Defending my beliefs with more than just words

The Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land issued a strong condemnation against an early morning arson attack on the Benedictine Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha on the Sea of Galilee on June 18. The council, which is made up of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, the Heads of the Local

‘The hungry nations of the world cry out to the peoples blessed with abundance.’

Americans have less confidence in organized religion today than ever measured before—a sign that the church could be “losing its footing as a pillar of moral leadership in the nation’s culture,” a new Gallup survey finds. In the mid-1970s, nearly seven in 10 Americans said th

Expressions of regret and horror, prayer services and moments of silence across the country followed in the aftermath of a shooting in a historic church in Charleston, S.C. The rampage on June 17 claimed the lives of nine people. Once again the nation faced the grim, inexplicable spectacle of a mass

The greatest obstacle to Christian unity is ‘the spirit of possessiveness.’

For just a few days, Washington’s obsession with the “middle class” was broken.

At the opening of the 68th General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference on May 18, Pope Francis asked bishops not to be “pilots” but rather true pastors. Many times, the pontiff has called for “pastoral bishops, not princes,” using images he had previously employed wh

Nothing NewI found “The Gospel According to the ‘Nones,’” by Elizabeth Drescher (6/8), rather disappointing. The author drew broad generalizations about the alleged “Good Samaritan” spirituality of nones as opposed to the more restrictive “Golden Rule”

Addressing “every person on the planet” in a groundbreaking encyclical, “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis speaks frankly and passionately about the “global environmental deterioration” of “our common home,” appealing “for a new dialogue about how

In a letter to Louise Abbott in 1959, Flannery O’Connor sympathizes with what her correspondent must have been describing as a struggle of faith: “All I would like you to know is that I sympathize and I suffer this way myself.” We may never have known the details or the extent to w

‘Love and Mercy’ artfully reflects the genius, madness and tragedy of Brian Wilson.

A hallmark of Pope Francis’ papacy has been his ability to focus the attention of the church and the world on human beings who live on the margins of society. In no area has he accomplished this more profoundly and effectively than in defending the rights of persons on the move—immigrant

I first listened to the operas of Richard Wagner when I was 11 or 12 years old. I have come to realize that spinning Wagner recordings was more an impish attempt at bravado than evidence of any great love for opera. When I found thick albums of Wagner at the local library and impulsively brought the

Pope Francis accepted the resignations on June 15 of Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee A. Piche of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. In a statement, Archbishop Nienstedt said he hopes his resignation might “give the archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many cha

It will take years to take the full measure of “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis’ new encyclical on the environment, and assess its impact. Pope Leo XIII wrote about the rights of workers in “Rerum Novarum” (1891) in response to the Industrial Revolution, but unions sti

Why didn’t “Laudato Si” include more good news about the environment?

Reading the encyclical we might ask ourselves, where did all that kid common sense go?

In addition to inspiring discussions in parishes homes and major media outlets Pope Francis 39 just published encyclical will also prove to be a gift to Scripture teachers galvanizing as it has questions about the meaning of the early chapters of Genesis and its relationship to science and mode

1. Place women in positions of genuine authority in the church.