For many Catholics, the word missionary brings to mind a centuries-old image of a priest planting a cross in a foreign land and teaching, baptizing and celebrating Mass for its people. Or it may conjure up the slightly more modern image of women religious running a school in Africa or Latin America.
To be pastor for a typical Catholic parish these days is to attempt the impossible, for the pastor’s role has grown too large. It includes pastoral duties (preaching, counseling, presiding at liturgies, administrating sacraments, visiting parishioners), managing human resources (staff directio
Through the Fog My thanks and congratulations to Bishop Donald W. Trautman for his excellent article on the new Mass translations being moved forward by the Inter-national Commission on English in the Liturgy (5/21). I must admit that reading it saddened me, because it is yet another indication of t
Politicians pushing shopping carts down supermarket aisles are not an ordinary sight. But some in public office have been doing just that in accepting a weeklong challenge to experience the difficulties of living on a food stamp allowance of barely more than one dollar per meal. This year Congress m
China Reserves Right to Elect, Ordain Bishops A Catholic lay leader from Beijing said China will continue to self-elect and self-ordain bishops. We ordain bishops only for the sake of evangelization in the mainland. Nobody can stop us, said Anthony Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic
Five miles from my living room, in a world about which I know very little, men and women are gathering in a public space in downtown Newark, N.J., to commemorate the 40th anniversary of a riot. The city of Newark exploded 40 years ago this month. It exploded because of a rumora cabdriver, it was sai