Catholic social teaching has shaped me in countless ways. But faith is strongest when it is freely embraced, not politically imposed.
US Church
Posted inDispatches
Interview: What Pope Leo’s apology for the church’s role in slavery means to Black Catholics
“It is not easy to be Black and Catholic in the United States. That’s why, I think, I felt so moved.”
Posted inNews
Supreme Court declines to dismiss Peter’s Pence lawsuit
The plaintiff alleged that the USCCB promoted the collection as assisting in charitable works, but reports suggested Peter’s Pence funds were invested in part in real estate and Hollywood films.
Posted inFaith and Reason
Bishop Bonnar: As the U.S. turns 250, let’s rediscover our devotion to the Sacred Heart
In their decision to consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart, the U.S. bishops are inviting us to turn to the Sacred Heart and look again at our country and every single person through its lens.
Posted inDispatches
New nonpartisan coalition in Fresno offers a model for Catholic organizing in a divided country
Many may be tempted to grow cynical about efforts to improve their communities, but people of faith “choose engagement over indifference, solidarity over isolation, and hope over resignation.”
Posted inNews
Bishop Barron reflects on equality as a God-given right at America 250 prayer event
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, both Catholics, were among the administration officials who addressed “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” by video messages.
Posted inBooks
‘Father, forgive me’: James O’Toole on Confession in America
In his artful account of American participation in the sacrament of confession, ‘For I Have Sinned: The Rise and Fall of Catholic Confession in America,’ James O’Toole offers a succinct analysis of when and why American Catholics partake of the sacrament.
Posted inFeatures
The Catholic Committee of Appalachia’s half-century mission to heal a wounded land
For more than five decades, the group has listened to the people affected by forces of destruction and shared their stories in a series of pastoral letters.
Posted inShort Take
Latinos are leaving the U.S. Catholic Church in droves. Pope Leo could bring them back.
It is precisely Pope Leo’s ability to speak English, along with his identification with Latin America, that could help the U.S.-born pope stem the exodus of U.S. Latinos from the church.
Posted inNews
Catholic diocese fights Trump administration plan to seize pilgrimage site for border wall
The land targeted by the federal government is at the base of Mount Cristo Rey, a mountain and pilgrimage site topped by a 29-foot-tall limestone statue of Jesus Christ.