We greet you in the strength and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as we begin the Lenten Season, knowing that He will guide you in prayer, fasting, and worship unto Pascha, the great and glorious celebration of salvation and life. In the Gospel of Matthew we read that as Christ traveled through the cities and villages teaching, preaching, and healing, “He saw the crowds, and He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:35-36). He saw the genuine physical and spiritual needs of people who were burdened and struggling in the midst of an altered world. He saw human beings, created in the image of God, who needed love, peace, and truth from above. He saw persons who needed acceptance, assurance, and guidance. Read more...

NEW YORK, NY - Every day tens of thousands of people pass through the magnificent Grand Central Station at 42nd Street and Park Ave in New York City- just as tens of thousands of people worked in or visited the World Trade Center every day until September 11, 2001. Today the World Trade Center is no more than a gaping hole in the ground that is now being made deeper and larger by the heavy machinery and huge trucks that continuously dig and remove over a million tons of ruble. The tragedy of the attack on the World Trade Center is now remembered very poignantly by an exhibit at Grand Central Station called "Faces at Ground Zero - A Tribute to America's Heroes" by Joe McNally-prominent Life Magazine photographer .It is presented by Time and sponsored by Morgan Stanley Inc. A few weeks ago, I was among the many people travelling through the station that took notice of this exhibit. Read more...

Christ is born indeed, but many, many children are not. Since the disastrous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling in 1973, literally millions of children are simply not born. Tuesday, January 22nd, will be the 29th anniversary of that tragic ruling. And as is our sad custom, I invite you to walk with me in Washington, D.C. on that day. There we will join thousands and thousands of other concerned participants in the National Right to Life March. Read more...

Today, I can greet you with no better words than what the Angel says to the Shepherds, on that wondrous Christmas night: Be not afraid: for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy ... For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord (Luke 2.10). Indeed, let us truly lift up our hearts, for in this year of challenge and tragedy, there has been much to keep them low. We have mourned the loss of thousands in September, and our troops continue to fight in faraway deserts. The Holy Lands where Our Saviour walked has been thrown into a new and more dangerous cycle of violence. And while our nation and the world have been gripped by enormous grief, an even more threatening danger now looms on the horizon, with the advent of stem cell research and human cloning. It has been, needless to say, a hard and difficult year. Read more...

The whole question about human stem cell research hinges upon when human life begins. The Church has taught that human life begins at conception. This is when God enters a person into the world - a person who is soul and body. The Church has taught this consistently throughout the ages. This truth has enabled generations of faithful to appreciate human nature as the bearer of the image of God, as the beneficiary of the divine grace of immortality and as the ultimate object of God's creative love and nurturance. Read more...