The world reacted with horror and outrage earlier this year when a town in Poland marked Good Friday with a ritual beating of a Judas effigy.More
As long as we live, there is still time. It’s true that never again will we utter the words, “I have no regret.” But with every mistake offered to him with contrition, we have a new opportunity to live in the present. More
Be honest. What does this churchy bunch of words — "Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross” (Sept. 14) — mean to you? Deep down, how do you relate to the cross, your cross, or the crosses of others? More
In years gone by, church-state conflicts in America commonly focused on the first of the First Amendment’s two religion clauses: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Tussles over public funds for parochial schools and prayer in public schools were typical no-establishment fights. Now the emphasis has shifted from the first religion clause to the second, which bars government action “prohibiting the free exercise” of religion. State infringement on free exercise and resistance to it by religiously motivated institutions and individuals are the new battlefront in church-state warfare.More
St. Augustine was a "seller of words." Prior to his conversion, he was a professor of rhetoric in Rome, making money teaching students how to speak well and persuade audiences. When the great saint found his way to Christianity, he realized that he had to abandon his "chair of lies."More
For the past year, the Little Sisters of the Poor have been celebrating the 150th anniversary of our congregation’s arrival in the United States. More
We have just begun the four-and-a-half-month span — between the solemnities of the Assumption (Aug. 15) and Mary, mother of God (Jan. 1) — into which all our holy days of obligation are now compressed. More
Why has the conversation around “emotional labor” as defined in the first two examples become so important? I think, in part, that we want to be seen, and the work of those first two definitions is mostly little and hidden. It’s the myriad of intentional movements that make up such a large part of our lives but that go unnoticed unless we don’t do them. They are the small, ordinary, but often sacred threads that, stitched together, are a life of holiness in service to others. More