Fr. Raymond J. de Souza
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Fr. Raymond J. de Souza
Fr. Raymond J. de Souza

Articles

The World’s Spiritual Director

St. John Paul II, as a young priest, was renowned for telling his penitents, after thoroughly examining the question at hand: “You must choose.” That is suitable for the confessional, not for a papal document.

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Christopher McMullanApril 22, 2025First Things, Church Affairs
Humble, but determined, Francis bent the papacy to his will

To certain traditional Catholic ears, the pontiff from Buenos Aires was cause for concern. To more worldly ears, he was cause for rejoicing

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Christopher McMullanApril 21, 2025National Post, Church Affairs
In part, the Easter story is one of victory over tyrants

The scriptures' chronicling of the resurrection of Jesus Christ gives hope to a world where inflated bullies continue to wreak havoc on those within their grip

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Christopher McMullanApril 20, 2025National Post, Faith
The 7 Last Words and the Nicene Creed: ‘It Is Finished’

Jesus’ final words from the Cross — ‘It is finished’ — do not signal an end, but a consummation. Through the Creed and the Cross, we are invited into the mystery that continues through the Church, the sacraments, and the promise of resurrection.

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Christopher McMullanApril 19, 2025National Catholic Register, Seven Last Words
The 7 Last Words and the Nicene Creed: ‘Father, Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit’

The sixth word Christ utters from the cross brings us to the death of the Lord Jesus, crucified for our sake.

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Christopher McMullanApril 18, 2025National Catholic Register, Seven Last Words
The 7 Last Words and the Nicene Creed: ‘I Thirst’

The fifth word from the cross points to Christ’s real bodily suffering — and his divine thirst for our salvation — as foretold in Scripture and confessed in the Creed.

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Christopher McMullanApril 17, 2025National Catholic Register, Seven Last Words
The 7 Last Words and the Nicene Creed: ‘My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?’

The fourth of Christ’s ‘Seven Last Words From the Cross’ reflects the mystery at the heart of the Nicene Creed — a suffering God who prays Psalm 22 and transforms our dereliction into redemption.

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Christopher McMullanApril 16, 2025National Catholic Register, Seven Last Words
The Art of Holy Week

The Register presents five of Tissot’s works that reflect Christ’s path, with reflections.

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Christopher McMullanApril 16, 2025National Catholic Register, Faith
The 7 Seven Last Words and the Nicene Creed: ‘Behold, Your Son’; ‘Behold, Your Mother’

The third of Christ’s ‘Seven Last Words From the Cross’ reveals the feminine and maternal dimension of the mystery of salvation.

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Christopher McMullanApril 15, 2025National Catholic Register, Seven Last Words
The 7 Seven Last Words and the Nicene Creed: ‘Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise’

God From God, Light From Light, True God From True God

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Christopher McMullanApril 14, 2025National Catholic Register, Seven Last Words
The 7 Last Words of Christ and the Nicene Creed: ‘Father, Forgive Them, for They Know Not What They Do’

You have to draw close to hear the words, for a crucified man struggles to speak, his lungs crushed under the pressure of his own weight, even as his body screams to him in pain.

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Christopher McMullanApril 13, 2025National Catholic Register, Seven Last Words
Conservatives ponder how to 'meet the moment'

Federal election top of mind at annual Tory conference

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Christopher McMullanApril 13, 2025National Post, Politics
The 1,700-Year Quest for a Common Easter

The Council of Nicaea gave Christianity more than a creed — it gave the Church a way to calculate Easter. But unity around the great feast of the Resurrection remains incomplete.

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Christopher McMullanApril 11, 2025National Catholic Register, Church Affairs
What Theodore McCarrick Taught Us About Clerical Corruption

The Temple needed to be cleansed in the time of Caiaphas. It still does. It always will.

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Christopher McMullanApril 7, 2025National Catholic Register, Church Affairs
Playing the new election game of 'who's out today?'

Mark Carney's treatment of disgraced MP Paul Chiang a reflection of Liberals' historic coziness with China

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Christopher McMullanApril 6, 2025National Post, Politics
History repeats itself in the federal election campaign

A Tory leader at odds with the Conservative premiers of Alberta and Ontario. Liberals bringing in a new face and vying for a fourth mandate. It's all happened before

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Christopher McMullanApril 1, 2025National Post, Politics
Notre Dame’s Presidential Commencement ‘Tradition’ More Nuanced Than Some Assume

Since the first presidential speaker at spring commencement in 1960, seven of the 12 presidents in office have not been invited to Notre Dame’s commencement.

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Christopher McMullanMarch 31, 2025National Catholic Register, Church Affairs
Spiritually Toxic News

This Lent, as has increasingly been the case over the last half-dozen years or so, more and more penitents are confessing that they are following the news.

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Christopher McMullanMarch 29, 2025The Catholic Thing, Faith
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