Commentaries
Catholic education is an investment with a lifelong payoff
With five children enrolled at Holy Innocents Parish School in Philadelphia, Maria and Omar Rivera are committed to Christ-centered instruction that ensures a solid foundation for the future.
Mystic vision of century-old saint shines for our time
Oct. 16 marks the feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who witnessed three visions and messages of Jesus. Father Thomas Dailey sees the unity of those visions with Pope Francis' new encyclical.
State senators debate Catholic student stimulus bill
The Pa. Catholic Conference supports a state Senate bill that would make $1,000 per-student available to eligible families to help them afford educational expenses at nonpublic schools.
A most terrible choice, with respect for life
George Weigel praises the "least abhorrent choice” by President Harry Truman to use the atomic bombings in Japan to prevent tens of millions of deaths and bring an end to World War II.
Guns, looting and kids — what’s happening to us?
A baby-faced 17-year-old is charged with murder in a climate where violence is begetting violence. Effie Caldarola says Catholics must be a force for moral clarity as we approach a contentious election and more protests.
A look at new millennium’s fearless future leaders
Present leaders are unprepared for the overwhelming challenges confronting the world today. Father Eugene Hemrick looks at seven traits of the future young leaders who've been tempered by their experience in this century.
In their care of souls, priests are most essential workers
When Father Eric Banecker was told he couldn’t anoint a sick person outside of hospital visiting hours, it laid bare two competing visions of reality, and a realization of the eternally essential ministry of priests.
Digital contraception has disconnected personal relationships
In a way similar way to birth control, media have depersonalized human communication by reducing the messy work of human contact and intimacy, writes Brett Robinson.
Guidance for the Catholic voter’s conscience
Every four years, some Catholics tell other Catholics who they must vote for, but Greg Erlandson points out a U.S. bishops' guide to considering four principles of Catholic social teaching.
Woe to those who gossip
Some of the worst online backbiting spread on Catholic keyboards, undermining the unity Christ longs for in his church, writes Elise Italiano Ureneck.