Emily Zanotti There is little needed to set fire to the world of online Catholics -and the recent commencement speech from Kansas City Chiefs kicker, Harrison Butker to an audience of Benedictine College graduates seemed to riddle Catholic social media with fractures, as traditionalists and liberals, Catholics and non-Catholics, and even men and women came…
Teresa Pitt Green My work with clergy is a long way from the old days. Then, when I spotted a Roman collar on a random passerby mixed in the throng of a Manhattan Avenue, I would crumble into the nearest doorway with a mix of anxiety and grief known as ‘beginning to remember’. Now, I…
Elizabeth Scalia We all have them, those desperate times, particularly in the wee small hours of the morning, when illness or anxiety pulls us up from our beds and down to our knees, or keeps us on our feet, pacing the floor as we seek relief from physical or mental or spiritual aches and ailments.…
James Garavan We often hear priests speak about how the Church ought to accommodate the ever-diminishing young Catholic population. Today I sat down with two young Catholics, Conor and Isabelle to discuss life as a young Catholic and how they think, as a young person, Irish parishes and schools are failing to support the youth.…
Teresa Pitt Green Most Catholics experience the crisis of sexual abuse by clergy in relation to headlines, as stories from around the globe or from the local parish where a trusted priest has been removed. Yet the pain of abuse within the church bleeds somewhere else, in someone else’s wounds, which are the only place…
Michael R. Heinlein What does it mean to receive Jesus Christ in the Eucharist? How are our lives to be changed from such an encounter? In fact, the fruits of the Eucharist are many. They bring about a unity in diversity, wherein each member of the body – responding to grace – can live unique…
Lauretta Brown When I mention to priests and religious that I am reading one spiritual classic a month this year, I often immediately get the advice not to read The Dark Night of the Soul by St John of the Cross. I have obligingly avoided that intimidating work, but when one Carmelite encouraged me to…
Silvio Cuéllar Over a decade ago, my wife Becky and I decided to cut our cable service and go without television. It was a drastic decision at the time, but one that helped our children learn many skills, such as playing instruments, painting and developing their talents at a young age. We made that decision…
Effie Caldarola One morning, I was half-listening to America’s National Public Radio as I quickly prepared for an appointment. Into the shower, grab the coffee, find the toothbrush and in the midst of this, bits and pieces of the day’s news. Then, ‘StoryCorps’ was playing. An independent nonprofit, StoryCorps exists to let people tell their…
May is a chance to celebrate Mary’s many appearances, writes Gretchen Crowe Seven years ago this May, the Church celebrated the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Mary to three shepherd children at Fatima. To commemorate the event, Pope Francis visited Portugal, as did thousands upon thousands of pilgrims. Apparitions It was a time of…