Bishop Robert Lynch of the Catholic Diocese of St Petersburg recently published his own musings on the recently completed US Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting

For His Friends » Blog Archive » A SILVER STAR OVER TAMPA.

Michael Spence, a Nobel Prize-winning economist opined that here in the United States we have seen “an evolution from one propertied man, one vote; to one man, one vote; to one person, one vote; trending to one dollar, one vote.”

While not categorically true, the statement has a resonance for me when I consider the system of PACs, SuperPACs and the byzantine structure of political campaign donations. Makes you wonder…

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:11)

In 1222 St. Anthony of Padua was asked to move from his rural hermitage to Bologna, to teach theology and canon law to young Franciscans studying for the priesthood and lay university students. Anthony was well aware of the emphasis St. Francis placed on humility. Francis knew that intellectual pride or an overzealous pursuit of higher learning could become a threat to humility, causing some friars to drift from the simple gospel life of love and poverty they had vowed to live. Continue reading →