As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Peter and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, then said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” It’s one of my favorite passages, and it happens to be one that inspired me to use the title petersboat for this column and other things. Here’s another passage:

The death of Tony Zummo this past week moves me to write about the demographics of the Church. Those of you who don’t recognize Tony’s name would still likely recognize his face. He was the embodiment of those parishioners that are sometimes described as “the previous” generation (an unfair title, given their presence in the parish, but one that nevertheless brings a smile even to their own faces when one of their own is called a “Mayfair Catholic”). But while there are unique characteristics about the generations filling our pews these days, it is still, I believe, commonality that holds us together.

As I was preparing for this week’s Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and the treasure God offered to us in our own Baptism, I found myself thinking more about those gifts the Magi brought to Jesus last week, which signified their recognition of Christ, but also, perhaps, something even more to you and me. I think those gifts spoke a word about how we should approach Jesus in prayer.

This meditation in verse is a play on my Christmas homily. You might recall I proposed that God allows the Jews, as a people, to exist in every generation in order to be a lasting sign to the world of how humanity remains, even after being mingled with Christ’s divinity.

I recently watched a presentation from a child psychologist about the results of an experiment she performed on children who were just 6 months old. The infants were shown a skit using three shapes: a circle, a square, and a triangle.

The emotional mourning that often accompanies the discovery of our parents' inability to fulfill us, easily masked by the excuse to rebel, is made all the more painful these days by a cultural storm clamoring for our attention at every turn. Growing in the Faith is treacherous.

Many Protestants object to the veneration of Our Lady, wrongly arguing, “Catholics worship Mary.”

In my opinion, mainline Protestant theological tradition fails to give sufficient attention to the problem faced by every Christian after Baptism, namely the tendency to fall away from Christ at times - to sin against Him.

God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of His Son, has reconciled the world to Himself. Jesus bridges the gap between God and man.