Spirituality
Motherhood: A vocation that grows and changes
Effie Caldarola knows that motherhood is a vocation of permanence. But as children mature, the vocation demands detachment. A mother's tongue might be scarred from biting, but her prayers for her children never end.
Heroic mothers in the Bible
While the Virgin Mary is the best-known mother in the Bible, this Mother's Day it's worth noting four other women, especially considering how their motherhood impacted the people of God.
Jesus’ victory over death leads us to the Father’s house
On the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Msgr. Joseph Prior explains through a moving story how the resurrection of Christ points to eternal life united with God, a life not even death can destroy.
Readings of the holy Mass — Fifth Sunday of Easter
Read or listen to the readings before Mass with the resources below from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, using the New American Bible, Revised Edition.
Fatima and Mother’s Day: Time to reflect on relationship with Mary
This Mother's Day weekend, which coincides with the 100th anniversary of Mary's apparitions at Fatima, we are called to draw closer to our spiritual mother.
The meaning of Our Lady of Fatima after 100 years
This year the Catholic Church celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the Marian apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, beginning on May 13, 1917. The apparitions call everyone to come closer to Christ.
A brief history of Our Lady of Fatima
The apparitions of Mary at Fatima, witnessed by three shepherd children, began on May 13, 1917 and then again on the 13th day of five subsequent months. They were declared "worthy of belief" in 1930.
Visiting, and living with, Our Lady of Fatima
Catholics in America maintain a strong devotion to Mary under the title of Our Lady of Fatima because she and the dearly departed pray for us and help us follow the Gospel.
St. John Paul II and Our Lady of Fatima
The saintly pope credited his survival of an assassination attempt to Mary -- on the very day 64 years after the first apparition of our Lady in Fatima. He said it was a "mother's hand that guided the bullet's path."
Men born out of wedlock can still be ordained priests
Father Ken Doyle traces the roots of a prohibition dating to the Middle Ages, that has been lifted in the church for many years. He also examines marriage between a Catholic and a non-Christian.