Cambridge MA As you know I contribute one of these reflections just about every two weeks I try to be regular in doing so and for that purpose also try to write the reflection edit it check it and post it all within one hour rsquo s time Readers posting comments mostly kind are adept a

There is no getting around it if you grew up as a Protestant or an Anabaptist Mary is often a confusing figure Not I would say an essentially divisive figure not a troubling figure but confusing The confusion stems from how to accept Mary There is a sense that Roman Catholics say too much a

Most news outlets have their top ten list of news stories for the past year or predictions for the new year so here is my list for the top five news stories from 2008 that will continue to shape the intersection of religion and politics in 2009 1 Pope Benedict XVI rsquo s visit to the United Stat

Try out your crystal ball over at Pontifications Tim Reidy

In these end-of-year days nbsp which the BBC does not call the Octave of the Nativity of Our Lord the broadcaster invites well-known people to guest-edit its flagship radio news program Today This morning it was the turn of my old boss the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murph

From the Associated Press The leader of Maine s Roman Catholics has taken the unusual step of threatening to punish an outspoken advocate for people who were sexually abused by priests possibly by denying him communion Paul Kendrick of Freeport has been banned from the Cathedral of the Immacu

The Israeli reprisal in Gaza is brutal but that does not justify the moral ignorance of protesters in European capitals and even New York City who condemn the Israeli reaction and not the action to which it was a response One protester on Fifth Avenue carried the sign Death to all Juice but his

Here is Michael Paulson of The Boston Globe interviewing the always-interesting always-provocative always-hardworking always generous-with-his-time always-worth-listening-to Richard McBrien the Catholic theologian teaching at Notre Dame nbsp I ve always profited from Father McBrien s wri

Laurie Laurie Goodstein the religion reporter at The New York Times has a fascinating nbsp three-part series on the surge in foreign priests serving in parishes in the United States nbsp There are probably few parishes in the States who have not been touched by this underreported and misunders

There was nothing so vulnerable in the ancient world as the life of a child The same is true in many ways even today a child s life is dependent upon those who will care for that child before the child can even know faith or trust her life is in the hands of others Yet other vulnerabilities

The BBC has the correct headline nbsp on Pope Benedict s curial speech story Pope attacks blurring of gender is far more accurate than all those headlines claiming nbsp that saving gay people is as important as saving the rainforests and similar riffs on Reuters nbsp misleading nbsp -- s

Editorial director Karen Sue Smith reflects on the importance of slowing down during the Christmas season Tim Reidy

I have determined to spend the last week of Advent and the first week of Christmas meditating and reflecting on Edward Hicks rsquo The Peaceable Kingdom Hicks a Pennsylvania Quaker 1780-1849 was an autodidact as a painter although later in life he trained apprentices including the importan

Here s a story about St Joseph the hidden man of Christmas on Slate com What does his story have to say to modern-day believers Plenty For this story I interviewed both Lawrence Cunningham professor of theology at Notre Dame and Pheme Perkins professor of New Testament at Boston Col

The Holy Father rsquo s Ecology of Man speech has garnered a great deal of attention because one sentence in a very long speech made reference to the ways in which human sexuality falls short of the Gospel ideals What rsquo s often expressed and understood with the term lsquo gender rsquo is

Mark s Gospel has been called The Gospel that tells of Jesus who announced the Kingdom of God Certainly the Gospel does tell that story It emphasizes at least for awhile the wondrous deeds of Jesus These are miracles that seem only possible if God does them indeed the conscious hist

From Reuters today VATICAN CITY Reuters - Pope Benedict said on Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction nbsp The Church should also protect man from the destruction of himself A sort of ecology of m

Greg Shemitz a photojournalist just sent us this link to his photos available online on his website of Cardinal Dulles funeral nbsp Mr Shemitz was on assignment for Catholic News Service nbsp Among them are this one of Jesuit priests processing past the casket of Cardinal Dulles nbsp

Rick Warren crashed George and Ali Stephanopoulos rsquo s Christmas party last night Not in the flesh of course but as a topic of conversation Washington rsquo s glitterati could not help themselves With the nation in the throes of a full-fledged economic crisis and with American troops still f