Perspective
The fleeing nones
I grew up in a family of seven kids, which I considered a midsized Catholic brood. I knew families that could field entire baseball and even football teams. As a […]
Perspective
The sin of anti-Semitism resurfaces
The world reacted with horror and outrage earlier this year when a town in Poland marked Good Friday with a ritual beating of a Judas effigy. The effigy was crafted […]
Perspective
The emigrant’s brave farewell
We talk a great deal in this country about immigration, too often in language that is hostile or fearful. What we don’t talk about is emigration, the act of leaving […]
Perspective
Do we really believe in the Real Presence?
When Pope Francis recently said that every time we receive Communion, it should be like our first time, it reminded me of a friend’s story. He had left his then-youngest […]
Perspective
How far is too far?
How far would you drive for Mass? I don’t know if anyone has ever done a study of such a pedestrian topic, but it is a question that will become […]
National
Vatican official praises Catholic media for coverage of sex abuse crisis
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CNS) — In a remarkably frank and detailed speech, the Vatican official heading the department charged with reviewing clergy sexual abuse allegations told an assembly of Catholic […]
Perspective
What if every life were precious?
When Alabama’s governor, Kay Ivey, signed the nation’s most restrictive abortion bill into law, she gave this simple explanation. “Every life is precious,” she said. The law has been criticized […]
Perspective
A letter to every young Catholic
Attention Catholic young people, by which I mean everyone under 30: Pope Francis has written you a letter. Called “Christ Is Alive,” it is a historic document in that it […]
Perspective
Scary prayers that are good for you
I have a short list of scary prayers. Scary prayers are prayers where even the very words you say seem to convict you. Most prayers are prayers of petition, prayers […]
Perspective
Where is the Spirit leading us?
In the midst of the current crisis in our Church — with a once-admired cardinal accused of heinous acts, bishops widely judged incapable of policing themselves, investigators poring through Church […]
Perspective
What everybody didn’t know
When the Pennsylvania grand jury issued its report last August chronicling the sexual abuse cases in six Pennsylvania dioceses, everybody thought they knew the whole story. After all, this was […]
Perspective
Recovering intimacy in a lonely world
In the early 1990s, the famed mystery author P.D. James published “The Children of Men.” Set in the year 2021, it describes a dystopian world where the human race had […]