Commentaries
50 years after encyclical, a breast cancer epidemic
Since 1973 non-invasive breast cancer incidence has increased 400 percent, which Dr. Angela Lanfranchi links to directly to the birth control pill. Women have a right to know they are taking a carcinogen for a non-disease: fertility.
Seeing the beauty in disability, and in those who help
Mary Breiner was active in her Catholic parish before a disease struck her ability to walk. A new parish pastor modified the church so she could get around in her wheelchair, even as some at first opposed the changes.
They’re not vegetables, they’re people
Experts now say "permanent vegetative state" shouldn't be used to describe people unresponsive due to an injury, writes Richard Doerflinger. They can be helped, something the church has recognized for years.
St. Oscar Romero, the saints and the dead
The memory of St. Oscar Romero compels us to live ordinary lives open to being transformed by God's grace and to denounce the actions and circumstances that shorten people's lives.
In praise of good priests, the stand-up men
On a retreat, author Mike Carotta noticed that priests he's known for years are older but they still seek God, and still stand with the people in every season. Let us stand with them, in gratitude.
‘Here I am, Lord’
As she viewed creation from a plane, Melissa Enaje grasped how God made the world and each of us, calling us to follow him. Will we answer "present," or be absent by our silence?
Abuse scandal might not be biggest challenge we face
The church is in an epoch of change she does not understand, writes Greg Erlandson. Topping the list of at least seven enormous challenges: living as witnesses of Jesus' love in the world.
To watch a building burn, or jump into it and save lives?
That choice is what the church's teaching of an "option for the poor" meant to St. Oscar Romero, who converted from clericalism to an embrace of poor people. He is a model of conviction for everyone today.
The taint of allegations and the rush to publish them
While society rightly addresses the reality of sexual crimes and harassment, whether in politics or religion, John Garvey sounds a warning to be careful with publicizing things that might not be true.
Half a dress teaches full lesson on the risks of freedom
Effie Caldarola visited Ireland and found much has changed as the dresses have gotten skimpier. While the oppressions in Ireland may be gone, so too are its traditions of beauty and faith.