Is there really only one way to make a Catholic household? Early in June, just as the U.S. Senate was debating a constitutional amendment banning same-sex...
The Examined Life
Law must always be tempered by mercy if justice is to be truly served. Excommunication was once considered a passé feature of the ancient church, conjuring up...
For everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven. On goes the alarm: 6 a.m. thirteen minutes of news, weather, and traffic. 6:13. Out...
The sex abuse crisis should teach us that it takes more than a seminary to raise a priest. In the spring of my first year of college, I wrote my bishop and...
Bad news about the church can be a good opportunity to remember why we’re here in the first place. With some reluctance I have to admit that one reason I am a...
Our place in the church isn’t determined by politics or policy. If there’s one lesson Americans can take from the last 12 months of our political...
Over three decades of Mass-going, I’ve explored pretty much every avenue of distraction to make the time pass: pestering my brothers, making faces at buddies...
The high pitch of pro-life advocacy could heed some old-fashioned parental guidance. I normally wouldn't pass as an applause line, but Archbishop Michael...
Catholics should find a way to welcome couples whose paths to the altar don't go straight down the center aisle. Full disclosure: I hate weddings...
A holy-card priest is not the best patron to lead 21st-century ministers into the future. Father Albert Henkel was a good priest. Though gruff and grumbly on...
