The Church of St. Luke

Bishop Emeritus Frederick Bernard Henry, shown in a 2018 file photo, led the Diocese of Calgary from 1998 to 2017. Henry died on Dec. 3, 2024, at the age of 81. / Credit: Canadian Catholic News file photo

Calgary, Canada, Dec 9, 2024 / 15:50 pm (CNA).

Throughout his career, Bishop Frederick Henry was unafraid to challenge mainstream narratives, often drawing national attention for his positions.

Archbishop Laurent Ulrich presides at the first Mass in the reopened Cathedral of Notre Dame on Dec. 8, 2024. / Credit: EWTN/Screenshot

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 9, 2024 / 15:10 pm (CNA).

The archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, on Dec. 8 celebrated the first Mass during which the altar of the restored Notre Dame Cathedral was consecrated.

A painting of Franciscan missionary Pedro de Gante with Juan Diego, whom the friar baptized along with Diego’s wife in 1525. / Credit: Jerónimo de Mendieta, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2024 / 14:10 pm (CNA).

Many people know the story of St. Juan Diego but are less familiar with the Franciscan missionary who baptized him.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops headquarters in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2024 / 13:40 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on Monday launched a campaign urging Catholics to contact outgoing President Joe Biden and ask him to commute the death sentences of the 40 men currently on federal death row to life in prison. 

“President Biden has an extraordinary opportunity to advance the cause of human dignity by commuting all federal death sentences to terms of imprisonment and sparing the lives of the 40 men currently on federal death row,” the bishops wrote on a webpage that provides a contact form for Biden. 

The bishops of the United States have, as a body, been calling for an end to the federal death penalty since 1980 when they released a statement calling for its abolition, just a few years after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed executions to resume in the country. Biden, a Catholic, called for an end to the use of the federal death penalty as a candidate for president, but that marked a departure from his previous political positions and actions. 

The federal death penalty has been applied relatively sparingly since being reinstated in 1988. Just 16 people have been put to death by the federal government — 13 during the first Trump administration — compared with nearly 1,600 by the states.

In their 1980 statement, the U.S. bishops “outlined concerns with the death penalty that remain relevant today,” the petition page notes, including that the death penalty “extinguishes possibilities for reform and rehabilitation; the imposition of capital punishment involves the possibility of mistakes; the legal imposition of capital punishment in our society involves long and unavoidable delays; carrying out the death penalty brings with it great and avoidable anguish for everyone involved; and that capital punishment is carried out in an unfair and discriminatory manner.”

The USCCB petition follows a similar call last month from Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN), an advocacy group that opposes the death penalty, which urged Biden to commute the sentences before leaving office in light of the upcoming jubilee year in the Catholic Church. 

This is not the first time in recent years that the bishops have called for an end to the federal death penalty. In 2021, in the face of a rising number of federal executions taking place, the bishops called for an end to the federal death penalty and for Biden to commute federal death sentences to terms of imprisonment. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting a 2018 update promulgated by Pope Francis, describes the death penalty as “inadmissible” and an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (No. 2267).

The context for the bishops’ most recent petition is the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who strongly favors capital punishment and previously oversaw the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which resumed federal executions after a hiatus of more than 15 years, a decision that led to an outcry from many Catholics including the U.S. bishops. 

All told, 13 inmates were executed in the final six months of Trump’s first term, including Lisa Montgomery, who murdered Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Missouri in 2004 in order to steal her unborn baby. Montgomery was the first woman to be executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years. 

In July 2021, after Biden took office, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a moratorium on federal executions while the Department of Justice conducted a review of its policies and procedures to ensure the death penalty is being applied “fairly and humanely.”

Despite overseeing the halting of new executions, the Biden administration has sought to uphold the death sentences of several prisoners already convicted, including the 2013 Boston Marathon bomber. 

The Biden administration also pursued the death penalty for the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooter, who was handed a capital sentence in 2023. The administration is also still actively pursuing the death penalty for Payton Gendron, the then-18-year-old man who in 2022 killed nearly a dozen Black shoppers at a Tops Friendly Market grocery store in Buffalo, New York. His trial is expected to take place during the next Trump administration.

null / Credit: Ariya J/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2024 / 13:10 pm (CNA).

In the face of growing popularity of euthanasia throughout Canada, the province of Alberta is seeking citizen input on “oversight of medical assistance in dying.”

The Boston Children’s Museum is one of the participating museums in a program that provides free access to some of the city’s most famous museums twice a month to K–12 students — including, in a recent policy change, Catholic school students. / Credit: Tim Pierce, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Boston, Mass., Dec 9, 2024 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

Boston’s mayor is planning to include students at Catholic schools in a program that provides free access to some of the city’s most famous museums twice a month — a change in policy from earlier in the year.

Mayor Michelle Wu announced the shift earlier this week.

“If you’re a K–12 student and you live in Boston, you and two guests will be able to visit nine of Boston’s most iconic and inspiring spaces for free the first and second Sunday of every month,” Wu said in a video posted Wednesday.

The current program, which Wu announced in January, allows students in Boston public schools to visit six museums free of charge on the first and second Sunday of the month with up to three family members. But it excludes students in Catholic schools, home-schoolers, and other students not in the city’s public school system.

The new version of the program, called Boston Family Days, is scheduled to begin in early January 2025, which is an election year in the city.

The current free-Sundays program, estimated to cost $1 million, is funded partly by the city through federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 money and partly by donors, including Amazon, nonprofit foundations, and individuals. 

Each museum also contributes, because the funds provided by the city don’t cover the full admission fee, said Carole Charnow, president and chief executive officer of Boston Children’s Museum.

“It’s great news that the Boston Public Schools’ Sundays program can be expanded to include all of the children of Boston, including Catholic schools, private schools, charter schools, and METCO,” Charnow told CNA by telephone Friday, referring to the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, which enables minority students to attend public schools in suburban towns. 

“And we are grateful to the mayor for her leadership in founding and developing this program, which brings all of the cultural riches of Boston to Boston schoolchildren, many of whom have not had the opportunity to visit before,” she said. 

Between Feb. 4 and Oct. 13 of this year, Charnow told CNA, 6,429 people visited Boston Children’s Museum through the city’s free public schools Sundays program, of whom 41% said they had never been to the museum before. 

She said Boston public schools contact every family in their own language every Friday before one of the free Sundays to invite them to participate. 

Other museums in the program are the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Franklin Park Zoo, the Museum of Science, the Institute of Contemporary Art, New England Aquarium, the Museum of African American History, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts. 

No Catholic school students at start 

Wu came under fire in some quarters earlier this year for limiting the free-museums program to public school students. 

Two members of the Boston City Council, Erin Murphy and Ed Flynn, introduced a resolution on Feb. 28 calling for the program to include “ALL Boston families, regardless of what school their children attend.” The resolution noted that there are “13,000 Boston children who attend charter schools, nearly 7,000 Boston children who attend parochial or private schools, more than 3,000 Boston children who attend METCO, and 273 Boston children are home-schooled.” 

“Let’s give them the same opportunity as every other family does. Why are they being penalized?” Flynn said during the city council meeting Feb. 28. 

There are more than 45,000 students in the Boston public schools, and Wu has argued that she needed to determine the cost of the free-admission program before considering expanding it to students who aren’t in the city’s school system. 

The mayor and all members of the Boston City Council are Democrats, but there are divisions. Wu and most of the city councilors are progressives, while Murphy and Flynn are often described as centrists. 

Flynn, son of former Boston mayor Ray Flynn, is widely seen as a possible challenger against Wu in the city’s September 2025 preliminary election for mayor. 

The mayor’s press office did not respond to a request for comment by deadline Friday. Neither did spokespersons for Flynn or Murphy. 

Catholics respond 

Eileen McLaughlin, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Boston, thanked the donors and the mayor for including students in Catholic schools in the free-museums program next year. 

“The Archdiocese of Boston Catholic Schools Office is excited to celebrate the success of the initial pilot program and grateful to all of the benefactors who made it possible for the expansion of the program to include students in Boston Catholic Schools and to Mayor Wu and her team for recognizing Boston’s museums as a learning space for our students and their families,” McLaughlin told CNA on Friday by email through a spokesperson. 

C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, praised city councilors Flynn and Murphy for what he called “their defense of the rights of Catholic school students in the city of Boston.” 

He called Wu’s decision this week to include students in Catholic schools and other students in the free-museums program “a belated but nonetheless appropriate redress of an initial injustice.” 

Doyle noted that a majority of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years have tended to grant religious freedom claims, as the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, reported in December 2022.

“At a time when the U.S. Supreme Court has found that the denial of neutral public benefits to the students and parents of religious schools is unconstitutional, the Wu administration’s exclusion policy was, at best, tone-deaf, and almost certainly, unlawful. It would not have survived a court challenge,” Doyle said in a written statement.

The new version of the museums program is scheduled to run from January 2025 until December 2026. To participate, families need to fill out an online form to receive a program pass from the city.

A bridge over the Mississippi River near St. Louis. / Credit: Checubus/Shutterstock

St. Louis, Mo., Dec 9, 2024 / 05:00 am (CNA).

“Immaculate” is not a word most people would use to describe the Mississippi River’s famously muddy waters. But Father Jacques Marquette was not most people.

The Jesuit explorer, who came from France as a missionary to Canada in 1666, was one of the first Europeans to name the Mississippi, which he explored and mapped with his companion Louis Joliet beginning in 1673. And the name he gave to this vital artery of North America was “The River of the Immaculate Conception.”

The entrustment of this mighty waterway — one of the largest and most important rivers in the world — to the Virgin Mary was part of the French Jesuits’ mission to evangelize the Native Americans of the area, which by all accounts they did, not with violence but with fellowship and respect.

French missionary activity in North America was driven by great devotees to Mary, like Marquette, who had a vision of the meeting of two civilizations — European and Native American — under the Catholic faith, rather than a conquest of the land, said James Wilson, a professor of humanities at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

“They set out on their canoes entrusting themselves entirely to God’s grace, entrusting themselves entirely to Mary as the Immaculate Conception, and they didn’t seek to build lasting monuments to their conquests or to plant flags,” noted Wilson, author of a seven-part poem called “River of the Immaculate Conception.”

“They sought primarily to enter as agents of grace among the Indians and to live with them, preach to them, and enter into communion with them.”

Of course, the Mississippi today bears its original, Native-given name, which roughly translates to “great waters.” But Wilson said far from being a footnote in history, Marquette’s consecration of the Mississippi endures as a testament to how God’s grace was already working in North America. Nearly two centuries later, in 1846, the bishops of the now United States declared Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, as the patroness of the country.

The church on Immaculate Conception River

Though forgotten by most, the “River of the Immaculate Conception” endures in the memories of one community in particular: the congregation at the Immaculate Conception Chapel in Kaskaskia, Illinois. 

Kaskaskia was, at one time and in some ways, the center of the Mississippian universe. The now-tiny hamlet, located on the river, predates the historic riverside metropolises of New Orleans to the south and St. Louis to the north. Known at one time as the “Grand Village,” Kaskaskia was a prosperous nexus of trade for Natives and French trappers alike. The town of 1,900 people was the logical — and in some ways the definitive — place for Catholic missionaries to use as their evangelical hub. 

Emily Lyons, the historian at the Immaculate Conception Chapel in Kaskaskia, told CNA that the church’s founder, Marquette, had an “absolute devotion to the Immaculate Conception.” He entrusted anything and everything he could to Mary’s care.

Marquette founded the mission at Kaskaskia on Easter Sunday in 1675 and died later that year.

Since that time, the church dedicated to Mary in Kaskaskia has endured as a remarkable testament to God’s grace. Lyons said since the earliest days, when the church was a simple structure of upright logs, the congregation has “worn out about five different buildings.”

The island on which Kaskaskia sits is extremely prone to flooding, and the church has had to be moved several times over the years. The current brick church dates to 1894 and endured significant damage in the major Mississippi floods of 1993. The next year, the Diocese of Belleville designated it a chapel. Today, the once-thriving village of Kaskaskia only has about two dozen residents.

Though no longer a parish, Immaculate Conception Chapel still attracts many visitors and worshippers. Lyons said every year on or around the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, the community has a celebratory Mass whereby they sing Marian hymns translated into the Algonquin language. The liturgy has attracted many Native American Catholics over the years, she said.

The congregants also hold a procession and reenact a purported miracle that occurred at the church many years ago, whereby a young Native woman found lilies growing near the church — despite the prohibitive winter cold — and brought them inside as an offering for Mary.

God’s grace in America

Unlike the Spanish, whose conquest of North America was often marked by brutality, the French entered with “relative peacefulness” and largely respected the humanity of the Natives, Wilson said. Many of the Natives were subsequently converted and incorporated Christianity into their way of life.

To meditate on this, Wilson said, is to reconceive of the United States not as a wild frontier later tamed by man but as “a stage where God’s grace is the first actor.” The French Jesuits, through their devotion to prayer and to the devout life, were attuned to this reality, Wilson said.

“To consecrate the Mississippi River as the ‘River of the Immaculate Conception’ is not to plant a flag or to lay conquest. It’s rather to recognize that this vast, open continent must, objectively speaking, be defined primarily not by what any human being does but by the actions of God through his grace,” Wilson said.

“Even when Christians try to talk about history, they talk as though only humans have acted in history and don’t consider that God is always the primary author of every action, and God’s grace is the most dynamic agent of everything in history.”

This article was first published on Dec. 4, 2022, and has been updated.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Theology should serve as a guiding companion for those seeking meaning and truth, particularly during life's pivotal moments, Pope Francis said, calling on theologians and theology faculties to expand their outreach.

Speaking to participants in a conference on the future of theology organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the pope asked that the discipline be made "accessible to all," particularly those engaging with theological questions during middle age.

"Middle age is a special time in life," when, upon achieving greater stability in one's work and personal life, "failures are painfully felt and new questions arise as youthful dreams fade," he said Dec. 9.

In response to such situations people "can feel abandoned or even at an impasse -- a mid-life crisis -- and sense a need to renew their quest, however tentatively, perhaps even with a helping hand," he said. "Theology can be that guide on the journey."

Pope Francis asked that theology programs make adjustments to accommodate people interested in advancing their studies in middle age.

"Please, if any of these people knock at the door of theology, of the schools of theology, may they find it open," he asked the scholars. "Make sure that these women and men find in theology an open house, a place where they can resume their journey, a place where they can seek, find and seek again."

The international congress, titled "The Future of Theology: Legacy and Envisioning," was taking place at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome Dec. 9-10. The program included sessions addressing themes such as the geographical and cultural diversity of theology; the integration of non-theological perspectives such as music, literature and science; and theology's role within society, the church and the world.

Participants included theologians, academics and artists from various global contexts, with contributions highlighting interdisciplinary approaches and local theological traditions.

Reflecting on the current state of theology, the pope stressed the need to expand the role of women in academic theology: "There are things that only women understand, and theology needs their contribution."

"An all-male theology is an incomplete theology," he said. "We still have a long way to go in this direction."

Pope Francis also expressed his desire that theology "help to rethink how to think" and to help society "move beyond simplification."

"Reality is complex; challenges are varied; history is full of beauty and at the same time marred by evil," he said, explaining that a failure to engage with such complexity often results in a tendency to simplify ideas.

"Simplification, however, mutilates reality," he said. "It gives rise to empty and unilateral thinking, and it generates polarization and fragmentation."

The pope said one "antidote" to simplification could be found in developing cross-disciplinary approaches to theological reflection, such as studying theology in conjunction with philosophy, literature, the arts, mathematics, physics, history, law, politics and economics.

"By helping to rethink how to think, theology will once again shine forth as it deserves, in the church and in the various cultures, helping each and all in the pursuit of truth," he said.

Pope Francis said that the purpose of theology is not to draw attention to itself or its practitioners, rather "it works quietly and humbly so that the light of Christ and his Gospel can emerge."

"All theology is born of friendship with Christ and love for his brothers, his sisters and his world," he said, "this world, at once magnificent and tragic, filled with overwhelming beauty but also great suffering."

Father Chris Alar, MIC, provincial superior of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy Province of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. / Credit: Marians of the Immaculate Conception

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception is “key to everything,” according to Father Chris Alar, MIC, provincial superior of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy Province of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception.

Alar appears in the new Marian docudrama “I Am the Immaculate Conception.” The film, produced and directed by Michal Kondrat in association with the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, will be released by Fathom Events in theaters on Dec. 12, 14, and 17. 

In the film, a variety of experts, in addition to Alar, analyze Greek texts of the Scriptures as well as the dogma of the Immaculate Conception to interpret and reveal Mary’s extraordinary role in God’s divine plan of salvation for the world.

“The Immaculate Conception is the key to everything. Everything. And it’s the least understood of almost all Catholic teaching,” Alar said in an interview with CNA.

The solemnity of the Immaculate Conception was established by Pope Pius IX in 1854 with the papal encyclical Ineffabilis Deus. In this encyclical, Pope Pius IX solidified the long-held belief by the Catholic Church that Mary was conceived free from original sin. She was granted this extraordinary privilege because of her unique role in history as the mother of God. 

“For centuries nobody questioned the Immaculate Conception. It was always a part of the Church from the earliest centuries,” Alar explained. 

He pointed out that even the fathers of the Protestant Reformation, including Martin Luther and John Calvin, all accepted the Immaculate Conception of Mary. 

“The only reason that sometimes we have defined dogmas is because of heresy, or if the culture starts rejecting a given truth that wasn’t defined as dogma but was always accepted. And the Immaculate Conception was always accepted and all of a sudden they started to sway away from that …,” Alar explained. “That’s why she [the Catholic Church] formally defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception — to say this is the truth, no more swaying from it, no more rejecting it.”

Alar shared that the teaching on the Immaculate Conception is so important because “Mary’s living proof that we can be holy and immaculate.”

“The Bible states that we all must become holy and immaculate,” he added. “The Bible states nobody will enter into heaven that is not holy and immaculate. So, at some point, you and I and every other living human has got to become holy and immaculate or we do not have eternal salvation.”

The priest explained that God makes us holy and immaculate in one of three ways: After we die in purgatory or while alive, as is the case with canonized saints. The third way, Alar said, was done one time and it was done before the person was born — this was the case with Mary.

“If God can do it after we die and he can do it in this life, which nobody argues, why in the world do we not think he has the power to do it before somebody’s born?”

“And the reason he had to do that with Mary is because Mary could have no stain ever on her soul to be the vessel by which God came to this world,” he said.

While there are several passages in Scripture that defend this dogma, Alar highlighted one in particular — Genesis 3:15.

“Genesis 3:15 says between the woman and the serpent there will be complete enmity. That means complete and radical opposition to each other,” he explained. “If Mary had even the slightest stain of sin, even the tiniest little sin, that would mean she was at least partially under the sway of Satan. Whenever I sin or you sin or anybody sins, we are partially under the sway of Satan no matter how small … If Mary had any sin, even original sin, that would mean she was at least partially under the sway of Satan. And if that’s the case, there would be a lie in Genesis 3:15.”

“It says complete and radical opposition. Complete meaning full. That’s what enmity means. So, if she had even the slightest stain of sin, there could not be complete enmity between her and the serpent … So, it is scriptural.”

Alar said he hopes this docudrama will help spread the message about the dogma on the Immaculate Conception and that Catholics will fall “in love with their faith” again.

“Catholics need to see this movie because if they don’t fully understand the importance of the Immaculate Conception, or they don’t fully love the Church with all their minds, souls, hearts, and strength, then they need to understand better why the Church teaches what she does and once they do understand it better, they’ll love their faith more.”

The contemplative Sisters of the Monastery of Bethlehem in Livingston Manor, New York, support themselves by offering their hand-painted chinaware and other unique gifts for sale. / Credit: Monastery of Bethlehem

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 8, 2024 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Many monasteries and communities of religious brothers and sisters depend on proceeds from the sale of their products to sustain their lives of prayer and service. These days, most have online gift shops that will ship your purchases to arrive before Christmas.

Here’s a guide to some of our favorite handmade gifts to give and receive.

Fudge and candy

Trappistine Candy, Mount St. Mary’s Abbey: The nuns of Mount St. Mary’s Abbey in Wrentham, Massachusetts, have boxes of handmade fudge, chocolate, and almond brittle in stock, ready to send to your loved ones this Christmas. Each 1-pound box is $13, and for an extra 50 cents, the sisters will include a festive red bow.

Monk Bakery Gifts, Monastery of the Holy Spirit: Monks in Conyers, Georgia, make their famous fudge with premium chocolate and real butter. Try a 12-ounce gift box for $15. And for a taste of Georgia, try their Southern Touch fudge, “made with real peach morsels, pecans, and a touch of peach brandy.”

Monastery Candy, Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey: These contemplative nuns in Dubuque, Iowa, are known for their delicious caramels, which they make by hand to support their way of life. A 9-ounce box of chocolate-covered caramels sells for $15.55.

Monastery Creamed Honey, Holy Cross Abbey: The monks at Our Lady of the Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville, Virginia, support themselves financially through their own labor, a characteristic of the Cistercian Order’s way of life. Their 100% natural Monastery Creamed Honey, locally sourced in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, makes a great gift. A set of four 10-ounce tubs includes natural-, cinnamon-, almond-, and brandy-flavored honey and sells for $34.95. Add some delicious chocolate truffles to the order for a sure-to-be-appreciated Christmas gift.

Cookies

Clarisa Cookies, Capuchin Poor Clare Sisters: The Capuchin Poor Clare nuns make their famous butter cookies from their monastery in Denver. The “Clarisas” come in a beautiful gift box featuring an image of St. Clare and sell for $18 for a 1.5-pound box.

Monks’ Biscotti, Abbey of the Genesee: The Trappist monks of the Abbey of the Genesee have been baking from their monastery in western New York since 1953. As their website explains: “The bakery supports the monastery’s primary mission, which is to pray for the world.” The twice-baked biscotti is a popular item, which makes a great gift basket when combined with monk-made coffee and a mug. A bundle of four boxes of biscotti in a variety of flavors sells for $33.99. 

Springerele Christmas cookies, Sisters of St. Benedict: The Benedictine religious sisters are known for their Springerele cookies, a traditional German treat with an “Old World” charm. A package of six cookies, each bearing a different, intricate design, sells for $10. 

Coffee

Mystic Monk Coffee, Carmelites Monks of Wyoming Monastery: The Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel live a cloistered life in the Rocky Mountains in the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming. They help support themselves through Mystic Monk Coffee, which they roast in small batches. The website CoffeeReview.com ranks their coffee among the highest of the coffees it reviews. A 12-ounce bag of their most popular flavor, Jingle Bell Java, sells for $12.95 at the EWTN Religious Catalogue. Visit their website for more coffee selections.

Fruitcake

Brandy-dipped fruitcake, New Camaldoli Hermitage: With all due respect to your grandmother, this is not your grandmother’s fruitcake. The monks of New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California, offer a fruitcake soaked in brandy and aged for three months. It “has converted many a fruitcake ‘atheist,’” according to its creators. Order a 1-pound fruitcake for $27.98.

Kentucky Bourbon Fruitcake, Monks of the Abbey of Gethsemani: At their monastery in New Haven, Kentucky, Trappist monks offer a 20-ounce Kentucky Bourbon Fruitcake along with a jar of Trappist Apricot-Pineapple preserves and a jar of Trappist Quince Jelly, which makes a lovely Christmas gift for $33.50.

Beer

Birra Nursia, Benedictine Monks of Norcia: In 2012, a community of Benedictine monks revived the order’s ancient beer-making tradition at their 16th-century monastery in Nursia, the birthplace of St. Benedict. Tragically, four years later, a devastating earthquake struck, seriously damaging their monastery and threatening their way of life. Today, their monastery is open again thanks to money raised in part from the beer they make and sell and export to the United States and elsewhere. Beer in 750-milliliter (25-ounce) bottles is available at their U.S. online store for $15.99 each.

Handmade Christmas-themed gifts

Christmas Boutique, Monastery of Bethlehem: The contemplative Sisters of the Monastery of Bethlehem in Livingston Manor, New York, support themselves by offering their hand-painted chinaware and other unique gifts for sale. This Christmas their online shop features several Christmas-related items that would make wonderful gifts. 

A beautiful hand-carved Nativity, made in the sisters’ monastery in Mougères, France, includes Joseph, Mary, the baby Jesus, and a wooden manger, and sells for $110. This is a great value for a keepsake that is sure to be passed down from generation to generation. Or why not come bearing the gift of myrrh this Christmas with an attractive tin of imported incense ($56)? Also available: a pack of five Christmas greeting cards, hand-calligraphed by the sisters and duplicated on fine paper. Each card features a mystery of the lives of Jesus and Mary.

Gifts from the Holy Land

Holy Land gifts, Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America: The Franciscan friars based at their monastery in Washington, D.C., are dedicated to supporting and protecting the sacred sites and people of the Holy Land. They sell products made by artisans in the Holy Land to help their businesses so they can continue to live in the land of their forefathers. Among the gifts at the Holy Land gift shop are hand-painted ceramic candle holders made by a young artist in Bethlehem; olive wood Nativity sets, crosses, and rosaries; and olive oil soap. Visit the Holy Land Gift Shop here. 

Soaps and candles

Cloister Shoppe, Summit Dominicans: The nuns from the Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, New Jersey, live a life of prayer through Eucharistic adoration and dedication to the rosary. To support this way of life they create handmade candles and skin-care products, which they sell at their Cloister Shoppe. Create your own Christmas gift bag of two bars of soap, a hand cream, a jar candle, a face moisturizer, and a handmade rosary made from olive wood beads from the Holy Land for $50. 

Throw in a pair of Bayberry Christmas Eve Tapers for $18 to give your holiday table a festive glow.