Commentaries
Keep balance of health and faith in a time that tests both
Maureen Pratt, well aware that some people might not take health precautions seriously, says prudent measures including suspending Mass or modifying certain aspects of it show not a weak faith but great love and understanding.
Archbishop Gomez offers prayer to Mary ‘in time of trial’
The president of the U.S. Catholic bishops urged prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe, saying "Now is the time to intensify our prayers and sacrifices for the love of God and the love of our neighbor."
Coronavirus church may be online, but people of God remain real
Digital devotion during a temporary health crisis can be meaningful, writes Oblate Father Thomas Dailey. Yet the church will always be called to come together in person.
Silence is Lenten antidote to week’s turmoil
Effie Caldarola observes the roil of news both profound and sublime in just the first week of Lent. The season calls us to seek God in quiet, in Scripture, and in the encounters with others each day.
The black Catholic nun every American should know
At age 15 Anne Marie Becraft began a school for black children in 1820 and became a nun in the midst of the nation’s and the church’s slaveholding elite. Her life declared that the lives of black people, especially women and girls, mattered.
The Catch-22 for religious freedom
Richard Doerflinger describes how some wish to strip a particular group's religious exemption because they're not religious enough (i.e., Catholics') while affirming it for groups in which the exemption is irrelevant.
Parish mergers demand bridges for diverse members
Edith Avila Olea observes how many parishes in the U.S. are merging, and the result often is divided communities of people with different languages. Parish leaders should embrace the change, without fear.
Maternity Parish celebrates place where St. Katharine prayed
Parishioner Joe Devine describes the Old Church of the Northeast Philadelphia parish, celebrating its 150th anniversary, where Philadelphia's heiress-turned-saint visited regularly. Her feast day is March 3.
Another infernal betrayal in the church
Greg Erlandson finds echoes of Dante's "Inferno" in the sins of powerful churchmen of our time, including laymen like Jean Vanier. We should look at the church's cult of celebrity, and leave the saint making to God.
Like musicians, we keep our gaze on the Conductor
When we focus intently on the gaze of the Father and actively seek his presence -- like the cues of a maestro -- we come to learn how he wants us to pursue his will for our lives, writes Julia Brawley.