Magazine

Pope in Brazil Speaks on Discipleship and MissionSpeaking at the opening session at Aparecida, Brazil, on May 13 of a meeting of Latin American and Caribbean bishops, Pope Benedict XVI said the faith has serious challenges to address, because the harmonious development of society and the Catholic id

Global politics can sometimes have unexpected, and very local, side effects. I guess it’s a bit like the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings in the Indian Ocean and causing a tornado in Kentucky. Events that seem remote and impersonal can cause tidal waves in the lives of very small people.

As we enter the fifth year of our nation’s war in Iraq, I am deeply distressed by the state of the American military and by the rate at which our government and the citizenry at large are betraying those who volunteer to serve our country. There is a social contract between a country and those it

My journey from childhood to prison, and my abrupt release from a near-life sentence for growing marijuana, is an unlikely one. I grew up in rural northwestern Kansas as one of eight siblings of Catholic parents. I am proud to say that I have a brother who has been a priest for close to 30 years. H

The recent report of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, Wasting the Best and the Brightest: Substance Abuse at America’s Colleges and Universities, reveals a disturbing ambiance of hedonistic self-indulgence and an alarming public health

A monk I know, who called me while on his way to give a conference to a group of diocesan priests, hoped aloud that one of the younger priests would absent himself from the gathering. “He is so certain of his own corner on the truth and his own absolute allegiance to magisterial authority as he

It would not be easy to forget Sister Lucía, the frail little nun whom I met in a strange and terrible place, the Manicomio de San Lazaro in Quito, Ecuador.