1-15-10 THE BISHOP'S VOICE: No middle ground Another new year begins, and the conscience of America continues to be tested as to whether it is pro-life or pro-death. There is no middle ground.

1-1-10 THE BISHOP'S VOICE: The eternal mystery of Christmas Christmas Day has come and gone once again. What endures, however, is the eternal mystery that is Christmas. Christmas is a specific moment in our human history. On that day, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became a finite creature born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. What we can so easily forget or ignore is the fact that this God-man has never departed from us.

12-4-09 THE BISHOP'S VOICE: God is working through our young people Recently I participated in two different events in the course of one week. The first was the Fall Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. The second was the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) in Kansas City, Mo.

11-20-09 THE BISHOP'S VOICE: The beautiful sacrament of Reconciliation In the last encyclical letter, Ecclesia de Eucharistia (EE) ["The Church Draws Her Life from the Eucharist"]) of his pontificate, the late Pope John Paul II gave the church a magnificent teaching on the sacrament of the holy Eucharist. Among the many themes taken up by that encyclical is that of the importance — indeed, the necessity — of every Catholic maintaining the bond of communion with Christ and his church before ever receiving the sacrament of that communion.

11-6-09 THE BISHOP'S VOICE: Make your voice heard on health care reform The long road to government-sponsored health care reform appears to be coming to an end. Last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives had completed its proposal for health care reform, and that discussion and debate would begin very soon.