Commentaries
Look past appearances into the person
The world keeps on telling us we should judge a person by their looks, activities or money. If you only look at those exterior qualities, writes columnist Karen Osborne, you might miss the good person inside and the beautiful music of his or her life.
Build aloneness into your plugged-in lifestyle
Like Jesus taking time to go off alone, we need to build boundaries in our use of telephones, texting, social media and other technology that allow others in but also allow us time to breathe, writes columnist Maureen Pratt.
America’s gun culture: paranoia for profit?
Let's drop the stereotypes, suggests columnist Steve Kent. Those who enjoy possessing and using firearms are not deranged killers. Those who want reasonable control over dangerous objects are not intent on turning the country over to whatever.
When their parish merges, what’s a couple to do?
Deacon Paul and Helen McBlain know that parishes, like many things we find comfortable, never stay the same. When a parish closes by merging with another, families can take simple steps to start anew and strengthen their faith life.
Pope Francis and divorce
The pope has more than once mentioned mercy as offering a way forward on the vexed question of the ban -- increasingly ignored -- on divorced and remarried Catholics receiving Communion.
Young woman saw needs of Africa, so she started creating jobs
The Catholic Church can embrace “social entrepreneurship” to improve lives and communities, says a Villanova native and Georgetown University graduate. Her Dare to Innovate movement aims to give unemployed youths in Guinea a hand up, not a hand out.
Fear spurred by 9/11 turned immigrants into the bad guys
Some twenty years ago, immigration offered a mutual benefit and it was allowed with a wink and a nod. Then came 9/11. Columnist Effie Caldarola urges immigration reform as a nod to a higher moral law.
Rebranding of Christianity for the poor, not middle class
Columnist Steve Kent notices that Pope Francis keeps speaking about the need to respond to the poor, even if some want him instead to speak about the struggling middle class. They'll have a long wait, Kent suggests.
Where have all the kind people gone?
Before you join the ranks of rude and nasty people because you feel testy and annoyed, Karen Osbourne suggests three ways to lighten up and be nice.
The pope said what? Match the pope to the quote, get a surprise
Some observers, like columnist Terry Mattingly, see an insidious attempt to paint Pope Francis as a radical progressive, when he in actuality he joins recent popes in emphasizing human rights.