We can learn a lot from people who left the church, whether we can win them back or not. For generations, the Baltimore Catechism taught that Catholics who...
In the Pews
Stories of real-life Catholics living out their faith, with reporting on parishes, ministries, and vocation.
It was a typical Wednesday evening at the Parish Church. Gloria Jackson was preparing to meet her sixth-grade class for religious ed. This was the third class...
I never imagined that crossing paths with homeless people would become a part of our children's grade school education. Who would put that on the...
With a wink and a smile and a sueeze of the hand. Gilda Rodriguez naturally knows what question to ask, what personal thing to say to each person she greets...
Our churches are filled with potential youth leaders. They might sit a few pews over from you at Sunday Mass. They might live in your neighborhood. You might...
The most important activity in the parish is Sunday Mass. Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles has written a lengthy pastoral letter on liturgical renewal to...
When I wrote a column several years ago about our church's silence on wife and child abuse, I was stunned at the number of letters I received from ordinary...
No doubt U.S. Catholic Reader C. Wall of Woodstock, Illinois speaks for many when she succinctly sums up what does and doesn't make for a good...
It’s pretty subdued day at Our Lady of Mercy School on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Most of the kids are in class, huddled over Terra Nova achievement...
Mother's day is hard. Baptisms are really hard. Christmas, with all its talk of the birth of baby Jesus, isn't exactly a happy occasion either. Church...
