young people had any existing immunity (as detected by antibody response) to the (H1N1)pdm09 virus, but nearly one-third of people over 60 years old had antibodies against this virus, likely from exposure to an older H1N1 virus earlier in their lives. Since the (H1N1)pdm09 virus was very different from circulating H1N1 viruses, vaccination with seasonal flu vaccines offered little cross-protection against (H1N1)pdm09 virus infection. While a monovalent (H1N1)pdm09 vaccine was produced, it was not available in large quantities until late November—after the peak of illness during the second wave had come and gone in the United States. From April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, CDC estimated there were 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (range: 195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (range: 8868-18,306) in the United States due to the (H1N1)pdm09 virus. Read more from the CDC
Fear is the emotion we need to experience when we are confronted with a future evil that can be avoided only with some difficulty. Fear and the consuming nature of anxiety can steal everything from us in a way that no other mental tribulation is quite capable. Through a process called potentiation, your fear response is amplified if you are already in a state of fear. When you are primed for fear, you can imagine things as much worse than they really are. Fear can be as much an ally as it can be an enemy.
For people who are trying to live a life pleasing to God, the good spirit strengthens, encourages, consoles, removes obstacles, and gives peace. The evil spirit tries to derail them by stirring up anxiety, false sadness, needless confusion, frustration, fear, and other obstacles.
For many, fear causes retreat. It is what prevents many people from reaching their goals and living a happy life. It can literally freeze them. Without God, we turn inward to ourselves.
One of the great gifts of being a believing Catholic is a sense of trust in God’s providence. It is truly a case of lex orandi, lex credendi – what we pray is what we believe. Near the end of the Lord’s Prayer at every Mass, we pause as the priest recites the Embolism.
Photo by Jack Sharp on Unsplash
Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant us peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Jesus spent a lot of time telling us not to worry or get anxious. Worrying is natural, and some amount is good; it helps us think about responses to potential dangers, but excessive worry may show a lack of trust and faith in God. Many things are simply out of our control.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his life? Matthew 6:25-27
As did St. Peter: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
And St. Paul: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:7:
The works of God are all of them good;he supplies for every need in its own time. There is no cause then to say: “This is not as good as that”; for each shows its worth at the proper time. So now with full heart and voice proclaim .” Sirach 39: 33-35
The word ‘Quarantine’ comes from a Venetian dialect and means ’40 days.’ The practice comes from Jesus’ 40 days in the desert and the Lenten season, which is 40 days of working on one’s spiritual health in the ‘metaphorical desert’ with God before Easter. The 40-day quarantine was chosen to separate those who are, or who may be, physically sick, from the rest of the world to heal physically and spiritually before they reenter the community.
As we progress through Lent, I look forward to the world getting back to basics, spending time alone in the silence that comes after the noise, time together as families, and time with God in prayer and with each other around the world in solidarity.
Don’t get me wrong, it won’t be easy. We will suffer. But this is when the best of humanity shines. And, because of the internet, this quarantine will be communal. The world will share this Lenten season.
Pete Buttigieg has justified each of his policy proposals as righteous on the authority of God’s Word, calling a failure to endorse his policies “sin” and even going so far as to say Republicans aren’t real Christians. During the July Democratic debate, the Presidential hopeful said:
“So-called conservative Christian senators right now in the Senate are blocking a bill to raise the minimum wage when Scripture says that whoever oppresses the poor taunts their maker,”
He ignored the ample evidence revealing that minimum wage laws hurt low-income workers most, and slandered Christians in the process.
“When I’m president you’ll never have to look at the White House and scratch your head and think, ‘Whatever happened to, ‘I was hungry and you fed me. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Whatever you’ve done to the least of these, you have done to me?”” Buttigieg said at a campaign stop in Iowa on Monday, quoting the words of Jesus according to Matthew 25:35-40.
Pete seems to find it in scripture that the only way to help the poor is with government programs and control over labor. He also finds in scripture the right to take an innocent life although he doesn’t quote chapter and verse.
Sorry, Pete, we are not lifted up by stories of women executing their own child in their own womb.
Sorry, Pete, but people are lifted up by stories of courage like this one
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Why don’t Protestants make the sign of the cross? It is one of Christianity’s oldest practices, yet many Protestants avoid it because it has become so closely associated with Catholicism. Reformed theologian Doug Wilson offers an interesting example of the problem. Conservative, reformed, and evangelical theologian James “Doug” Wilson is a pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, a faculty member at New Saint Andrews College, and an author and speaker. In this video, the theologian tries to explain why protestants should not make the sign of the cross. He says:
“it is lawful, but it is not appropriate”.
Why? In his lengthy, convoluted answer, Doug acknowledges that the practice of Christians making the sign of the cross is ancient. He notes that John Calvin, the founder of the Protestant movement Calvinism, recognized that the sign of the cross was an early tradition dating back to the first century. But it actually goes back to the Apostles.
From the earliest times, Christians have made the sign of the cross. St. Basil the Great tells us that the apostles themselves taught the sign of the cross. Earliest mentions describe the sign of the cross as an established custom and encourage the faithful to perform it correctly.
So why does this theologian think it is inappropriate for protestants to make the sign of the cross? Because he says, “it telegraphs either confusion or transition.”
He explains what he means with this unbelievable example:
If I am watching baseball and I see the 3rd baseman get up to bat and he crosses himself what do I think? well I think Italian Roman Catholic
Such an astonishing statement for a Christian theologian to make. In short, Doug thinks it is totally “lawful,” which of course it is, the Apostles taught it, but don’t do it because people might think you are Catholic.
The rest of his response is so confusing, I am not sure what he is trying to say. It is as if he is using mental gymnastics to say, “Don’t make the sign of the cross, even though it is OK.
If you read that and felt the tension—it’s lawful… it’s ancient… it goes back to the Apostles… but don’t do it because it might look Catholic—then you’re already standing at the real question most debates like this quietly avoid:
Who gets to decide what Christianity is supposed to look like?
That question—authority—is exactly what I tackle head-on in my book, Catholics Are Wrong Says Who?.
I don’t ask you to accept Catholicism because of emotion, habit, or culture. I walk you through the simple, unavoidable logic:
If Scripture is the authority… who gave you Scripture? If the early Church practiced something… who preserved that practice? And if Christians disagree—as they clearly do—who has the authority to settle it?
This isn’t about the sign of the cross. It’s about whether Christianity is guided by private interpretation or living authority.
If you’re tired of circular arguments, denominational confusion, and explanations that feel like intellectual gymnastics, this will give you a clear, grounded framework. Defending the Catholic faith is easier than you think.
Andy Reid is not only the Head Coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, but he is also the team’s executive vice president of football operations. He is also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Even though coach Reid is a Mormon the Chiefs still have a Catholic chaplain. The chaplain doesn’t always get to travel with the team but this year Father Rocha, the Chiefs Chaplain, got a last-minute invite and celebrated Mass for the team on Saturday night. Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs— Superbowl 54 Champions
By now, it is well known that famed basketball player Kobe Bryant was killed in a tragic helicopter crash. When a high-profile and wildly successful person like Kobe dies, there is a tremendous outcry. Many view people like Kobe as being invincible. When they are killed, it suddenly becomes a reminder that nobody is invincible. Life is fragile, and death can come so unexpectedly. This tragic event is a good reminder to the rest of us to be prepared.
It has also been widely reported that Kobe was a practicing Catholic, and he attended Mass earlier that morning with his daughter, who also died in the crash. Few if any, however, comment about Kobe’s other half, his wife Vanessa, and her remarkable courage and strength.
Kobe Bryant was raised in a Catholic household. In 2001, much to his parents’ disappointment (they felt he was too young), Kobe married Vanessa Laine at St. Edward Roman Catholic Church in Dana Point, California. Kobe and his family attended Mass regularly, and Kobe was also known to attend weekday Mass. He was drafted into the NBA at the tender age of 17, and in a 2015 interview with GQ magazine, discussing how fame and success affected him, Kobe said:
“Well, most successful people are a little arrogant…. I was very stubborn. I was like a wild horse that had the potential to become Secretariat, but who was just too fucking wild”
His arrogance may have been why In 2003, Kobe was accused of raping a woman. Although he admitted to having sex with the woman, he felt it was consensual. She refused to proceed with the criminal case and instead filed a civil suit, which was settled. Kobe eventually stated he didn’t realize his accuser saw their encounter as assault. In the midst of it all, he issued a public apology and took responsibility for his actions.
First, I want to apologize directly to the young woman involved in this incident. I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year. Although this year has been incredibly difficult for me personally, I can only imagine the pain she has had to endure. I also want to apologize to her parents and family members, and to my family and friends and supporters, and to the citizens of Eagle, Colorado. I also want to make it clear that I do not question the motives of this young woman. No money has been paid to this woman. She has agreed that this statement will not be used against me in the civil case. Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did. After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter. I issue this statement today fully aware that while one part of this case ends today, another remains. I understand that the civil case against me will go forward. That part of this case will be decided by and between the parties directly involved in the incident and will no longer be a financial or emotional drain on the citizens of the state of Colorado.
While his critics still debate the motivation behind his apology, it is almost unheard of that an accused rapist would admit the possibility that they may have been wrong. Shortly after the case was dismissed, Kobe was found buying a Rosary for his wife, Vanessa, at a Pauline bookstore in Culver City. As Catholics, we know -we do not merely believe, we know, that the rosary is the most powerful recitation we can make when we desire a miracle or some other grace from God. By reflecting on Our Most Holy Mother’s experiences and the life of Jesus, we become more like the woman who bore all things for the sake of obedience to God’s will.
With that said, I don’t think nearly enough attention has been given to Kobe’s wife, Vanessa, and the strength she displayed. She had tremendous courage to stay with him during such a difficult time. Many people were surprised and shocked that she didn’t leave him. Most women, religious or otherwise, would have walked away. In what can only be described as an act of extraordinary forgiveness, Vanessa chose to honor the vow “for better or worse, in sickness and health.” It takes greater strength of character to rebuild a marriage after an affair than to give up and quit.
While many protestant denominations allow divorce by misinterpreting this passage from St Matthew’s Gospel, — “whoever divorces his wife, except in the case of adultery, and marries another, commits adultery”— to justify divorce and remarriage. The Catholic Church has never allowed divorce and remarriage for any reason.
The Church, of course, does recognize that adultery gravely damages the emotional, spiritual, mental, and even physical well-being of the innocent party. In such circumstances, cohabitation can be nearly impossible for the devastated party. However, the marriage bond remains despite the physical separation. Civil divorce is a civil remedy to safeguard civil rights and safety; it does not (and cannot) dissolve the marriage bond.
It was undoubtedly not easy, but after some rough years, Kobe and Vanessa reconciled and remain married to this day. In early January 2020, Kobe revealed the key to his marriage’s success during an appearance on Showtime Basketball’s All the Smoke. He noted on the YouTube series that “commitment” and the “competitiveness of ‘We’re going to succeed’” kept the couple going throughout the years. Kobe argued that highs and lows are essential to a lasting marriage. “That’s all the beauty of it: having the persistence and determination to work through things — very, very tough things — and we’ve been able to do that,” he admitted.
Together, they founded the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation (KVBFF). The foundation helped fund youth homeless shelters and other projects aimed at serving the poor.
We hope you will join us in keeping Vanessa Bryant in your prayers and for the repose of the souls of Kobe, his daughter Gianna, and the seven other people who died in the helicopter crash near Calabasas, California.
On a recent podcast with his girlfriend, Dana Patrick, Aaron Rodgers said, “I don’t know how you can believe in a God who wants to condemn most of the planet to a fiery hell,” as reported by PEOPLE magazine. “What type of loving, sensitive, omnipresent, omnipotent being wants to condemn his beautiful creation to a fiery hell at the end of all this?”
“Religion can be a crutch, it can be something that people have to have to make themselves feel better,” the Green Bay Packers QB continued. “Because it’s set up binary, it’s us and them, saved and unsaved, heaven and hell, it’s enlightened and heathen, it’s holy and righteous … that makes a lot of people feel better about themselves.”
The Rodgers family, who’ve reportedly been estranged from the NFL star for over five years, were displeased with harsh commentary on religion, sources told PEOPLE.
“They were dismayed,” a source close to the family told the outlet. “The family is very dedicated to their Christian faith.”
Rodgers claimed he and “most people” he knew growing up went to church because “you just had to go.”
The 36-year-old now sees himself embracing a “‘different type of spirituality’ that is more meaningful to him than what he experienced as a child,” the magazine reported.
All too often today, people want to hold onto the belief in God while having it their way. This is largely why there is a “Spirituality” movement. The movement rejects the reality of hell and embraces moral relativism. This— the greatest of sins, the sin of pride.
In his 1994 book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, Pope John Paul II wrote that too often “preachers, catechists, teachers . . . no longer have the courage to preach the threat of hell” (p. 183). Concerning the reality of hell, the pope says, “In point of fact, the ancient councils rejected the theory . . . according to which the world would be regenerated after destruction, and every creature would be saved; a theory which abolished hell. . . . [T]he words of Christ are unequivocal. In Matthew’s Gospel, he speaks clearly of those who will go to eternal punishment (cf. Matt. 25:46). [But] who will these be? The Church has never made any pronouncement in this regard” (pp. 185–6).
Aaron should know that ultimately, many choose hell by rejecting God and the teaching of his son, Jesus Christ. God wishes for no one to be in hell.
In 1 Timothy 2:4, for example, St. Paul says that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” But God also desires that we not sin, and yet we still do. God desires the good for all of his creatures, but because he has also given human beings and angels the gift of free will, it follows that God will allow us to enjoy or suffer the consequence of this good gift, even if it means eternal separation from him.
President Trump became the President of the United States to attend the annual March for Life Rally. Every year since 1974, thousands of anti-abortion activists from around the country have marched from the White House Ellipse to the Capitol in protest of the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion. Trump said:
“We are here for a very simple reason: to defend the right of every child, born and unborn, to fulfill their God-given potential.”
Despite the large numbers of pro-life Americans converging upon the nation’s Capitol the “big 3” television networks devoted a combined 2 minutes and 6 seconds of coverage to the 2018 March for Life in their evening news coverage, according to a study from the Media Research Center (MRC).
By contrast, President Obama became the first President to speak at a Planned Parenthood event, the nation’s largest abortion provider. In 2013 President Obama spoke at a Planned Parenthood Conference and reaffirmed the core principle that has guided the organization for nearly a century: that women should be allowed to make their own decisions about their own health. Not only did he promote abortion on demand and rally hundreds of abortion activists, but Obama also made a comment that achieved disgusting notoriety. He called on God to bless the abortion giant.
The right to life is the first and foremost of all human rights. It affects all other issues, and without it, a person never gets the opportunity to exercise any other right. Simply put, without Life, all other rights and issues are meaningless.
Why don’t Protestants make the sign of the cross? It is one of Christianity’s oldest practices, yet many Protestants avoid it because it has become so closely associated with Catholicism. Reformed theologian Doug Wilson offers an interesting example of the problem. Conservative, reformed, and evangelical theologian 
Kobe Bryant was raised in a Catholic household. In 2001, much to his parents’ disappointment (they felt he was too young), Kobe married Vanessa Laine at St. Edward Roman Catholic Church in Dana Point, California. Kobe and his family attended Mass regularly, and Kobe was also known to attend weekday Mass. He was drafted into the NBA at the tender age of 17, and in a 2015 interview with 
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