Commentaries
Church scores with insight that sport is more than just a game
Father Thomas Dailey runs through a new Vatican document on the human value of sports. Given its huge global and cultural impact, sport is a field rich with potential to become an instrument of encounter and holiness.
Tenuous freedoms totter like a wedding cake iced with irony
When the Supreme Court ruled to protect a baker's refusal to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, their ruling revealed logic that offers those who believe in traditional marriage as much constitutional protection as racists and pornographers -- if that.
First-time parents find it much harder than they imagined
Deacon Paul and Helen McBlain offer sage advice for a young couple at their wits' end over the challenges of raising their newborn daughter. Believe it or not, this early period will actually strengthen the couple's bond.
A Father’s Day parable: The prodigal son who returns, or never leaves
Moises Sandoval reflects how fatherhood is the gift that keeps on giving even after kids become adults. While the flag of welcome should always fly at home, some sons and daughters refuse to move out.
Step up with tough love for one who needs it
Father Eugene Hemrick advises us to help others by correcting them, when necessary, with love and courage. When we have received correction it no doubt hurt but we can truthfully reflect and say, "I needed that."
The poor benefit from the power of religiously inspired beauty
People in poverty are not surrounded by museums and life's fineries. Their homes are modest, along with their churches. But people need awe and beauty to see a way forward past the daily grind.
Catholic investing challenges us to examine our financial management
Our faith demands that our portfolios honor God, writes Carolyn Woo. Catholic social teaching expresses a preferential option for the poor and powerless that we can exercise through compassionate economic decisions.
Irish referendum reveals wounds only Christ can heal
By overturning its constitutional ban on abortion, Ireland shifted dramatically in its long relationship with the Catholic Church, writes Father Eric Banecker. The vote challenges us to offer true and lasting faith in place of cultural Catholicism.
A black Catholic experience at a royal wedding? Believe it
Carole Norris Greene never saw it coming, but the essence of black Catholics' culture -- passionate preaching, gospel-inflected music -- flowed to a worldwide audience glued to the wedding of a British prince to an African-American woman.
With sports betting now in play, so are the risks
Legal sports wagering may provide a boost in revenue to state coffers. But more people will bet more than they should, and the integrity of all sports may be jeopardized. Betting will change the way we enjoy sports, argues an editorial.