Archbishop Aquila: When the church minimizes the danger of an unworthy reception of the Eucharist, she fails to properly love those who continue to jeopardize their souls. Trading “civility” and “engagement” for eternal life is not a good trade.
Sacraments
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Priests should think twice before denying Communion to Catholics in same-sex unions.
The question of giving Holy Communion to those in same-sex marriages has both canonical and pastoral implications.
Posted inFaith, News
Vatican to host major conference on the theology of the priesthood in 2022
The Vatican conference will seek to move away from a theology of the priesthood based on ‘ecclesiastical power’ toward one rooted in the priesthood of all believers conferred at baptism.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
When poetry meets spirituality
Eleven different poetry collections reviewed by four America editors offer a sample of the God-haunted and the God-hunted contemporary literary artists who work out their spiritual, intellectual and emotional conundrums through lyrical compositions.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
My 8-year-old son has taught me—a sacramental theologian—how to love the sacraments again.
I needed my beloved son to teach me once more to gaze with desire upon the Blessed Sacrament, to receive with joy the body and blood of Our Lord.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
U.S. Bishops’ working group on Biden wraps up with plans to issue document on ‘eucharistic coherence’
“As with every administration, there will be areas where we agree and work closely together and areas where we will have principled disagreement and strong opposition,” Archbishop Gomez said.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Forgiveness isn’t something you feel. It’s something you do (especially when it’s hard)
During Lent, we mirror the mercy of God when we forgive others.
Posted inExplainer, Faith
Explainer: Your bishop said it’s time to come back to church. Is it a sin if you don’t go?
Whenever dioceses choose to lift dispensations, like with other difficult pandemic-related decisions, individual believers will have to decide for themselves when they feel safe going back to church.
Posted inExplainer, Faith
Explainer: What is an annulment? (And why does Pope Francis want to make it easier to get one?)
No matter how many times you hear it described thus—jokingly or not—an annulment is not just “Catholic divorce.” Church teaching is not that the marriage in question failed, but that the marriage never existed in a sacramental sense.
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
Shunning the sinful is still division.
Once you allow a notion of yours, however right and righteous, to separate you from the community, you have become the victim of sin. You are not its solution.