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 […]
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 […]