Commentaries
Build a better future by learning from relationships
Teens shouldn't worry about getting married just yet, writes Karen Osborne. But there's a lot they can learn about themselves and about what they want out of life by examining the people they take to the movies or prom.
Doc answers her life’s callling to fight Ebola in Africa
This is decision time for many young Americans looking toward college and career, writes Father William Byron. In choosing a career choice that will put meaning over money, they can look to a young Philadelphia doctor, a shining example of vocation.
A modern synod for a modern family
While the recent Synod of Bishops on the family was not discussed at writer Kelly Bothum's busy dinner table, she hopes conversations about divorced, homosexual and civilly remarried people who make up the church will continue.
Father Tolton, pray for us
Many American Catholics of the past were wrong about slavery and race relations, writes John Garvey. We should learn from their mistakes and from the lives of people like Father Augustus Tolton, whose cause for sainthood is being studied.
A farewell to deadlines
Popular columnist Steve Kent ends his run of weekly columns with a final reflection. He will trade his consideration of Catholic issues for retirement and a weekly dose of humility on the golf course.
Dear Brittany: Our lives are worth living, even with brain cancer
A young woman with a terminal brain cancer diagnosis wants to commit suicide. A seminarian at St. Charles Seminary, who is studying for the priesthood for the Diocese of Raleigh, is also facing terminal brain cancer. He writes a personal and theological perspective on life, suffering, death and everyday miracles.
Healing the world, one family at a time
Columnist Effie Caldarola found a program to help refugee families through a State Department program. The list of her refugee family's needs was long, as they need everything. She sees a chance to tell that family and others that we care about them.
It can wait: Don’t text while walking
Cell phone use is causing more "distracted while walking" accidents. Stow the phone, Maureen Pratt writes, and notice the trees, other people, God's grand world. Miss them and we truly miss out.
Is pro football coming to an end?
New policies to address serious injuries on the field and domestic violence off it might not be enough to save the NFL, or "commercial" football, as Father William Byron writes.
When a good man won’t go to church
Deacon Paul and Helen McBlain offer advice in the case of a wife and mother who hopes her sons won’t follow Dad’s lead of avoiding Sunday Mass.