Father David Regan reads during a brief break between hearing confessions at St. Patrick Church in Smithtown, N.Y., March 25, 2013. St. Patrick and all other parishes in the Dioceses of Rockville Centre, N.Y., and Brooklyn, N.Y., and the Archdiocese of New York participate annually in Reconciliation Monday, which falls during Holy Week and offers ...read more

Actor Mario Valencia, portraying Christ, performs during a baptism ceremony as part of Holy Week celebrations along the Rimac river in Lima, Peru, March 28, 2013. (CNS photo/Enrique Castro-Mendivil, Reuters) (March 29, 2013) ...read more

Men carry a statue of “El Nazareno,” the Black Nazarene, during a procession to mark the second Sunday of Lent in the streets of Guatemala City March 4, 2012. (CNS photo/Jorge Dan Lopez, Reuters)     ...read more

Last week, we began by looking at sin and the difference between venial and mortal sin. Even though we’ve all been cleansed from Original Sin at Baptism, we are all still wounded by Original Sin. Because of this, we still suffer the effects of Original Sin, which is why we have a tendency to sin. This ...read more

I love it when we hear something we’ve heard many time as if it was the first time. Last year, I heard something that I had never heard before: “If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only ...read more

Over the last couple of days, I’ve been sharing with you what stood out most for me during Pope Francis’ visit to Mexico. First it was his focus on young people and the challenges they face. Next it had to do with how we respond to challenges that we all face in the light of sin. Yesterday we looked ...read more

Over the next couple of days, I’d like to share with you what stood out most for me during Pope Francis’ visit to Mexico. First it was his focus on young people and the challenges they face. Next it had to do with how we respond to challenges that we all face in the light ...read more

Over the next couple of days, I’d like to share with you what stood out most for me during Pope Francis’ visit to Mexico. First it was his focus on young people. Sadly, my next point is a bit more sobering. Fertile Soil Pope Francis could not have gone to Mexico and not spoken about ...read more

Pope Francis went to Mexico, he said, as a “missionary of mercy and of peace but also as a son who wishes to pay homage to his mother, the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe, and place himself under her watchful care” (Meeting with Authorities at National Palace in Mexico City, Feb. 13, 2016) and that he ...read more

Pope Francis, in white, attends a weeklong Lenten retreat with senior members of the Roman Curia in Ariccia, Italy.(CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters) ...read more