Opinion
The future of school choice
By A. B. Hill “We all deserve an opportunity for education that reflects the values our families have instilled in us and also an education our parents wish for us to have,” said Carmen Garcia, a junior at Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg; she bravely testified at a state Senate Education Committee hearing on […]
Called to Conversion and Holiness: An invitation to renewal
Time has been described as that which measures change. We change as we grow. The present time and place is one of intense change, and the Church in this Archdiocese is not immune. Changes to society in general and how the Catholic faith is lived here have led to a new planning effort in the […]
Time will tell
The Philadelphia School Partnership launched at a press conference Oct. 7 with soaring rhetoric and a bold vision. The new organization spearheaded by developer Michael O’Neill, also chairman of Business Leadership Organized for Catholic Schools, hopes to bring business and civic leaders together to reform and support all schools in the city of Philadelphia – […]
Losing a child to suicide
By Dr. Gladys Sweeney The loss of a child to suicide is one of the greatest tragedies life can bring. The community often reacts with shock, guilt, anger and depression. Parents may feel profound guilt and responsibility for the death. As a bereaved mother once said: “You think there should be a logical reason, so […]
Urban Catholic education: The past before us
By Timothy Walch Urban Catholic education is in trouble. A recent report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute reveals that 1,300 urban Catholic schools have closed in the last two decades and 300,000 Catholic school students have been forced to go elsewhere. “The school closures,” notes the report, “have cost taxpayers more than $20 billion […]
The promise of pro-life youth
By Megan Breen and Samuel Vasquez With few resources and little guidance, Alejandra, a high school junior in California, began an unlikely project: starting a pro-life club at her public high school. She had recently finished reading “The Snakebite Letters” by Peter Kreeft, which presents the correspondence between a senior demon, Uncle Snakebite, and his […]
The death penalty and spanine mercy
By Bishop Robert FinnRespect Life Month Commentary “The greater the misery of a soul, the greater its right to my mercy… . On the cross, the fountain of my mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls – no one have I excluded!” (“Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: spanine Mercy in My […]
Respect for life: ‘love without measure’
A pregnancy center counselor helped Courtney break the news to her parents that, as a college sophomore, she was pregnant. The baby’s father, whom she barely knew, offered money for an abortion but nothing else. But Courtney knew she was carrying a baby, a little human being with a little beating heart. Her parents supported […]
Bl. John Newman, a man for our time
Msgr. Michael K. MageeThe challenge of Jesus today This week, after God’s own confirmation through a miraculous healing of an American deacon by the intercession of Cardinal John Henry Newman, Pope Benedict XVI declared Newman “Blessed.” Though public veneration of the new Blessed and other honors such as the naming of parishes after him will […]
Church programs address increasing poverty
Economists this week said the recession that has been the longest since the Great Depression ended last year. While the National Bureau of Economic Research cited evidence to prove the point – the economy declined from December 2007 to June 2009 until rising modestly since – it’s cold comfort for people struggling to provide for […]