Father Ian VanHeusen

Having spent a bit of time in the developing world and coming to know people in all walks of life, I have come appreciate that most Americans understanding is superficial. Oftentimes mission trips and experiences focus exclusively on the poor and those on the margins of society.…

“The key is not to resolve the paradox, but to penetrate its truth through contemplation. Contemplation is a kind of beholding, or seeing, the truth revealed by God. This does not take place with our rational faculties, but only happens when we transcend their natural operations…

Since there have been not a few comments calling into question the veracity of St. Euphemia's miracle described in the original thread, we would like to offer some points of clarification. The account of the miracle in the form we know it today is indeed recorded in the…

I took a break from studying East Asian religions for about 10 years to focus on the Summa of Aquinas and other sources. Having gone through most of the major sources in Catholicism, I have turned my attention back to the East. My main idea I am working on is the idea of…

US Catholic Seminaries Said to Be in a ‘Golden Age’ Seminaries are at the healthiest point they have been in for decades in terms of culture and quality of priestly formation, experts say.⤵️ hubs.la/Q03x-8s10

One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David,* has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.”

Correct, double predestination is Calvinist and heretical. Catholics teach the proper paradox of predestination and free will.

A vocation does not mean one’s state in life, but a permanent, vowed life. Thus single is not a vocation because until vows are made, the person is in potentially. They could become a priest or religious or they could be married at any time. They have not made a vowed commitment

Aquinas teaches doctrine and is the means by which to discern experience. John of the Cross explains the dark nights. Teresa of Avila made their works accessible to others. Bonaventure is a bridge. All the doctors of the Church were first and foremost mystical theologians

A surge of Catholic Land Movement interest and development is once again happening. Please help us find people with the resources to support this very important mission. We are looking for resources to fund at least two full time staff people to effectively deal with all this…

We have been taught to see only problems, to see needs… and what we fail to see is opportunities. We fail to see how our time, talent, and treasure can have a multiplying effect if we can only learn to be open to the Holy Spirit and go where he moves us.

On Loving Your Enemy In regard to the passions, or emotions, hatred stands in opposition to love. Thus, to love something on an emotional level is to feel an affinity towards it and to move in communion with it. In contrast, hatred is to oppose and stand against. What then…

My favorite part of the so-called vocation’s crisis is that it is relatively obvious what young men are looking for if you pay attention to areas where there is no crisis. This goes beyond America.

A new friend I made today said to me, “You have to constantly ask yourself, ‘Why did God put this person in my life? What is God trying to do?’”

Apologetics is popular and plenty of people do content of real depth and have a smaller follower. Don’t hate the player hate the game

People who complain about apologetics consistently ignore content creators who don’t do apologetics… it’s humorous really

With most contemporary issues, I prefer the Thomistic phrase, Deny nothing, affirm little, make distinctions. This excludes, of course, some very black and white issues. With that in mind, it is always possible to find inappropriate behavior of any subset of priests. For the most…