Commentaries
If priest is infirm, shouldn’t deacon distribute the Communion host?
Father Ken Doyle answers a reader who wants to know why a deacon is distributing the Precious Blood but not the host, in absence of the priest. Father Doyle also digs into a pile of religious items in the mail.
Prince and his unique journey toward God
Prince wasn't afraid to talk about God or religion in his music, writes Father John Catoir. While the aging priest admits he didn't notice Prince's creativity, he could not miss the outpouring of love for the artist.
Motherhood, fatherhood at heart of America’s founding principles
Narberth parishioner Ellen Giangiordano is incensed over a sperm donation ad she saw on a local train. The severing of a child’s biological roots, she writes, is tyrannical.
Say it isn’t so: Was his namesake saint a myth?
It's true, Father Ken Doyle informs a reader, that St. George was a real Roman soldier and martyr. But that story of him slaying dragons, not so much. See our priest columnist's weekly Q&A.
Papal document shows mercy as medicine on life’s battlefields
Steven Bozza, director of archdiocesan Office for Life and Family, sees people’s suffering in certain family situations -- as well as the truth of church teaching, given tenderly in love for families.
With a farewell comes a trove of lessons learned
As a Generation X columnist, Karen Osborne has written for teens for 14 years. That column comes to an end now, but her advice for Millenials to look at the world with bright, new ideas will carry on.
Watch out for an ‘agenda’ in quote marks
John Garvey can't help but notice, in reports on Southern states' recent legislation, how headlines treat "religious liberty" as though it is a "so-called" liberty. He fears there may be more at work than punctuation.
Pope points out our responsibility to immigrants
Father Gus Puleo sees in Pope Francis' gesture of settling Syrian families in Rome an example of mercy and empathy for the "children of God who are refugees." We must build bridges, not walls.
What Villanova’s shining moment means for enrollment
Villanova's national championship might lead to more new students, writes Jesuit Father William Byron. If sports help stabilize enrollments at private universities, then even this St. Joe's Hawk says, "Go 'Nova!"
Seeing the world with the eyes of a child
Father Eugene Hemrick looks deeply into what goes on in the minds of children captivated by God's creation and goodness. To "become like children" takes our effort, reverence and a sense of awe.