Elizabeth Scalia In chapter 31 of her autobiography, the 16th Century Carmelite St Teresa of Avila – one of four female doctors of the Church, including her spiritual daughter, St Thérèse of Lisieux – urges us toward frequent use of one particular, very common and (usually) widely available sacramental. “From long experience I have…
Russell Shaw Levelling hierarchical distinctions in the Church without removing them entirely has emerged as a principal objective of Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality. That is perhaps the chief conclusion to be drawn from the first session of the synod, which took place October 4-29 at the Vatican. The second, and presumably last, session will…
Christians should be striving for the same ‘unity of life’ Christ embodied, writes Russell Shaw The state or condition called “unity of life” isn’t a virtue in itself. It can even serve bad ends. So what’s it doing as the subject of an article on virtues for people trying to lead good lives out in…
Fr Patrick Briscoe OP The year was 1938, and the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain delivered a powerful radio address against antisemitism, as relevant today as it was then. His words, spoken in the shadow of the Holocaust and the rise of Nazi Germany, were a voice of reason and compassion springing from the heart…
Sr Nancy Usselmann Integrating our faith with our media use is a real challenge, particularly as adverse media messages often run so contrary to our values. How can we bring faith into our digital media dialogue without losing who we are as Christians? How can we become holy within a culture that often tempts us…
Freedom is a gift we must not misuse, writes Bishop Donald Hying In his groundbreaking document on Catholic moral principles, Veritatis Splendor, St John Paul II dedicates many paragraphs to the question of freedom, articulating it as an authentic gift from God. The Lord gives us the freedom to choose how to live. We are…
Kenneth Craycraft Only 150 years ago, in October 1873, Eastern Orthodox theologian (and later Metropolitan of Nicomedia) Philotheos Bryennios made a monumental discovery in the bowels of the library of the Great School of the Nation in Istanbul. He found a complete manuscript of the late 1st Century catechism known as The Teaching of…
Sr Hosea Rupprecht Did you ever decorate your room with posters of your favourite famous people when you were a teenager – a sports figure, movie star or musician? Growing up, I sure did. I had posters of John Denver, Wayne Gretzky and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in my bedroom. There’s no doubt that…
Promulgated August 6, 1993, by St John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor is the holy pontiff’s articulation of Catholic moral principles. It views the moral life through the lens of the rich young man, who comes to Christ asking what he must do to inherit eternal life.
“Beauty will save the world,” Dostoyevsky famously wrote in his novel, The Idiot.