The church must help people recognize "how beautiful, true and good it is to start a family."

The scriptures summon us ldquo Be holy for I the Lord your God am holy rdquo Lv 19 2 The duty is direct and demanding but where do we begin What hope do we have of meeting such a goal Ironically our first glimpse of God rsquo s holiness is the sight of our own brokenness When grace be

The Republican Party got some free mdash and inadvertent mdash rebranding advice this month from the Congressional Budget Office First the CBO estimated that the Affordable Care Act would eventually cause beneficiaries to reduce work hours by the equivalent of 2 million full-time jobs And thi

Behind the ScenesFrom the perspective of a Catholic convert from evangelicalism, I think that “Worship at Willow Creek,” by Laurie Ziliak (2/3), chooses to focus only on the good in this worship style. What I and many others experienced was not all fun and songs.In many evangelical commu

The Jewishness of Jesus has seldom been rendered more clearly in art than in the crucifixion scenes of Marc Chagall.

In a world troubled by violence, the church must serve as a sanctuary for children.

PTSD, normally associated with war zones, is prevalent in violent neighborhoods in the U.S.

A recent pilgrimage to Ikea was a lesson in powerlessness, sin and the meaning of Lent.

I don’t like placing ashes on babies’ foreheads. But I do it.

As some African nations continue or contemplate a legislative clampdown on gay and lesbian people, The Southern Cross, South Africa’s Catholic weekly, urged Catholic Church leaders to do more to confront societal homophobia and laws that it might inspire. In an unsigned editorial published on

A poll by the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision shows Catholics in Asia and Africa, where the church is growing fastest, expressing strong support for church teachings, but divergence among Europeans and Americans. The poll of Catholics in 12 countries showed high approval of Pope Francis but s

Sunday is the contemplative space given outright to help us discover who we really are.

Will the 'Francis effect' improve relations between academics and doctrinal guardians?

The Vatican’s representative at the United Nations told a congressional panel on Feb. 11 that “flagrant and widespread persecution of Christians rages in the Middle East even as we meet.” Archbishop Francis A. Chullikatt has witnessed the violence firsthand. Before taking his post

The Resurrection is the center of my faith. Other Christians may focus more on, say, the Incarnation—how God became human, how God understands us in the most intimate way possible. Others may center their discipleship on the Beatitudes as a template for the Christian life and a guideline for t

A new method of creating versatile stem cells from a relatively simple manipulation of existing cells could further reduce the need for research involving human embryos. Although the process has been tested only in mice, two studies published on Jan. 29 in the journal Nature detailed research showin

A bishop in northwestern Kenya said people are so hungry they are eating wild fruit, roots of trees and dog meat. “Food must reach here soonest to save the people from death,” said Bishop Dominic Kimengich of Lodwar, where most residents are animal farmers and ethnic Turkana. The area ha

Pope Francis met for the third time in late February with his international Council of Cardinals, an eight-member group advising him on the reform of the Vatican bureaucracy and other issues. The Feb. 17-19 meetings focused on financial and bureaucratic matters even as the council was rumored to be

A woman religious and two Catholic peace activists were sentenced to prison for several years for breaking into a Tennessee nuclear weapons facility and defacing its walls in July 2012.Sister Megan Rice, 84, of Washington, a member of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, was sentenced on Feb. 18 to