In the ancient Near East, olive oil was used for healing, sealing, and strengthening. Athletes in ancient Greece would use it to limber up and soothe their...
Glad You Asked
Glad You Asked is a column that presents informed, enlightened responses to basic questions of Catholic doctrine, history, identity, or pastoral practice.
Humans have kept animals around for centuries. At first it was for hunting purposes, pest control, and general working tasks. It did not take long, however...
Growing numbers of Mexican Americans are converting to Pentecostalism from Catholicism, and some are bringing their devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe with them...
The gasps are audible at our Easter Vigil, when adults in parishes are baptized in cleverly disguised wading pools: “Was it really necessary to ruin their...
Let’s say I take out a mortgage to buy a home, most likely from a very large bank, on which I am charged interest. Or maybe I loan a friend money to start her...
In many ways, the story of the church starts with Peter. With the words, “And I tell you, Peter, that on this rock I will build my church,” Jesus appoints...
How the Bible Became HolyBy Michael L. Satlow (Yale University Press, 2014) “Words create communities.” This delicious little notion has inspired...
The progress of the Industrial Revolution came with a steep price: the horrible excess of human wreckage. Be it death or dismemberment in factory work, chronic...
At Jesus’ birth, shepherds came to visit him, followed soon after by the wise men, right? Actually, not quite. There are two separate versions of Jesus’ birth...
The word relic denotes antiquity, but in just the past couple years, this centuries-old tradition has been causing a bit of medieval-style controversy. In...
