Saturday, September 21, 20190152I was pleasantly surprised earlier this summer when I saw confirmed in the prestigious journal Scientific American (May 2019) something I had often heard from some Catholics: namely, the hormonal contraceptives that our society offers millions of women have a rather dubious origin and an even more questionable future.
Friday, September 6, 2019021Recently, I accompanied some really awesome students to John Bunker Sands Wetlands Center, which is a beautiful water treatment facility and nature preserve southeast of Dallas. We listened to interesting presentations from the naturalists who care for the site, and then we tested the water quality. One of the tests was for turbidity, or...
Thursday, August 22, 2019037By Father John Bayer
Special to The Texas Catholic
One of the more disappointing things I read in the news recently was that Amazon decided, in response to a petition from LGBTQ activists, to stop selling books by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, a Catholic psychologist who promoted “reparative therapy” for those trying to reshape homosexual...
Friday, June 14, 2019011In a culture so saturated with sexuality as our own, among the most provocative lines of the Gospel is surely the following: some “have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (19:12).
Tuesday, May 14, 2019012Recently, we read a gospel passage that can make people cringe: the story of “doubting”Thomas (cf. Jn 20:19-31). This passage is, sadly, often interpreted as though it were contrasting reason, on the one hand, with faith (or gullibility), on the other. For example, one very influential atheist, Richard Dawkins, refers to the story of...
Thursday, April 11, 20190177What does it mean to forgive? Is forgiveness essentially a negative and cancelling force, that is, something that ignores an injury? Or is it a positive and creative force, that is, something that adds to life? I think it’s probably both, but my sense is that we typically think only of the negative side. For example, it is popular to...
How many words, songs and rhymes are stored in your memory? If I say, “Take me out to the…” or “Oops I…” you could probably finish the two lines (“Take me out to the ballgame” and “Oops I did it again”). We have an immense world of words filling our interior lives, and many of them we made little effort to memorize....
Thursday, February 14, 2019071A few weeks ago, Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Farmers Branch hosted “Treasures of the Church,” a traveling exhibition of sacred relics from the Vatican. By all appearances, it was a wonderful event.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019034Do you want a great book for our ideological times? Do you want to be challenged, no matter where you sit on the ideological spectrum between Left and Right? Well, then I’ve got a book for you: In Defense of Nature: The Catholic Unity of Environmental, Economic and Moral Ecology by Benjamin Wiker.
Friday, December 14, 2018031
By Father John Bayer
Special to The Texas Catholic
In the span of about two weeks I received 15 cards encouraging me as a priest. One person, who signed herself as “Your spiritual mother,” wrote, “May you be strong against temptations. Take heart as we face the current scandals in the priesthood.” Another wrote, “To...
