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Choose joy

By Elizabeth Foss
She almost jumped out of the car in the still dark morning at the airport, about bursting in her eagerness to go with me on a grand adventure. We were to fly across the country together and meet her new niece, my new granddaughter. This sweet 7-year-old girl who had spent so much of the […]
5/3/16
Reading Time 4 min

E pluribus …

By Fr. Stanley J. Krempa
Before the revision of the Holy Week rites by Pope Pius XII in 1955, the Easter fire and the Easter baptismal water used to be blessed in the early morning of Holy Saturday. As part of the blessing of the baptismal water, there was a dramatic gesture when the priest splashed the blessed water in […]
4/27/16
Reading Time 3 min

In this month of mothers

By Sr. Constance Veit, L.s.p.
May 8 we celebrate Mother’s Day, and as Catholics we dedicate the whole month to Our Heavenly Mother, Mary. And so, May is a natural time to reflect on the irreplaceable role of mothers and all women in our lives. In the weeks following our appearance at the Supreme Court, several women who write about […]
4/27/16
Reading Time 3 min

Owning your baptism

By George Weigel
During talks around the country in recent years, I’ve been asking Catholic audiences how many of those present know the date of their baptism. The high-end response is a little under 10 percent. The average is about 2 to 3 percent. This, brethren, is a problem. You know your birthday. You know (or you’d better […]
4/27/16
Reading Time 3 min

Broken but undivided

By Fr. Matthew H. Zuberbueler
Darkness of night and the sound of a door closing (if there was a door to the Upper Room) put us into the context of the powerful five verses (31-35) of chapter 13 of John’s Gospel. Judas has just left Jesus and the others, but we know that Jesus has not left Judas. Jesus, who […]
4/19/16
Reading Time 3 min

The election dilemma

By Russell Shaw
As the presidential primaries wear on, a potentially serious dilemma has begun to take shape for some voters. The question isn’t for whom to vote in November but whether to vote at all. Yes, the candidates of both parties who are currently considered to have a serious shot at the nomination do have their enthusiastic […]
4/19/16
Reading Time 3 min

The joy of love in springtime

By Elizabeth Foss
The family is the setting in which a new life is not only born but also welcomed as a gift of God. Each new life “allows us to appreciate the utterly gratuitous dimension of love, which never ceases to amaze us. It is the beauty of being loved first: children are loved even before they […]
4/19/16
Reading Time 3 min

Using the ‘G-word’

By George Weigel
In the early church, witnesses to the faith who had been persecuted and tortured but not killed were known as “martyr-confessors.” It’s been one of the great privileges of my life to have known such men and women: Czech priests who spent years as slave laborers in uranium mines; Lithuanian priests and nuns condemned to […]
4/14/16
Reading Time 3 min

Priest comforted the shipwrecked aboard the Titanic

By Christina Capecchi
Father Thomas Byles was 42 when he boarded the Titanic with his second-class ticket and portable altar stone. He had made arrangements with Captain Edward Smith to secure space on the ocean liner to celebrate Mass. Even on vacation a priest is never off duty, he knew, but the Catholic convert would have it no […]
4/14/16
Reading Time 3 min

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