Commentaries

When Catholics gather to share and listen, good things happen

Last year's national meeting of 3,200 Catholic leaders and a recent Georgetown conference on polarization so impressed one participant that he sees such face-to-face-gatherings as ideal for energizing all Catholics.

Synod will study today’s music to hear what youth are saying

The church will listen to the next generation through their music to recognize their distinctive gifts and needs. Young people also must listen to the Lord to discern how be disciples in their culture, writes Father Thomas Dailey.

One brief shining moment

The play "Camelot," which celebrates American optimism, was always a tragedy of the fading dream of idealism. In this charged political climate Greg Erlandson wonders how we can reclaim the American dream.

On America’s birthday, focus on love and compassion

Moises Sandoval sees several ways Americans are responding to the call of Jesus in Matthew 25: "I was hungry and you gave me food ... a stranger and you welcomed me...."

Some advice from America’s only Catholic founding father

A historian looks at the life of Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and find eight tips for Catholics to navigate the politics of today, with many of the same issues still in play.

Whether here or there, it’s all our house

Maureen Pratt reflects on going to Mass at another church in the summer, and the opportunities to meet people who open their churches to us, building subtle, spirit-filled bridges as we come and go.

Separation from morality

There are not two sides to the issue of separating parents from children at the U.S.-Mexico border. It is immoral, says a guest editorial. The administration's goal of reforming immigration policy does not justify the means.

Taking the public health crisis of suicide seriously

The U.S. suicide rate jumped 30 percent from 1996 to 2016, writes Richard Doerflinger but it's much higher in states permitting assisted suicide, not counting the states' "aid in dying" cases.

God asks us to embrace social media to make his presence known

The power of digital networks cannot be underestimated in the lives of today's young people, writes Sarah Yaklic. If the church would meet them and become their companions, we'd better run -- not sit and wait for them.

When it seems things are falling apart, look to the margins

What's happening to us? asks writer Effie Caldarola: White House staffers are being kicked out of restaurants, entertainers hurl obscenities at the president, and immigrants are dehumanized from the top.