Commentaries
Together, couple can climb mountain of college financing
Deacon Paul and Helen McBlain study how a married couple with differing views of paying for college can help their daughter on the road to higher education. Having a plan and working together is the key.
Today’s population implosion has links to weakened faith
Reflecting on low birth rates, Richard Doerflinger thinks the decline in belief has led people to focus on the pleasures of this life only. Pursuing pleasure excludes devoting time and effort to marriage and children.
On our over-sexed society: You break it, you bought it
Greg Erlandson clearly sees the high personal and social costs of lust. But there are six other deadly sins, and of them, pride may be the most insidious as it keeps us from recognizing the other sins in ourselves.
Parishes need to welcome and involve their young adults
Elise and Christopher had different experiences of Catholic life -- some good, some not -- but both see the necessity of getting young adults involved in the parish, beginning with the parish council.
Bishop Nelson Perez and a new moment for Catholicism
Hosffman Ospino writes that the naming of the former Philadelphia priest as the first Hispanic bishop of Cleveland, and of the entire Midwest, is a historical milestone and good news for U.S. Catholics.
Health care needs fixing, not the scrap yard
A guest editorial argues the universal health care system in the U.S. should be fixed for the 20 percent of it that isn't working, not repealed for the 80 percent that is. It's taken 150 years to get here.
Hope endures as four Bucks County boys are laid to rest
One might expect hopelessness in the wake of the recent murder of four young men. But as Matthew Gambino found at the funeral Mass for Jimi Patrick, faith and hope are accompanying his friends on their journey.
Jesuit journal’s essay was an overreaction to a questionable problem
Even if an "ecumenism of hate" exists someplace, it is hardly the huge problem two Rome-based authors imagine, writes Russell Shaw, who cites a growing convergence of views among Catholics and evangelicals on social issues.
Civilta Cattolica misses richness of Catholic-evangelical relations
There is much to admire about the relationship, writes Jesuit Father Drew Christiansen. Problems arise when those on either side, or both, force their partisan issues into social ecumenism or apply their political infighting skills to it.
Lessons in simplicity when the ground crumbles away
The simple life of Benedictine monks living on a California mountain has become much harder as rock slides threaten their monastery and livelihood, writes Maureen Pratt. Hardship is "what we train for," the prior said.