Corresponding Reader Survey: Catholics explain the heart of what they believe The first time I attended Mass was on a lunch break at my Protestant seminary. I...
Our Faith
Essays and reporting on theology and scripture that put our faith in the context of everyday life.
Corresponding essay: For this Catholic, real presence is the heart of Catholicism In 1979 U.S. Catholic ran an essay titled “It makes a difference whether...
It is called the Church of the Holy Family, and this is most evident at Christmas. The pews are jammed with families—some broken, some evolving, some dearly...
On the Friday after Good Friday, when we should have been celebrating the Easter season, I received an email from one of my graduate students asking for my...
For the first seven months of pregnancy, I made the same comment during every doctor’s visit: “I just want a boring pregnancy.” The youngest of four children...
As a kid growing up in Southern California, I’d pull out the little, red portable record player from under my bed and play one of my favorite records, Music...
An old friend of mine likes to joke that if you go to Mass and the opening song is “Be Not Afraid,” you probably have every right to be fearful. Either the...
With the unexpected passing of their daughter, Beth and Ken Coleman of Chula Vista, California appreciated the option of burying her in much the same way she...
Scotch-taped to the windowsill above my kitchen sink is a newspaper clipping from the Criterion, my local Catholic paper. I’ve read it a thousand times, yet...
When I was about 6 years old, I finally got to participate in an Easter tradition in which I begged to partake every year: my Sicilian great-grandma’s roasted...
