Commentaries
Remember when political leaders solved problems?
As members of Congress enjoy a five-week break at home to campaign for re-election so they can return to Congress and continue to do nothing, Steve Kent recalls a time when thousands of refugees were welcomed to the U.S.
Moving forward in kindness, without a honk
Effie Caldarola see the world's many problems, and this year has been especially rough for many people. We can say we love Jesus, but we should act for justice too.
You can help eliminate world hunger
Jesuit Father William Byron sees progress in combating "food insecurity" and pervasive poverty especially in Africa, and he knows a way everyone in America can help.
Whose children are these?
Up to a 1.5 billion children in the world experience the trauma of war, abuse, displacement from home into hostile environments, loss of parents and siblings, brutal maiming and other horrors. Carolyn Woo knows there is a price to be paid for failing our children.
A lesson from the dimming of a bright star
Once, during a trip to New York City, some friends and I stopped into a restaurant on Seventh Avenue for dinner. I was happily slurping down my pho, a Vietnamese noodle dish, when I heard a familiar voice. The comedian Robin Williams -- Mrs. Doubtfire himself -- was sitting less than 10 feet away, telling hilarious stories to friends gathered around his dinner table.
Transform prisons from trash cans to labs for public good
An editorial in a Jesuit magazine argues longer jail terms through tougher criminal penalties do not solve social problems or reduce crime rates, and may cause serious social problems -- a view shared by the most prominent Jesuit, Pope Francis.
Children’s deaths are the high cost of Middle-East war
Columnist Steve Kent is incensed by the back-and-forth violence in Gaza in which innocents suffer and die. Obscene cease-fires that allow time to reload, not seek to peace, are the height of hypocrisy.
Benedictine sisters come to the rescue for celiac sufferers
Maureen Pratt tells the tale of the nuns who experimented and came up with a gluten-free altar bread, approved by the U.S. bishops, so people with celiac disease could receive holy Communion.
A midsummer day’s prayer
Jesuit Father William Byron invites readers to recall all the memories of summers past, while they're making new memories, and to pray a prayer of gratitude with him.
Child migrants: Refuge denied or compassion delivered?
A solution to the crisis of unaccompanied minors doesn’t have to be an either/or, writes Amy Hill of the Pa. Catholic Conference. The U.S. can both respond to this humanitarian crisis and respect the rule of law.