Columns Archive

On the truest source of our dignity Default Thumbnail
Perspective

On the truest source of our dignity

One of our deeper wounds is that we tend to doubt our dignity, especially in times of trouble. We look to human being who are fickle for a sense of […]

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Perspective

How to intimately learn Catholicism

Fifteen years after Richard Louv’s bestseller “The Last Child in the Woods” was published, it is more relevant than ever. I’m fascinated by his insights on the “nature-deficit disorder” ailing […]

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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 […]

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The Sunday Gospel

God provides abundantly and completely through Jesus

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew 14:13-21 The last and third section of the Book of Isaiah is the source of this weekend’s first reading. The first section of Isaiah […]

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Perspective

Laughing over God’s good plans

Andy was my sister’s friend. I’d see him from time to time when I came home from college. Nice kid. One summer my parish needed an interim youth minister, so […]

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Perspective

Language — veiling or unveiling moral truth?

To sanction or encourage certain wrongful actions, it is often necessary to manipulate language. The plain meaning of words can get in the way of convincing others they should tolerate […]

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Perspective

A greater tragedy

Many have commented on how unfortunate it was that it took the murder of George Floyd and the callous, deadly harassment of other Black men to bring about an acknowledgment […]

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The Sunday Gospel

Seek the kingdom of God, and treasure it beyond all else

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew 13:44-52 The First Book of Kings is the source of this weekend’s first reading. As might be supposed, the two books of Kings deal […]

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Perspective

Living with heart failure

The most common reason to be admitted to a hospital in the United States after age 65 is heart failure. The initial symptoms at presentation may be acute or more […]

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The Sunday Gospel

Choosing God as we live with human limitations

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary time Matthew 13:24-43 The Book of Wisdom provides this weekend’s first reading. Wisdom is the name not only of this book of the Old Testament, but […]

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A more human society

Two approaches to racism

It is clear where the Catholic Church stands on racism. The U.S. bishops’ document for Catholic voters, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” has long condemned acts of racism as “violations […]

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Perspective

Martin Luther King Jr. and the religious motivation for social change

A principal reason why the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was so successful both morally and practically was that it was led largely by people with a […]