In “The Joy of the Gospel,” Pope Francis thoughtfully asked for suggestions for church reform that might better meet the needs of evangelization today. I trust he is getting a strong response! As an observer at the Vatican conference Sustainable Humanity, Sustainable Nature, I would like

‘If we destroy creation, creation will destroy us!”This warning was given by Pope Francis during a talk he gave in May, in which he reminded his listeners that “creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, the property of only a few. Creation is a gift

This is Part II of a three-part story. The first installment, "French Jesuits in New Orleans," is available here. In spite of its rich missionary history with its roots in Spain and France, the American Catholic church traditionally traces its birthday to the colonial period during wh

Pope Francis called for preserving the family as an institution based on marriage between a man and a woman, which he said is not a political cause but a matter of "human ecology.""The complementarity of man and woman ... is at the root of marriage and the family," the pope said

Pope Francis has sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott who will chair the Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the world rsquo s 20 largest economies that will be held in Brisbane Nov 15-16 The G20 includes the 19 major developed and developing economies of the w

In today's media environment the mission of Catholics is profoundly countercultural.

Two days last month I flew to Kansas City and next took the F train and walked to Pier 60 on the Hudson River to help celebrate the anniversaries of the National Catholic Reporter 50th and Commonweal 90th One in the ldquo heartland rdquo of America the other in the center of the world The lo

Kathleen McChesney in 2002 was a top executive at the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI McChesney left the FBI after 24 years of law enforcement service there and became head of the U S Conference of Catholic Bishops USCCB Secretariat for the Protection of Child and Young People She signe

We may be learning to see and to value our commons again In my last print column for America I wrote about the intersection between Catholic tradition and the notion of the commons mdash a kind of economy in which shared treasures are governed by those who depend on them not by a state or market