Protecting the Sacred (A tribute to Chris and Nat)

I guess it's just a summer for weddings. Just a month ago, I had the honour of being one of the groomsmen at the wedding of my friends Chris and Meghan. About 2 weeks ago, I again had the honour of being a groomsman at the wedding of my friends Chris (don't worry, different one) and Natalie. It was such a blessing to be a part their special day, especially since Natalie has been one of my closest friends for the last few years. If there is one word to describe everything that happened yesterday, "beautiful" would be it. The ceremony itself was beautiful. The place that the reception dinner was held - beautiful. The speeches given, with sincere thanks given and tears shed, were beautiful. And of course, dear Natalie, dressed in white, radiating happiness, was beautiful.

Letting Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Another column that I wrote for The Catholic Register. Are you listening to the Spirit?

Letting Actions Speak Louder Than Words

The Summer Slump

It's summer time! That beautiful time of the year when the sun stays out until 9pm, and we don't have to spend days stuck in a classroom. That time of year when we reconnect with friends who study abroad, have BBQs late into the night, and have drinks for "only a dollar, all summer." That time of year when we perhaps sleep in, laze around, go out at night, come home really late, fall into bed, fall asleep, and not pray.

Hold on a second, that didn't sound right.

The Life of the Church

Here's a link to the latest column that I wrote for The Catholic Register. Do you want to get to know your faith? Then get to know the liturgical calendar of the Church!

The Church One Day at a Time

The Inadequacy of Love Songs (And how newlyweds Chris and Meghan Chapman are awesome)

Here's a truth that people who really like listening to today's radio-friendly pop music will probably find offensive: Most of today's love songs suck. Most love songs aren't actually love songs, but some deformed, wart-ridden offshoot of love. I was at my friend's house a few weeks ago having a bollywood-themed party (yes, you read that correctly. We're THAT cool), and a song popped into my head: Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows. Naturally, I started singing it:

C'mon, c'mon, move a little faster
C'mon, c'mon, the world will follow after
C'mon, c'mon, everybody's after love
Accidentally in love

Brothers in Battle

My parish, Christ the Redeemer, has a young men's group called MEAT: Men Eating And Talking. The group meets once a month at the parish rectory, and we share our faith with each other over beers and great food. This past Thursday, Matt Fradd was the guest speaker. He runs a website called The Porn Effect, and is dedicated to exposing Pornography for what it is - a sick, disgusting way to objectify women, emasculate men, and damage marriages. It is a method to twist our sexual desire. Sexual desire, a gift from God that should impel us to love, twisted to impel us to lust.

Our Hope

Yesterday evening, I was helping lead a Life Teen social event at my parish, celebrating the beatification of (now) Blessed Pope John Paul II. At one point during the night, a youth received a text. And then another youth received a text. And the exclamation from both was the same: "Hey guys! Osama Bin Laden is dead!" Immediately there was an eruption of discussion: Did he get shot? Who shot him? Did they simply find his body? Was the US involved? The announcement of the death of a guy who many presume to be behind so much of the pain and heartache in recent history was jarring. I for one, was shocked that people were already sending texts about it. But one of the youth cut to the heart of the matter. When someone again declared, "It's true! He's dead!" this youth meekly asked,

"...Should we...be happy about this?"