Speaking of Faith: How should the church talk about what it means to be a Catholic family?
It is no small challenge to speak about “the family in America” given family diversity in this country. It is possible, however, to speak generally about the forces acting on families, and some of their effects within households, in light of the coming deliberations at the Synod of Bisho
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
It may take a dramatic divine gesture to get the world to act on climate change.
Editorials
The N.F.L. Fumbles
Professional football must take an uncompromising stand against violence toward women.
Faith in Focus
The joy of having loud and messy kids at Mass
“If you are distracted by a little kid being a little kid you are not focused on what’s holy. Little kids are holy. Let it be.”
Books
Siblings and Rivals
‘Brothers,’ by George Howe Colt
Made in the U.S.A.
‘What Is an American Muslim?” by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im
Planning Family
‘Sex, Violence, and Justice,’ by Aline Kalbian
Theater
Still ‘Fantastick’: Returning to the world’s longest-running musical
In the late 1950s, Broadway and Off Broadway theater had become a bit grim. The major hits of the era presented a rather pessimistic view of life, especially of the family: the home as prison (“A Raisin in the Sun,” “The Miracle Worker”), monster parents (“Gypsy”)
The Word
Invitation to the Feast
There is no more compelling image for the city of God than that of the banquet drawing as it does on the common experiences of good food and drink I remember the cities I have visited by the food I ate in them so this picture of the feast resonates at a deep human level…
Columns
When in Rome
Seeing Rome, our faith and a disembodied arm through eyes of two young nephews.
Current Comment
Current Comment
Lawsuit in Baton Rouge, La., challenges the confidentiality of confessional seal.
Faith
The joy of having loud and messy kids at Mass
“If you are distracted by a little kid being a little kid you are not focused on what’s holy. Little kids are holy. Let it be.”
Of Other Things
Paradise Lost?
Augustine’s vision of life before the Fall looks a lot like world in which ‘The Giver’ opens.
Reply All
Reply All
False Mercy“The Message of Mercy” (9/15) brought out the nature of mercy very beautifully, but Cardinal Walter Kasper lost me at the conclusion. The church already tolerates “brother and sister” arrangements for the sake of re-admittance to the sacraments and allows the conti
Signs Of the Times
Bishop Blase Cupich Appointed to Nation’s Third Largest Diocese
Describing himself as “beyond surprised” by his appointment to the Archdiocese of Chicago, Spokane Bishop Blase Cupich pledged to work with people of faith to “serve the common good” and continue efforts to promote healing in a church community wounded by the sex abuse crisis
Vote Keeps the Kingdom United
Supporters of Scottish independence did not see the result they were hoping for, but it is fair to say that democracy won in a national referendum that included 85 percent of Scotland’s eligible voters. At 8:06 am on Friday morning, Sept. 19, “No” crossed the line. The result, 55 t
News Brief
According to a Vatican statement released on Sept. 20, Pope Francis has created a “special commission for the study of reform of the canonical matrimonial process” that will seek to simplify the procedure, “making it more streamlined, and safeguarding the principle of the indi
Small Progress On U.S. Poverty
For the first time since the Great Recession threw the United States and then the world into an economic tailspin, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the U.S. poverty rate experienced a year-over-year decline, falling from 15 percent in 2012 to 14.5 percent in 2013. The last time the rate declined
Murder on the Mediterranean
The deaths of up to 500 mostly Palestinian and Syrian migrants and refugees could be an act of mass murder, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said on Sept. 19. Hundreds of migrant workers and refugees from Gaza and Syrian conflicts were aboard a boat that left
A Living Tradition
“They claim to know on their own what truth is, but Catholic doctrine is not a closed system, but a living tradition that develops,” Cardinal Walter Kasper of Germany told the Italian daily Il Mattino on Sept. 18. Cardinal Kasper was responding to a new book featuring contributions by fi
Synod on the Family
Raise Up the Roof: Families with disabilities belong at the synod too.
‘Be careful, Mom, I don’t want you to fall,” my son Joseph said to me as he reached out to take my hand on an uneven Cape Cod shoreline. This might not be an unusual thing to say if Joseph were an adult and I were retired, but Joseph has just started kindergarten, and my…
Encountering Christ: One couple’s journey in faith
As the fathers of the Second Vatican Council debated the chapter on marriage and the family for the constitution on “The Church in the Modern World,” one married couple listened in. José and Luz María Icaza, leaders of the Latin American branch of the Christian Family Movement, were am
The Nuclear Option: A call to refocus on the love between a man and a woman
Contraception and the possibility of readmitting divorced and remarried Catholics to the sacraments have captivated the imagination of many Catholics. Many of them hope that when the bishops of the world meet this October fot the Synod on the Family, they will focus on these issues.These are undoubt
Family Portraits: Discussion starters for the upcoming synod
Editor’s Note. “Families,” Pope Francis noted in a homily on Sept. 14, “are the first place in which we are formed as persons and, at the same time, the ‘bricks’ for the building up of society.” In preparation for the launch of the Synod of Bishops on the Fa
The Church Visible
Revisiting Remarriage
The Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, October 5-19 in Rome, addresses “The pastoral challenges for the family in the context of evangelization.” It is preparation for the 2015 ordinary synod and it’s time to address the situation of divorced and remarrie
Vatican Dispatch
Pope Moves to Protect Minors
Recent appointments make clear that the safeguarding of children and minors is a top priority of Francis’ pontificate.
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