Jack, Bobby, Ted: Three Kennedy funerals and the progress of liturgical reform
On Nov. 22, 1963, the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church assembled for the second session of the Second Vatican Council voted on the final draft of the “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” (“Sacrosanctum Concilium”). A few hours later President John F. Kennedy was assassina
On Killing Soldiers: Was it legitimate to shoot at Joseph Ratzinger during World War II?
At age 16, Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, was drafted into Hitler’s military. He was assigned to an anti-aircraft unit outside of Munich that targeted Allied bombers, a job Ratzinger described as bringing “many an unpleasantness, particularly for so nonmilitary a person
An Ecclesial Embrace: The historic meeting of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras
The dates of Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to the Holy Land are no accident. Pope Francis intends to visit from May 24 to 26, primarily to commemorate with Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople the 50th anniversary of the meeting between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in Jerusalem in
Taking Liberties: Religious freedom, Obamacare and the rights of American business
Religious freedom, Obamacare and the rights of American business: Ellen K. Boegel’s legal backgrounder on the Hobby Lobby case
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Christians have long written about connection between war and the liturgy.
Letters
Reply All
Writing in the WorldI read with interest “Writers Blocked?” by Kaya Oakes (4/28), an assessment of Catholic writing today. The “Golden Age” writers Thomas Merton, Flannery O’Connor and Walker Percy were read, not because they were Catholic but because they had something
Editorials
Diversity and Education
Increasing economic and ethnic diversity without racial preferences will be difficult.
Faith in Focus
How the feast of the Visitation calls us to service
On the feast of the Visitation we recall yet another dimension of Mary’s response; we honor her spirit of service, or diakonia. Mary’s generous care for Elizabeth anticipates the spirit of service that should be the hallmark of the church, which is sent especially to the poor.
Books
The Mysteries of History
Jeremy Treglown’s approach in ‘Franco’s Crypt’ is microscopic rather than macroscopic.
A Brother Lost
Paula Huston’s ‘A Land Without Sin’ weaves together archeology, political revolution, the demise of the Mayan civilization.
Seeing Nature’s Grandeur
David Pleins ‘Evolving God’ and Elizabeth Johnson, C.S.J.’s, ‘Ask the Beast’ take up the religious themes and sensibilities of Darwin’s work.
Art
The Sacred Heart of Texas: A church inspired by two pope-saints shines in Houston.
In 1959, Pope John XXIII redesignated the Diocese of Galveston as the Diocese of Galveston-Houston, and elevated Houston’s Sacred Heart parish to the unusual status of co-cathedral, shared with the St. Mary cathedral basilica in Galveston. As the population of Houston boomed, more than doubling in the second half of the 20th century, the diocese…
Poetry
Gaza Ghazal
What milk what honey you were promised gall in ZionKiss the weeping wall’s cheek love sows salt in Zion It’s the recurring dream of all &nb
The Word
United by the Spirit
The Acts of the Apostles presents a reverse Babel at Pentecost when the confusion of tongues described in Gn 11 1 ndash 9 is transformed into understanding among the earliest disciples of Jesus who find themselves speaking ldquo other languages rdquo The confusion of tongues at Babel gives to u
The Apprentice Builders
One of the overlooked aspects of Jesus rsquo ascension has to do not with the continuing materiality of the risen Lord or the ldquo whereness rdquo of Jesus rsquo glorified body but with the earthly implications of the ascension for the church Between the apostles rsquo hopeful question ldqu
Columns
Simply Loving
What might it mean for the church to love gay Catholics more deeply?
Current Comment
Current Comment
After years of strain, relations between Ireland and the Vatican are warming up.
Faith
Why you don’t have to love baseball to love ‘Field of Dreams’
The film is a beautiful reminder of the power of faith in things unseen.
How the feast of the Visitation calls us to service
On the feast of the Visitation we recall yet another dimension of Mary’s response; we honor her spirit of service, or diakonia. Mary’s generous care for Elizabeth anticipates the spirit of service that should be the hallmark of the church, which is sent especially to the poor.
We Praise You, O God!: Scripture in contemporary liturgical music
Roc O’Connor, S.J. on the use of Scripture in contemporary liturgical music
Of Other Things
Why you don’t have to love baseball to love ‘Field of Dreams’
The film is a beautiful reminder of the power of faith in things unseen.
Signs Of the Times
After Seleka Raids, Sowing Survival in Bossangoa
On World Hunger Day, seeking to break the cycle of violence and crop shortages in the Central African Republic.
Church Must Increase Hispanic Ministry
Fifty-five percent of all U.S. Catholics under the age of 30 are Hispanic.
News Briefs
When Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople meets Pope Francis in Jerusalem on May 25, one of their main discussion topics will be the “diminishing Christian minorities in the Middle East,” the patriarch told Catholic News Service. • The Catholic bishops’ conf
Vatican Official Offers Fresh Criticism of U.S. Sisters
Cardinal rebukes L.C.W.R.’s futuristic ideas as “opposed to Christian revelation.”
O’Malley: ‘So Much Denial’ on Abuse
The new papal commission for protecting minors from clerical sex abuse will recommend stricter standards for accountability of abusers and those who fail to protect children, and will fight widespread denial of the problem within the church, said Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, O.F.M.Cap., of Bosto
Oklahoma Bishop: Death Penalty ‘Brutal’
A botched three-drug lethal injection protocol left inmate showing signs of pain.
The Living Word
We Praise You, O God!: Scripture in contemporary liturgical music
Roc O’Connor, S.J. on the use of Scripture in contemporary liturgical music
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts