Commentaries
A plea for our fellow Catholics
Christians in the Middle East -- the birthplace of our faith -- suffer bitter persecution, writes Greg Erlandson. Their plight is largely overlooked, but we can help them through prayer and sacrificial giving this season.
A choice of vision: Sex as self-offering or domination
The root of recent sexual abuse allegations is the self-centered notion of sexual freedom that "frees" individuals from respecting others, writes Richard Doerflinger. The church's view of sex is on a couple's mutual vulnerability, not power.
Responding to sexual abuse will take years — and it should
The Catholic Church's experience with its own sex abuse crisis can be a lesson for America's most recent revelations of sexual assault, according to a guest editorial. The voices of victims and a response of justice must emerge.
It can be a crazy world, but sanity lies in ‘fear of the Lord’
More than connoting fright, "holy fear" means being in awe of God's gift of order and its harmonizing strength to dispel life's craziness, writes Father Eugene Hemrick.
Spiritual, not religious, but still searching beyond Google
Like people who prefer to ask a librarian for help rather than Googling the item (an upward trend), Brett Robinson sees the wisdom in people accompanying one another on the journey of faith.
Cardinal Foley: A voice of Thanksgiving past, for today
CatholicPhilly.com presents the homily for Thanksgiving Day Mass that the late Cardinal Foley preached in Rome in 2005. He gave thanks to God for an American mosaic of "many colors and many cultures in one beautiful expression of unity with diversity."
A clear history of Thanksgiving, without the myths
From its origin in abolitionist New England to its nationwide spread and adoption after the Civil War, Thanksgiving Day remains the holiday Americans love to celebrate -- with little commercialism.
Put two good ideas from Republicans’ tax bill to good use
Fairness demands that in the tax reform debate, some of any new revenue from slashing corporate rates and capping the deduction for home mortgages go to rental assistance and other programs for those who are not wealthy.
Mass murder and our culture of death
The latest mass shooting reminds us that choosing life means taking action against the proliferation of deadly weapons, writes Greg Erlandson.
A poet preaches through the beauty of well-chosen words
The work of American Christian poet Richard Wilbur reminds us of the innate goodness of God's creation, writes John Garvey.