Commentaries
Puerto Rico’s recovery is not a remote concern
A year after Hurricane Maria caused almost 3,000 deaths and billions of dollars in damage, the U.S. territory still faces a long road to full restoration.
One thing leads to another
In our here-and-now age, we often fail to connect our present actions with future consequences, writes Father Eugene Hemrick. Wisdom calls us to look ahead, knowing that we will reap tomorrow what we sow today.
The hard grace of being a Catholic journalist
In crises such as the ongoing clerical abuse scandals, the members of the Catholic press get to do their job, writes Greg Erlandson. Amidst outrage and confusion, they serve the church by not ducking the bad news, while not forgetting the good news.
Overcoming deficits in the attention economy
For all that new media has given the church channels for sharing the Gospel, advertisers powerfully tell stories to convey a feeling. Brett Robinson suggests an even more powerful approach: silence.
Leave the church that abused her? Survivor trusts God to do the healing
Patricia DeStefano is a clergy sexual abuse survivor who, in the midst of painful therapy, discovered God's grace was working without her realizing it. Now she shares her experience of God's love, for all his children.
The truth that set him free
As Greg Erlandson writes, Father Brendan McGuire came to terms with his own abuse by a priest. He knows God will not abandon the Catholic family as we advocate for reform and accountability in a moment of great pain.
Listen to the sound of church reform bubbling up in parishes
The sense of anger among Catholics is underwhelming for CatholicPhilly.com editor Matthew Gambino, yet he senses the beginning of a reform movement in archdiocesan parishes, thanks to the Holy Spirit.
From a woman’s pew, a view of scandals within the scandal
Effie Caldarola is tired of people exploiting conservative or liberal agendas, of woman-excluding patriarchy, of boys-club clericalism. It's not time for Catholics to flee the church but to speak up and fight for it.
Euthanasia supporters tout autonomy of violence
Bobby Schindler details mounting evidence around the world, and coming to the U.S., for the normalization of intentionally killing vulnerable people at any age. Law and medicine are becoming weapons against human life.
As Sacred Heart Home closes, Dominican Sisters recall 88 years of service
Mother Mary Francis of the Hawthorne Dominican Sisters offered remarks at a Mass Aug. 27, just days before the home for patients with incurable cancer closed it doors. She thanked all the home's supporters, and pledged prayers for them.