Omar F. A. Gutiérrez

Below is a video of my presentation at Hope College on Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’. Thanks to Hope College and the St. Benedict Forum for their good work and for bringing me up to Holland, Michigan for the talk.

Here is my column in The Catholic Voice  on the church and politics and why we shouldn’t think they are oil and water.

“I would like to continue this month on the U.S. Bishops’ document ‘Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,’ the new version of which came out at the end of 2015. I want to address the question of the church and politics….“

Charity in Truth in “The Catholic Voice”

Here is my column in The Catholic Voice  on this election year and why we should welcome it.

“Happy New Year. We are now in 2016 and find ourselves in an election year, too. We might be tempted to groan about this fact. But I want to invite people to look at this as an opportunity to allow our faith to shape our culture and nation….“

Charity in Truth in “The Catholic Voice”

Here is my column in The Catholic Voice  on some of the changes in the US Bishops document on voting.

“The election is less than a year away, and the United States bishops have released their document ‘Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship’ (FCFC) with updates to reflect the current political climate and issues. I have enjoyed reading it again and, in a sense, for the first time.…“

Charity in Truth in “The Catholic Voice”

Here is my column in The Catholic Voice again on Pope Francis’ Laudato Si and some practical statements by the pope as well as a reminder about a proper spirituality.

“Three months ago in my reflections on ‘Laudato Si’’ I pointed out that we cannot pretend to care for the environment if we do not at the same time protect the most innocent, the unborn….”

Charity in Truth in “The Catholic Voice”

Here is my column in The Catholic Voice again on Pope Francis’ Laudato Si and some examples overseas of environmental degradation.

“Continuing with my reflections on “Laudato Si’,” the encyclical by Pope Francis on the environment, I would like to point out some of what may not be so obvious to us. We as Americans don’t often have a perspective of the whole world. How could we, unless we have the time to research it? And most of us are rightly busy with our families and our schools and parishes.

But without a global perspective, some of what the Holy Father is saying, indeed some of his passion for this issue, may be lost on us. So I’d like to offer some context for the global situation….“

Charity in Truth in “The Catholic Voice”

Here is my column in The Catholic Voice on Pope Francis’ Laudato Si and the connection between how we treat people with how we treat things and vice versa.

“Continuing with the encyclical ‘Laudato Si’,’ Pope Francis laments what he calls our ‘throwaway culture.’ We in America do live in a throwaway culture. The Planned Parenthood videos have shown us just that.

This theme of the Holy Father’s touches upon a truism within Catholic social teaching that has been repeated many times by several popes: there is a direct connection between the way we treat things and the way we treat people….“

Charity in Truth in “The Catholic Voice”

Here is a link to a presentation I gave at our local Seeking Truth Bible Study, or you can watch it below.

If you don’t know Seeking Truth, you just haven’t lived. Founded, led, motivated, organized, sustained, enlivened and otherwise championed by Sharon and Steven Doran, it is a great way to get to know the Scriptures and build community. It’s not just an Omaha thing either. You can take it online and run groups in your own parish. Check it out. Seriously.

Anyway, here is my presentation to the leadership team on the prophets. As I explain, my inspiration for the talk came from teaching on the prophets and Catholic Social Teaching. Doing so gave me an insight as to what it means to be prophetic nowadays, something which can be difficult for the dad, husband, worker bee, gardener, gourmet, freelance writer and living jungle gym.