Cardinal Rigali's weekly message: The Word Became Flesh
The Apostolate of the deaf and hard of hearing
By Cardinal Justin Rigali Last Thursday, I was pleased to host a book signing at our Archdiocesan Office Center for Father Anthony Russo, a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists. Father Russo has written a book titled: “In Silent Prayer: A History of Ministry with the Deaf Community […]
Mother and Head of all the churches
By Cardinal Justin Rigali We recently celebrated a very interesting Feast, which gives us the opportunity for our reflection this week: the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome. At first, it may seem strange to celebrate a building, most especially this year when this Feast displaced the normal Sunday Liturgy. In […]
Ongoing Faithful Citizenship and Respect for Life Perduring Realities
By Cardinal Justin Rigali There are aspects of our lives which we may refer to as perduring. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word perdure as: “to continue to exist.” We may say that a perduring element of life is like a stream that runs through a forest. Regardless of the season or the weather, the […]
African American Catholics in our Archdiocese
By Cardinal Justin Rigali Several events occurring in our Archdiocese recently suggest the topic for our reflection this week. Last Saturday, I celebrated Mass at the Shrine of Saint Katharine Drexel, Foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, to honor the 150th anniversary of her birth. On Sunday, November 2, I was present at […]
The consoling doctrine of Purgatory
By Cardinal Justin Rigali The existence of purgatory makes great sense You may have heard of the principle: “Faith builds upon reason.” This is a reminder that our faith is not based on mere imagination or wishful thinking. It is based upon God’s revelation to us. Since it is God who has given us our […]
Faithful Citizenship – Respect for Life
By Cardinal Justin Rigali In the context of our continued observance of October as Respect Life Month, this week’s topic reflects the title and contents of the United States Bishops’ document: “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” This document complements the teaching of bishops in the various dioceses of the United States. However, it is not […]
Recalling Pope Pius XII
on the fiftieth anniversary of his death
By Cardinal Justin Rigali “Pius XII was the most warmly humane, kindly, generous, sympathetic (and, incidentally, saintly) character that it has been my privilege to meet in the course of a long life.” So wrote Sir D’Arcy Osborne, British Minister to the Holy See during World War II and a non‑Catholic, to the London Times […]
The Rosary
By Cardinal Justin Rigali The precise origins of the Rosary are lost in the mists of time. However, we do know that the practice of counting prayers on beads is over a thousand years old. There is a constant pious belief that attributes the popularization of the Rosary, in the form in which we know […]
On being a Catholic
By Cardinal Justin Rigali One of the great joys of our human nature is our ability to engage in relationships. By their nature, these relationships differ in degree but they all contain an element of self-revelation. Indeed, if a person were not able to reveal anything about himself or herself, relationships would be virtually impossible. […]
Freedom and Responsibility
By Cardinal Justin Rigali From time to time, we all seem to resent the freedom we have been given to choose between good and evil. Sometimes, our human tendency is to wish that we had been “programmed” to automatically choose what is good over what is evil. However, one of the aspects of the dignity […]