If the main duty of a cardinal is to be an adviser to the pope, and there is no ordination required, it could make sense to restart the tradition of lay cardinals—and include women in the mix.

Catholics, that is to say, have not necessarily been praying the Our Father wrongly, but too often we have not been praying it fully, either. While we are busy trying to get it right, we neglect to make it our own and discover its vast permutations.

This Funeral Mass homily was delivered by James Martin, S.J., at Holy Trinity Church in Washington, D.C., on April 20, 2022.

Adults envy the wonder that kids can find in the everyday world, while kids resent being told that so much of the world is off-limits to them, that they must not touch, not taste, not take into their own hands.

“Honor thy father and mother” is a solemn commitment. It is not just about one’s own father and mother. It is about their generation and the generations before, honoring the elderly.

One year into a three-year global synodal process, we should not expect hot-button issues and their promoters to vanish, nor for public disagreements among Catholics to cease.