Rev. George G. Brooks

  Throughout the United States, and in major urban areas around the world, June is “Pride Month,” with parades to celebrate the movement that began with the “gay liberation” protests of 1969. “Pride” is now endorsed by leaders of government at every level as well as major... Read More →

    A cartoon by Erika Sjule in the New Yorker magazine of May 8, 2023, shows a man and woman sitting at a table and the man declaiming, “If only every summer were autumn, and every autumn spring, and every late spring summer, and every winter only the holiday season,... Read More →

    In his account of the first Good Friday, St. Matthew tells us that “from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.” (Mt. 27:45) And in his Life of Christ, Bishop Sheen says that the last judgment was prefigured on Calvary. The darkness can... Read More →

    The penitential season of Lent is upon us, when every year we ask ourselves what we will give up. Because we almost always choose something that gives us pleasure, we may spend the next forty days looking forward to when we can take it back. This is not a very... Read More →

    One day, a priest of my acquaintance heard the voice of a young woman through the screen of his confessional: “Father, tomorrow I will have an abortion. I know that it is wrong. Can you forgive me in advance?” The priest was stunned. “Dear child,” he said, “wh... Read More →

  Catholics call the month of November the “month of holy souls.” It is our annual commemoration of the dead. The month begins with All Saints’ Day, which is our celebration of the citizens of Heaven. On the day after, All Souls Day, we remember all the dead, especially... Read More →

  The feast day of St. Francis of Assisi tomorrow (October 4) prompts us to consider what this most beloved of Christian saints has to contribute to how we think of the natural environment and our current concerns about it. His “Canticle of the Creatures,” a hymn of praise... Read More →

Holy Week begins today—the most solemn season of the Church’s year. The gospel readings for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week (John 13:21-33, 36-38 and Matthew 16:14-25) portray the scene of Jesus announcing to his disciples that one of them would betray him. Judas is, of... Read More →

  On Ash Wednesday of 1996, at Santa Sabina Basilica in Rome, Pope John Paul II placed ashes on my forehead while repeating the familiar words, Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you will return. (Genesis 3:19) In his homily, the pope had asked, “Why does the... Read More →

Simply from the point of view of reason and right thinking, contraception and abortion cannot be called “health care”—unless a child be considered a disease to be prevented or eliminated. Read More →