As we approach the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council on Dec. 8, I feel as if I may be repeating myself in reviewing some of the documents which are of great importance as we consider our stance as Catholic Christians in the "big small world" we live in today. But as we think of the diversity of our world, and our inclination to think that a "simpler" world society would be better, we must recognize with great pride that our church does, in fact, accept and honor the world as we find it.

The canonization of St. Junípero Serra in Washington, D.C. — the first ever to take place on American soil — has generated, as I'm sure you know, a good deal of controversy. For his defenders, Padre Serra was an intrepid evangelist and a model of Gospel living, while for his detractors, he was a shameless advocate of an oppressive colonial system that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Indians. Even many who typically back Pope Francis see this canonization as a rare faux pas for the Argentine Pontiff. What should we make of all this?

In my July column, I noted an event in St. Louis on the Declaration on Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate, "In Our Age") of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II).

I am happy to pass along some information on another St. Louis event, this one focusing on this same declaration as well as the same Council's Declaration on Religious Freedom (Dignitatis Humanae, "Human Dignity").

Since Aug. 13, when I read a report in The New York Times, I have felt that I need to write about the horrific abuse of women and girls by the "Islamic State" (perhaps better known to us by the acronym ISIS, for "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.")

From time to time during the past few months, yard sale signs have been popping up like mushrooms throughout the neighborhood. It is amazing how people flock to yard sales searching for some great "bargain," even though they don't really need the "object." The truth being known, it does not improve or better their life, and frequently it never gets used. It was a waste of time and money. Yard sales seem to become an addiction for some people!

This Dec. 8, it will have been 50 years since the close of the Second Vatican Council, the most important event in the Catholic Church in the 20th century, and very likely for many centuries into the past and future. Nearly all the Catholic bishops of the world, including our own Bishop William A. O'Connor, attended the four sessions of the Council at St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, from 1962 to 1965.

If Pope Francis's encyclical letter Laudato Si' (Praised Be) had been the only compelling news story of recent days, I would have had plenty to write about.

With tremendous grief, however, we must also turn to the June 17 murders at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.

Two recent news items put me in mind of St. Irenaeus and the battle he waged, 19 centuries ago, against the Gnostic heresy. The first was the emergence of Bruce Jenner as a "woman" named Caitlyn, and the second was a "shadow council" that took place in Rome and apparently called for the victory of a theology of love over John Paul II's theology of the body.

I've just returned from the National Workshop on Christian Unity, an event I attend every year. The most recent Workshop, held this time in Charlotte, N.C., had a distinctly interreligious emphasis. The interreligious input is always welcome. Most people who are active in ecumenism — that is, work for unity among Christians — also find themselves involved in enhancing relations among people of the various religions of the world.

Cardinal Francis George, who died April 17 at the age of 78, was obviously a man of enormous accomplishment and influence. He was a Cardinal of the Roman Church, a past president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the archbishop of one of the largest and most complicated archdioceses in the world, and the intellectual leader of the American Church. A number of American bishops have told me that when Cardinal George spoke at the Bishops' meetings, the entire room would fall silent and everyone would listen.

The cross was, basically, state-sponsored terrorism, and it did indeed terrify people. The great Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero once described a crucifixion but only through a convoluted circumlocution, for he couldn't bring himself to characterize it directly. After putting down the great slave uprising of Spartacus, the Roman government lined the Appian Way with hundreds of crosses so as to dissuade any other would-be revolutionaries.

Resurrection: Every time I come to the Easter celebration, it seems as if this great gift is too great to be appreciated.

All of us experience life as a wearying thing. We work; we expend energy; we feel tired at the end of each day. Our bodies show signs of age, and we are reminded that we are subject to death.

It's time to note one recent event and two upcoming.

First of all, on Sunday, Feb. 8, St. Jude Parish, Rochester, hosted a dialogue session for young Catholics and Muslims, and I was pleased to be an adult guest there. It was a very enjoyable initial session and the young people are looking forward to further opportunities to consider how Islam and Christianity converge and differ. The food was great, too. Thanks to the Muslim adult leaders, and to Dan Frachey and Father Dean Probst of St. Jude.

The blessed ashes no longer are visible, but their message still resonates: you are dust and into dust you shall return; repent and believe the Good News. These exhortations warn of the brevity of life and the impending dangers resulting from the folly of sin. Hopefully they will motivate us to repent; help us to believe the message of love and forgiveness that Jesus proclaimed, and trust in his promise of a new and lasting life.

Many atheists and agnostics today insistently argue that it is altogether possible for non-believers in God to be morally upright. They resent the implication that the denial of God will lead inevitably to complete ethical relativism or nihilism. And they are quick to point out examples of non-religious people who are models of kindness, compassion, justice, etc. In point of fact, a recent article has proposed that non-believers are actually, on average, more morally praiseworthy than religious people. In this context, I recall Christopher Hitchens remark that, all things considered, he would be more frightened of a group of people coming from a religious meeting than a group coming from a rock concert or home from a night on the town. God knows (pun intended) that during the last 20 years we've seen plenty of evidence from around the world of the godly behaving very badly indeed.

Pope Francis continues to be an effective communicator to the world. Over this past month, as we have been reflecting upon the terrorist attacks in Paris, we have certainly been moved to re-assert human rights to freedom of expression. Pope Francis, however, brings up a very important point which must be interpreted in light of the goal which must be before all of us: that we must learn how to communicate effectively, and with love, across religious boundaries.

Christmas has silently faded into history like a melting snowman on a warm sunny day, and the New Year has welcomed us like a sweet grandmother embracing her grandchild after months of separation. By the time we celebrated the feast of the Epiphany, all the lovely Christmas trees and decorations, including the manger scenes were packed away, and most people will likely give little notice, if any, to the coming of the three Wise Men; when Christ reveals himself to the Gentile world.

Daniel Dennett, one of the "four horsemen" of contemporary atheism, proposed in 2003 that those who espouse a naturalist, atheist worldview should call themselves "the brights," thereby distinguishing themselves rather clearly from the dim benighted masses who hold on to supernaturalist convictions. In the wake of Dennett's suggestion, many atheists have brought forward what they take to be ample evidence that the smartest people in our society do indeed subscribe to anti-theist views. By "smartest" they usually mean practitioners of the physical sciences, and thus they point to surveys that indicate only small percentages of scientists subscribe to religious belief.

All of us should be aware of the existence of an event called the "Parliament of the World's Religions." After all, it originated in Illinois.

The first "World's Parliament of Religions" took place Sept. 11-27, 1893, in Chicago, during the great world's fair called the World's Columbian Exposition. According to Wikipedia, "Today it is recognized as the occasion of the birth of formal interreligious dialogue worldwide."

The great British physicist Stephen Hawking has emerged in recent years as a poster boy for atheism, and his heroic struggles against the ravages of Lou Gehrig's disease have made him something of a secular saint. The new bio-pic A Theory of Everything does indeed engage in a fair amount of Hawking-hagiography, but it is also, curiously, a God-haunted movie.

With its two volumes and 4,400 pages, the just-published Norton Anthology of World Religions may seem quite imposing. I am only 100 pages into it, and I am happy to report that it is in fact a friendly guide to the religious heritage of a great proportion of the peoples of the earth.

In preparation for Thanksgiving, the farmer stuffs his flock of turkeys with the most fattening feed, so that they will gain weight; then the cooks meticulously stuff them with well seasoned dressing so they will be tantalizing to all who gather to celebrate, and those who partake, stuff themselves. Thanksgiving seems to be a time for stuffing; not only the turkey but ourselves as well; still many neglect to take time to thank God by gathering for the celebration of Mass, or by some special time in prayer that day.

One of the classical demonstrations of God's existence is the so-called argument from desire. It can be stated in a very succinct manner as follows. Every innate or natural desire corresponds to some objective state of affairs that fulfills it. Now we all have an innate or natural desire for ultimate fulfillment, ultimate joy, which nothing in this world can possibly satisfy. Therefore there must exist objectively a supernatural condition that grounds perfect fulfillment and happiness, which people generally refer to as "God."

Nov. 21, 1964, was a momentous day at the Second Vatican Council, which had begun its work in 1962. Three of its eventual 16 documents were issued that day by Blessed Paul VI in union with all the Catholic bishops of the world. Let us look, from a perspective of 50 years, at two of them: the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, and the Decree on Ecumenism.

The controversies surrounding the recent Extraordinary Synod on the Family have often put me in mind of Cardinal John Henry Newman, the greatest Catholic churchman of the 19th century. Newman wrote eloquently on an extraordinary range of topics, including university education, the play between faith and reason, the nature of papal authority, and the subtle manner in which we come to assent in matters of religion. But the arguments around the Synod compel us to look at Newman's work regarding the evolution of doctrine.

It comes up every three years, and every six years it coincides with a presidential or state election. I'm referring to this Sunday's Gospel passage, Matthew 22: 15-21, in which Jesus taught us to "repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God," and thereby established the principle of separation of church and state.

The midterm report on the deliberations of the Synod on the Family has appeared and there is a fair amount of hysteria all around. John Thavis, a veteran Vatican reporter who should know better, has declared this statement "an earthquake, the big one that hit after months of smaller tremors." Certain commentators on the right have been wringing their hands and bewailing a deep betrayal of the church's teaching. One even opined that this report is the "silliest document ever issued by the Catholic Church," and some have said that the interim document flaunts the teaching of St. John Paul II. Meanwhile the New York Times confidently announced that the church has moved from "condemnation of unconventional family situations and toward understanding, openness, and mercy."

In Judaism, the most solemn time of the year is almost here. Wikipedia tells us: "Rosh Hashanah is a two-day celebration, which begins on the first day of Tishrei. The day is believed to be the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of humanity's role in God's world. Rosh Hashanah customs include sounding the shofar (a hollowed-out ram's horn) and eating symbolic foods such as apples dipped in honey to evoke a 'sweet new year.'" This year Rosh Hashanah ("Head of the Year") begins at sunset on Wednesday, Sept. 24, and continues on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 25 and 26. The new year to be entered is Annum Mundi (Year of the World) 5775, that is, from the beginning of God's creation.