Columns Archive

God’s power paradox

One of the great cries of Advent is for God to rend the heavens and come down (Is 64:1), for Him to stir up His mighty power and come to […]

A home for generation woke

“Oh, you’re a millennial.” He said it like a curse word, his voice dripping with sarcasm and contempt. I nodded. “Born in 1989. Full blown, through and through.” I thought […]

The return of the Lord is at hand

First Sunday of Advent Matthew 24:37-44 With this weekend, the Church begins its new liturgical year. In so doing, it also begins to use the “A” cycle of readings at […]

Happy holy days

Is it my imagination, or has the Christmas shopping season (or “holiday shopping season”) extended itself by another few weeks? What we used to call “Black Friday” sales, beginning the […]

Be fruitful and multiply

Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking at a Gates Foundation event in New York, suggested that no well-educated woman would have a large family. “Present me the woman who […]

A talk on the Hill

A couple of weeks ago, I had the distinct privilege of addressing an audience of senators, representatives and Capitol Hill staffers in a beautiful room at the Library of Congress. […]

Christ is the image of God, and our redeemer

Feast of Christ The King Luke 23:35-43 The Second Book of Samuel furnishes the first biblical reading for this feast, marking the close of the Church year. Once, the two […]

Practice peace to prepare for Christmas

By Father Ed Dougherty In his classic News Note “Peace: The Essence of the Christmas Message,” Father James Keller, founder of The Christophers, tells the story of a woman who […]

Fearlessness and the American bishops in Rome

I once knew a Congregationalist minister — Yale Divinity School graduate, decorated World War II chaplain, veteran campaigner for then-unpopular liberal causes — of whom it was said (sometimes by […]

Grandma remembers: the secret of 90

It has become a four-generation tradition to head south of the cities and take in a small-town celebration of fall. Our route winds between soaring bluffs and a shimmering lake. […]

By persevering in faith, the just will be saved

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Luke 21:5-19 The Book of Malachi supplies this weekend’s Liturgy of the Word with its first reading. Actually, Malachi was not the name of the […]

The Catholic Medical Association convened its 88th annual educational conference recently in Nashville, Tennessee. This was the second time I have attended the national conference, and my bride accompanied me […]