Touching Death: Mourning Physically through Burial...
How we bury our dead is a crucial part of life. We have gotten away from the wise practices of our ancestors. If how they did burial was largely out of necessity, we might still discover just how important those practices are, how much we really need them today. And we can choose them, at least some of them, again. The day we buried my father some years ago was one of the most important days of my life...
The World’s Loneliness Is an Opportunity for the Catholic Church...
She no longer went to church, yet she told me, “I don’t believe, but I miss having a church community.” She may not have believed any longer, but she still missed the support of a church community and the friendships that came with it. I believe this is not only a problem, but an opportunity. The loneliness of the world is a major opportunity for the modern Catholic Church.
Live From Rome, It’s Synodality!...
Greetings from the Vatican press office, where I arrived this morning to cover the next 10 days of the Vatican’s second session of the final stage synod on synodality. The Pillar’s Edgar Beltran has been here for the first fortnight of this month’s synod on synodality, and when I depart next week, Ed. Condon will be here to cover the final few days...
In 40 years of covering Catholic news, I have never encountered a Vatican story as wild as this one...
Have we heard the end of this story? Not likely. Will we ever hear the whole truth about it? Still less likely. Which is why I say that the case is only potentially revealing. Here’s what we do know: The first statement from the Vatican was issued by the Secretariat of State, the most powerful office of the Roman Curia. The Secretariat of State (hereinafter “State”) describes itself as...
The Third Crisis of the Church: What It Means and 5 Things You Can Do...
The Cambridge historian Richard Rex has noted that the first great crisis in Christianity was over the nature of the Trinity, especially over the nature of Christ, hence the early Christological heresies. The second great crisis, associated with the Reformation, was over the nature of the Church. This entailed the Protestant attack on sacramentality and the sacred hierarchy...
The Vatican Pushes for Peace as the War in Ukraine Approaches Its Third Winter...
As the brutal fighting in Ukraine approaches its third winter with no end in sight, the Vatican has once again dispatched Italian Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi to push for peace. Cardinal Zuppi, who is Pope Francis’ special envoy to Ukraine, embarked on his second visit to Moscow on Monday, where he will “assess further efforts to facilitate the reunification of Ukrainian children with their families...
Neutrality and Nobility: How the Order of Malta Runs Its Diplomatic Service...
How to Make a Family Necrology — and Why You Should Do It...
The 4 Forgotten Martyrs of the American Southwest...
Carry No Purse, No Bag, No Sandals...
Today’s Gospel at Mass had me thinking about a homily I heard a few years ago in Omaha on Luke 10:4, which contains Jesus’ instructions for the disciples as he sends them out on mission: “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals.” How does ditching your purse, bag and sandals even work for me? Not a rejection of legitimate self-defense, possessions. It’s a mindset. Priorities. Different for each, detachment is the key. Not being possessed by possessions...
Pope’s Sunday Angelus: ‘True Wealth Is to Be Looked Upon With Love by God’...
Mater Et Magistra, La Suprema, and Disordered Desire...
How ‘Wir sind Papst!’ Became a Headline for the Ages...
Why the Príncipi Case Matters...
Why Does the Bible Never Condemn Slavery as an Institution?
Many skeptics and even some Christians struggle with the idea that the Bible not only fails to condemn slavery, but actually seems to justify its existence in places. What are we to make of the Mosaic Law’s detailed prescriptions for how slaves are to be treated, for example? And how about St. Paul’s injunction to slaves to “obey in everything those who are your earthly masters” (Col 3:22)? If the Bible is the inspired Word of God, how can it be so complicit in something as evil as slavery?
Are Catholic Universities a Good Investment?
Over milkshakes and burgers, one of my student’s fathers said to me that he could not thank me enough for the kind of formation his daughter was getting in the classics and in the faith at my university. He said we were providing her something that he himself could not have provided, and he even suggested that we run a summer program for parents at our satellite campus in Rome.
Sifting the Synod for the Divinity...
Having lived through quite a few synods over the past two generations, most of us are aware that, like all human meetings, they are opportunities for people to try to win approval for their own particular ideas of the best way forward in the situation faced by the institution in question, in this case the Church. And just as with most meetings, the individual participants have a variety of attitudes toward the past...
Christ Connects the World’s Spring and Autumn...
Spring or fall? I’ve never been able to make up my mind as to my favorite season. Spring is my official favorite. The season of new life after the cold, the sleep, the death of winter—springtime is the return of green grass and leaves, newborn lambs, and an end to the bulky clothes of winter. Most importantly, spring is Easter. It is the Resurrection of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and an end to the bulky burden of sin. How could I choose otherwise?
New Study of St. Teresa of Avila’s Relics Reveals ‘Incredible’ Initial Findings ...
God or Nothing? Modern Science Points Only One Way, Says French Author...
Catholic’s Ministry Is Collecting Used Religious Objects to Give to Churches in Need of Them...
How ‘Special Interest Advocacy’ Works at the Synod on Synodality...
In the next day or two, don’t be surprised to see a fresh round of news stories about support for ordaining women at the Synod on Synodality. It’s a reasonable prediction, given that, earlier today, an advocacy group blasted out an email, obtained by the Register, inviting synod delegates to join them tomorrow at an event promoting the cause...
Catholic Priest Celebrates Mass Atop All 54 of Colorado’s Soaring 14ers...
What Does Heaven Cost? A Homily for the 28th Sunday of the Year...
A rich man asks Jesus, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus decides to follow up on the man’s premise, saying to him, You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.
Pope Francis Writes Letter to New Cardinals: ‘You Express the Church’s Unity’...
Doctrine Dicastery Overturns Vatican Ruling in Priest Laicization Case...
Growing Seeds of Faith in America: Catholicism in ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’...
Sadie stood on the boat, heavy with child, a toddler clinging to her hand, the shores of France shrinking into the distance. It had been weeks already since she had left her home in Lebanon—where she had lived with her fellow Christians in fear and poverty due to Ottoman persecution. At the age of eighteen, she was going with...
This Sunday, Give Up the Lie: Meet Jesus and Offer Him Your True Self...
Report: Nearly 150 Catholic Hospitals Provided Transgender Surgeries or Drugs to Children...
My truth? The real Personal truth is neither mine nor yours...
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