We think of letters as a two-way form of communication: They go to and fro in the world, from one writer to the reader, who becomes the writer of the next letter. But sometimes we write letters that are not returned in a traditional way. In Brother Epistles: A Sister’s Memoir, Shanda McManus does just […]
Death and Dying
Posted inNews
Illinois diocese bans eulogies and wakes in church before funeral Mass
“The eulogy makes the person being praised the main focus of attention. The homily and the words of remembrance have God as the primary focus,” Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield said.
Posted inFaith in Focus
When ‘thy will be done’ means saying goodbye to someone you love
To ask God’s will to be done was to agree to lose my Nonny. But I forced myself to say it anyway.
Posted inNews
Haitian youth’s apparent suicide ‘a death of despair’ after TPS Haiti ends, says archbishop
Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old student on scholarship in his first semester at Dayton’s Wright State University, was pronounced dead at the scene after walking into traffic on Interstate 70 in Springfield, Ohio.
Posted inFaith in Focus
Dolly Parton is in heaven
Today heaven is more musical. Today heaven is more generous. Today heaven is like a family reunion.
Posted inThe Good Word
Catholics love relics. So where are Mary’s bones?
The absence of Mary’s bones is a telling historical anomaly, but the theological insight that accompanies it is perhaps more meaningful.
Posted inNews
French bishops decry vote legalizing ‘assisted dying’ as a ‘turning point’ in nation’s history
The French bishops called on Catholic health care institutions to refrain “from behavior that is clearly morally reprehensible.”
Posted inFaith and Reason
What happens when a society (and a church) stops listening to the elderly
Young people should be looking for ways not only to care for our elders, but to dialogue, have fun, and simply inhabit spaces with them.
Posted inNews
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Catholic power broker in Italy’s culture wars, dies at 95
The late cardinal was critical of Pope Francis’ pontificate but celebrated the election of Pope Leo XIV, who Ruini hoped would “reunite the Catholic Church.”
Posted inFaith in Focus
How language connects (or fails) us: A Pentecost story
In the spirit of Pentecost, I want to tell you a story about language—and about mistakes.