Perspective
Mass in three dimensions once again
Have you started going back to Mass yet? Recently I went to my first Mass in three months. I had been watching Masses livestreamed weekly, but of course it didn’t […]
Perspective
This moment of judgment
I’d be willing to bet that not many of us have watched a man die. Those of us who don’t go to war or work in intensive care units are […]
Perspective
To mask or not to mask
I’ve been a bit puzzled about all the debate and outrage over wearing masks. I know some of it is weirdly ideological, but some of it seems to be a […]
Bishop
Bishops say Our Lady of America apparitions were not supernatural
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, and five other bishops have concluded that alleged apparitions of Our Lady of America — said to have […]
Perspective
An eighth corporal work of mercy
There are strange gifts wrapped in this terrible pandemic. Its horrors are known, even if they were not appreciated early enough by many. Yet this stealth virus has held up […]
Perspective
An opportunity not to be missed
I’d love to be writing about something other than the coronavirus crisis, but it is hard to think of any other event that has so transfixed our attention. It is […]
Perspective
Another infernal betrayal
Dante Alighieri’s “Inferno” is still hell’s bestseller. A masterpiece of medieval poetry and theology since it was published seven centuries ago, the “Inferno” traces the author’s imagined trip through the […]
Perspective
Why we should care about the beloved Amazon
Pope Francis can be stubborn. If Americans are unlikely to care about Ukraine, as our secretary of state reportedly suggested recently, what is the likelihood American Catholics will care about […]
Perspective
Understanding the debate about celibacy
In one of those embarrassing public dust-ups that occasionally afflict our Church, a soon-to-be published book on priestly celibacy was publicized as being co-authored by retired Pope Benedict XVI until […]
Perspective
Finding reason to hope amid the pessimism
My father-in-law, Joseph, was a wonderful guy. An immigrant who passionately loved America, he was hardworking, honest and thrifty. He had a laborer’s hands but a poet’s mind. Joseph had […]
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 […]