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Columns

The ‘whole life’ approach

By Maria Pia Negro Chin
Before this year’s March for Life, seven major Catholic organizations sent a letter to the president and congressional leadership asking them “to prioritize human life and to promote policies that will enable life to flourish.”  This included the need to focus on issues such as the refugee crisis, global conflict and violence, immigration, health care, […]
2/22/17
Reading Time 3 min

Before Lent begins

By Elizabeth Foss
There is a certain spring in our steps these days. Daylight hours are growing longer and the breezes are actually warm. Even though it’s February, and years past have yielded significant snow during this stretch of time, the meteorological calendar seems to be marching on. So, with the great outdoors in rhythm, it is easy […]
2/22/17
Reading Time 3 min

Spotlight on the Supreme Court

By Russell Shaw
Just as people who like sausage shouldn’t visit a sausage factory, so people who stand in awe of the United States Senate shouldn’t get too close to the confirmation fight over Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, lest they see more senatorial sausage-making than they bargained for. It threatens to be […]
2/22/17
Reading Time 3 min

No one can serve two masters

By Fr. Jack Peterson

In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus makes the bold statement to His disciples, “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.”

2/22/17
Reading Time 4 min

The opioid epidemic

By Lois Spoden
I was very shocked and sad to read the article about the opioid epidemic in Fauquier County. Having grown up in Arlington, VA and moving to Fauquier County in 1986 I find it a very desirable county and a good place to raise a family. I did listen to the pastor talk about the problem […]
2/20/17
Reading Time 1 min

We can do better

By Chet Czarniak
As I read the letters section in the Feb. 9-15 edition of the ACH, I felt sadness and regret with the criticism and comments by several writers regarding the statements by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, individual bishops and Catholic Charities in support of refugees in the face of the Trump administration’s executive order […]
2/17/17
Reading Time 1 min

A funny thing happened on the way to confession

By Maureen Pratt
“Confession is good for the soul,” they say. I agree. I also find that it helps us to live well no matter what our station or situation in life, especially if we make it a time to move fully out of our comfort zone. During Lent and Advent, nearby parishes regularly have reconciliation services that […]
2/15/17
Reading Time 3 min

A sense of perspective

By Richard Doerflinger
An earlier column discussed “being Catholic first” — how our moral vision should judge partisan positions, not vice versa. Also essential for a Catholic view of politics is a sense of perspective, or “taking the long view.” Let’s begin with what common sense tells us. Success and failure are equally aspects of human life. “Sometimes […]
2/15/17
Reading Time 3 min

Child poverty in America

By Russell Shaw
In setting out to confront a problem, it’s necessary to understand its causes in order to apply realistic solutions. Child poverty in America provides a painful illustration of what comes of ignoring that truism. Since the mid-1960s, the government has spent more than $22 trillion fighting poverty. In that time the rate of child poverty […]
2/15/17
Reading Time 3 min

Nobody’s perfect

By Fr. Robert J. Wagner

A reflection on the Gospel reading (Mt 5:38-48) for the seventh Sunday in ordinary time. 

2/15/17
Reading Time 3 min

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