Secrecy feeds into distrust that already corrodes our election system

Another highly significant U.S. appointment from Pope Francis

When you first see the full 46-question survey from Rome you can rsquo t help but wonder whether the leaders of the church actually want to hear from anyone And I mean anyone mdash people in the pews professional church folk clergy religious even other bishops Because as we talked about yest

Pope Francis 39 s Sunday Angelus address on the Transfiguration offered these hopeful words Jesus rsquo way always leads us to happiness do not forget this Jesus rsquo way always leads to happiness There will always be a cross and trials in the midst but in the end it always leads to happin

If an academic pedigree is an indication the hierarchy of the U S bishops took a big step forward with the promotion of Auxiliary Bishop Robert W McElroy of San Francisco to Bishop of San Diego on March 3 News of the appointment was broken by blogger Rocco Palmo March 2 The 61-year-old prelate

An interview with the Archbishop of Washington, D.C.

'We are all masters, professors of self-justification.'

As the Vatican prepares for the Synod of Bishops on the Family Oct 4 to 25 various individuals and groups are offering input on issues they want the synod to address I asked several U S Catholic pastors and other experts to note issues on which people go to clergy for help Most emphasized famil

Last Friday I wrote an overview about the surveys that all the dioceses of the world are doing right now in preparation for next October rsquo s Synod on the Family For perhaps the first time ever a pope has invited the entirety of the faithful to be an essential part of the church rsquo s discern

Popes since Leo XIII have supported workers' associations.

This is the thirteenth entry in the Bible Junkies Online Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles The first entrycovered some of the major critical technical and background issues that will concern us as we read through and comment on the Acts The second post found here considered the prologue to

The Bhagavad Gita in Lent: ascent into blinding darkness, blinding light

A prominent Syrian Christian political leader has called for U.S.-led coalition forces to use airstrikes to aid fellow Christian and Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State militants following reports of flagrant abductions and church burnings in northwest Syria."There is a need for immediate a

Catholic officials in Latvia are trying to stay out of the region's ideological war with neighboring Russia."Latvia is home to a large Russian population and there are Russian-speakers in the Catholic Church. We're sensitive to historical animosities here, which could be reignited and u

On Feb 26 Father Theodore Hesburgh the longest serving president of Notre Dame University one the most influential priests in nbsp the history of the American church passed away at the age of 97 He was known among many other things as an innovator in Catholic higher education nbsp During his

ldquo Drew wait up how are you rdquo The voice shouted to me as I was leaving a burial at Notre Dame rsquo s Holy Cross cemetery The burial was for Fr Bill Lewers C S C a former provincial of the Congregation of Holy Cross and my predecessor once-removed as director of the bishops rsquo c

Two Syrian-born patriarchs separately urged the international community to work together to address the crisis in Syria and the region.Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham, speaking to Catholic News Service on Feb. 26 from the patriarchate in Damascus, Syria, said "it is shocking that

The River Thames froze in January of 1649 nbsp The King asked Thomas Herbert the Parliamentarian official attending him to dress him in two shirts lest the rabble watching him die think that he shivered from cowardice Charles insisted ldquo I fear not death Death is not terrible to me bl

The University of Notre Dame website went dark on Feb. 26; it’s usually lively front page replaced by an image of Father Theodore Hesburgh and a quote from the same: “I never wanted to be anything but a priest, which is in itself a great and unearned grace. I hope to live and die a pries