Commentaries
What to do with your life? Consider three questions
Young people can become paralyzed by many options as they face a choice of vocation. Recent college grad Katie Daniels discerns through this framework: What gives you joy? Are you good at it? Does anyone need you to do it?
For Mom and kids at home, summer living is stressful
Deacon Paul and Helen McBlain offer some tips for a couple grappling with summertime's challenges. Mom and Dad have work to do, while children have a lot of time on their hands.
Dialogue and challenge mark historic gathering of bishops and laity
The recent Convocation of Catholic Leaders, which drew over 3,000 bishops, priests and laity, called participants to minister to the margins of society. As Greg Erlandson observes, the gathering also highlighted the important role of the U.S. bishops' conference itself.
Physician-assisted suicide: Dead in some states, routine in others
Legalized euthanasia efforts have slowed in several states. However, in California and other states where it is approved, the practice has become sadly commonplace, warns Richard Doerflinger.
Stale beer and dirty socks led to adoration, and my conversion
Megan Mastroianni was an ordinary Catholic teenager, and not very religious. When she started running with a partying crowd her brother took her to eucharistic adoration and a youth group meeting. It changed her life.
‘Not a sparrow falls’: With a God like this, how could you not feel loved?
Effie Caldarola considers the sparrow of Jesus' parable that meets its end like the rest of us, and a robin that somehow survived a tornado. God is with us through it all, so we should fear nothing.
Young people: Tell the pope what you think
For the first time the Vatican is inviting direct public responses to prepare for a synod. The survey is directed at young people -- who have been offering their opinions online all their lives.
The wisdom of calling God our Father
Gender neutral language -- try Godself instead of himself -- is more about us and our sexual politics than about God, writes John Garvey. We must embrace the language of a child.
How an unknown lobbyist became a hero for life
Richard Doerflinger recounts four ways that Mark Gallagher, the late deacon and lobbyist who crafted the Hyde Amendment, helped save 2 million unborn lives. Washington needs more people like him.
The coming synod and the need to really listen to Hispanic youth
Hosffman Ospino hopes dioceses can see the results of a Vatican questionnaire to Hispanic youth. The church must rely not only on a survey but on going out to where young people are.