Every doctrine or practice familiar to Catholics has a history of its own, and some official expressions of church teaching are quite recent, such as the...
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.
In the 11th century, St. Anselm of Canterbury described theology as fides quaerens intellectum, “faith seeking understanding.” A monk who eventually served as...
Simply defined, to sin is to say “no” to God. It is a rejection of God’s free gifts as well as the grace-filled relationship that God always offers. It is to...
When horrible things happen in the world, it’s natural to seek an explanation. Explanations offer a sense of control and meaning in situations that seem...
The ancient Greek word hairesis meant “choice” and identified one’s intellectual “choice” among the many philosophies of late antiquity. The word originally...
The Vatican’s October 2009 announcement of a special process to admit Anglicans to the Roman Catholic Church raised questions for many who perhaps thought that...
“The art of prophecy is very difficult,” Mark Twain once said, “especially with respect to the future.” Surprisingly, Twain’s words pretty much describe...
When you listen to a gospel story, it may sound familiar, but perhaps you could have sworn you heard it differently before. Perhaps there was a detail you had...
Celibacy is one of the most widely recognized characteristics of a Roman Catholic priest. But though it is well known, celibacy itself is often misunderstood...
For most of the year Christians hear a part of a letter of St. Paul read during Sunday worship. But if you had stopped Paul on the street in some place like...
