On a pilgrimage to Rome during this Jubilee Year of Hope, the experience of walking through holy doors transformed my thinking about doors in general. I began to focus less on their physicality and more on their purpose as a passage to a place beyond.
Spirituality
Posted inBooks
Review: the catholic Catholic imagination of John Darnielle & the Mountain Goats
John Darnielle’s ‘This Year: 365 Songs Annotated’ collects lyrics from, and brief reflections on, 365 different Mountain Goats songs. Catholicism saturates his lyrics, which include references to saints, heretics, the rosary and the Bible.
Posted inFaith in Focus
Lessons from the apocalypse: Visiting the island where St. John wrote Revelation
In Patmos, I experienced the Book of Revelation in a different light, as a message of comfort and connection.
Posted inFaith in Focus
Article removed
Editors’ note, April 13, 2026: America has become aware that this article was submitted with false information about its authorship. Accordingly, we have removed the article text and the author’s profile.
Posted inIdeas
My forty years of friendship with Thomas Merton
Can you be friends with a person who never knew you even existed? If the answer to these questions is yes, then I am friends with Thomas Merton.
Posted inFaith in Focus
Father James Martin: This Thanksgiving, don’t feast on despair
In difficult times, it is tempting to say, “Thankful for what?” But the message of the Resurrection is that hope is stronger than despair.
Posted inArt
To see as Mary sees: Marian art in an age of distraction
Marian art shows that distractability is itself a form of attention, one that is essential to living a Christian life.
Posted inFaith in Focus
I found the heart of Christmas in the remains of an old English cathedral
The Coventry Cathedral is the birthplace of a Christmas carol featured on the latest season of “Hark!”—America Media’s podcast on the stories behind our favorite Christmas carols.