Perspective
Caught, not taught
“Mom, you too slow. I do it.” The almost 3-year-old began to say the Hail Mary, complete with a little head bow at the name Jesus and a profoundly loud […]
Perspective Archive
Perspective
Tragedies in human medical experimentation
Between 1932 and 1972, a series of highly unethical medical studies were performed on a group of 400 African Americans by doctors from the U.S. Public Health Service. Officially referred […]
Perspective
Faith allows us to see who Jesus is
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew 16:13-20 The first section of the Book of Isaiah provides this weekend with its first reading. The author of this section of Isaiah lived […]
Perspective
Mary: queen mother of our souls
Mother of Jesus is one of the most common titles given to Mary. It holds the basic truth of her identity but is also the key to an often-forgotten, feast […]
Perspective
Let action speak
In a previous column, I spoke of the shame and scourge of inaction as a tragedy greater than the racial injustice and brutality we have witnessed. As a counterpoint, this […]
Columns
Making the most of masking, Catholic style
Cloth face masks: They’re the unexpected fashion trend of 2020. We’re making them, we’re buying them, we’re wearing them (hopefully). TV news reporters and members of Congress have such perfectly […]
A more human society
Catholics in America
“A state need not subsidize private education. But once a state decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.” So said the Supreme […]
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 […]
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 […]
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
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 […]
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 […]