Author: Tom Faranda

The Pope's Apostolic Exhortation (an important writing but below an encyclical) on the call to personal holiness. I think it's his best document and I wish it were more promoted; brief (only 80 pages) and very to the point. I read it when it first came out last May and re-read this Advent. There are…

Thanks to my friend Paul for sending me this. The NY Times op ed columnist Ncholas Kristoff likes to ask the above sort of questions at Christmas to various religious personalities of note. Here he questions Professor Williiam Lane Craig who has a fine reputation for defending what CS Lewis called "Mere Christianity. It's a…

Sue Konig – great writer. Just type in "Konig" in the search box up on the top right for more postings about her. Here's Sue's excellent column – Tell your kids the truth: Santa is real I remember when Susie Denk told me in third grade that there was no Santa. I immediately ­reported this…

Sr. Helen Prejean is the religious sister who was portrayed by Susan Sarandon in the 1996 movie Dead Man Walking. Sister Helen is active ministering to people on death row and working against the death penalty. I went to her talk last month at my alma mater, Fairfield University. I have never seen the movie…

This is from the Catholic online publication, CRUX Meeting with members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem Nov. 16, the pope said that “the tragic situations of Christians who are persecuted and killed in ever-increasing numbers” is plain to see, even if the world “too often turns and looks away.” Christians…

The author is the Canadian Psychologist Jordan Peterson who is a total internet/youtube sensation.  And the book (4,116 reviews on amazon as of today) is rightfully a huge best seller. It's been on the amazon best seller list for 47 weeks and will probably be there for several years. Each of the 12 Rules has…

UPDATE: Funny email from anonymous lady friend of ours: “Cuomo got the family a bridge, he can work on some Saint designations now, enough to go around” I never heard of this guy. But evidently important. Cool confirmation name … St. Winebald (701-761 A.D.) was a Saxon prince born into a holy and royal family…

Bishop Barron – extremely popular on social media – as the WSJ recently headlined No church figure other than the pope has more followers than Robert Barron. This is part of a much longer interview with the popular conservative Jewish fellow, Ben Shapiro. Here he simply and quickly (4 minutes) presents the standard Catholic view…

An important Jesuit ministry; 2 minute video. Originally begun to aid Vietnamese refugees; currently heavily involved in Iraq and Syria.  

Despicable. I'm going to post most of this op ed since the Journal requires subscription. Government bureaucrats are so much smarter than the rest of us -just ask them. The op ed is written by two yeshiva deans.  Albany bureaucrats want to commandeer our curriculum. We won’t have it. Together the two of us have…