The Narthex

In order to have more lay models for the witnessing of the Faith, and to inspire lay vocations and holiness among the laity, I argue that the Church needs to increase the ratio of canonized laity to canonized priests/religious. This is not about “diversity” or “justice.” I’m not concerned with…

You may ask why we bother canonizing anyone. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and…

I would say the grace to cry out “Abba” to the Father, and the grace to recognize Jesus as Lord, is the same type of grace that fills bishops when they recognize that the men they will ordain are sufficiently holy and will grow in holiness, and the same type…

Grace from God is needed for us to recognize holiness in another. I am not speaking about recognizing the holiness of a deceased person whom the Universal Church declares a saint, but the holiness of a deceased person before the Church recognizes it. I respectfully suggest that it is akin…

Grace and holiness abound in the Body of Christ. Yet it seems that we – laity, bishops, priests, religious sisters and brothers – either do not know what holiness in laity looks like or do not know how to describe it to each other. Only two laypeople, who were holy…