At least 25 years ago the late Archbishop of New York Cardinal John O’Connor told me there were secret discussions in Rome about restoring women to the...
Sounding Board
Dive into our Sounding Board essays, where U.S. Catholic readers and writers tackle controversial church topics through reader surveys and opinion pieces.
“When are you guys gonna buy a place?” asked a couple sitting at a marriage prep retreat table with my fiancé and me. This was right after the priest leading...
I was always uncomfortable with the narrative that the United States invented and perfected religious freedom. I grew up in the Midwest, perched self...
This year I did something I swore I would never do: I ditched the parish pledge envelopes and signed up for automatic deduction. For years I had been committed...
Most people don’t dream of working for the institutional church; it’s not high on the list for childhood career days or suggestions of what to be when one...
Attending Sunday Mass last year over Independence Day weekend, I watched as the priest gave the final blessing and a man a couple rows ahead genuflected and...
A few months ago an immigrant family, including three children, sat outside my church at the conclusion of the 9 a.m. Mass with a sign begging for money:...
I learned more the time my sophomore floor mates and I tried pulling an all-nighter than I did in an entire semester of Statistics 101. With all due...
In 2012, exactly two weeks after Trayvon Martin was shot to death for being young and black and wearing a hoodie, I sat in a dark theater watching children as...
Some years ago, Eric Jacobsen wrote about the urban environment in Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith (Brazos Press). He outlined...
