Echoes - A forum of Catholic thought. The Opinion section of thebostonpilot.com

Questions on baptismal records

Jenna Marie Cooper

December 6, 2023Faith

Q: My cousin is getting married soon and will need to obtain a copy of her baptismal certificate for inclusion in the pre-nuptial enquiry. As a newborn baby, it wasn't clear if she would survive and ...

Culture & Events

Reflections on the Scripture readings for Dec. 10, Second Sunday of AdventDeacon Greg Kandra

Is 40:1-5, 9-11 Ps 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14 2 Pt 3:8-14 Mk 1:1-8 If nothing else, Advent should remind us of this inconvenient truth: We are people in a hurry. The other day, I was leaving Walmart ...

Faith & Family

Away from Ordinary TimesLucia A. Silecchia

There is no Advent as short as those that come in the years like this, when Christmas falls on a Monday. When the fourth Sunday of Advent is also Christmas Eve, there seems to be -- and, indeed, there ...

Faith & Family

The battle is real: A guide for spiritual warfareDr. R. Jared Staudt

For decades, we tried canceling the devil, refraining from talking much about him, or bothering much with him at all. Catholics thought they could get by without exorcisms, relegating them to the superstitious ...

Faith & Family

General principles of Sacrosanctum Concilium, especially the MassFather John F. Baldovin, SJ

The second chapter of the constitution turns to the Eucharist in particular. This chapter reaffirms a number of the theological and pastoral principles set out in the first chapter, among them the richer ...

Culture & Events

The Sacred Heart Review publishes its first issue 135 years agoThomas Lester

On Dec. 1, 1888 -- 135 years ago -- appeared the first issue of the Sacred Heart Review, a weekly newspaper published by Sacred Heart Parish in Cambridge. The first issue provides insight into the publication's ...

Faith & Family

Watch for himScott Hahn

The new Church year begins with a plea for God's visitation. "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down," the prophet Isaiah cries in today's First Reading. In today's Psalm, too, ...

Faith & Family

Give the Gift of Hope to the MissionsMaureen Crowley Heil

Advent is a season of preparation, a time to begin anew spiritually and ready a home for the Christ Child in our hearts. Our culture, however, pulls us in other directions and we find ourselves faced ...

Culture & Events

'Longing': Learning about Eucharistic desire from St. Elizabeth Ann SetonMichael R. Heinlein

My family made a recent visit to the new museum at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland. I've always been drawn to St. Elizabeth's story. I remember how it fascinated ...