Sixty-nine-year-old John Eckford is always ready to welcome a guest to his one-bedroom apartment. On the table next to his front door are displayed two small...
Parish life
Discover U.S. Catholic articles on parish life that highlight community building, inclusion, and justice in everyday Catholic ministry.
“All those who want to go to Ecuador to mainly build houses, please raise your hands. OK! All those who have raised their hands, please stay home! Now...
When I was growing up, my family belonged to a vibrant, close-knit parish community. It was a parish with a lot of history—my dad grew up there, and many other...
The host is raised upstairs, at least I imagine it is. I’m not in the sanctuary. Instead, I’m in a basement room, where the wires in the ceiling lead to a...
When Wendy Zimmerman wanted to join her boyfriend, Eddie Knack, for Sunday Mass, it took some doing. Zimmerman has an intellectual disability that precludes...
In 1979 the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a pastoral letter on racism entitled “Brothers and Sisters to Us.” It was significant...
The Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World begins by underscoring the church’s humanity and empathy: “The joys...
Catholic parishes and dioceses in the United States face a financial scandal: Embezzlement occurs at an alarming frequency. In 2007 my Villanova University...
When a woman had to quickly flee the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the United States after her husband was murdered because of political strife...
We move around a lot. Academics are sort of like military families in that way. Since our marriage began in 2008, my husband and I have attended six Catholic...
