Kimberley Heatherington   The answer – according to an Institute for Human Ecology panel convened at The Catholic University of America in Washington – is basically this: It depends. There are “two big questions that hang over human life in digital reality right now,” announced Ross Douthat, a media fellow with the institute and New…

Rohith Kinattukara   You are excited. Finally you are at the Apple store to get the latest MacBook, one might say, everyone’s dream computer. You get back home and unbox your brand-new machine in all its glory and start typing away, sending emails, watching Netflix and maybe even doing some creative writing. Little do you…

Who do you say that I am?” It’s the question Jesus posed to the men closest to him, the one Peter answered with an unequivocal confession of faith in him as the Messiah and Son of God. The entirety of our Catholic faith rests on Peter’s response and, for 2,000 years, the Church has proclaimed…

St Laurence O’Toole, known in Irish as Lorcán Ua Tuathail, born in 1128 at Castledermot, Co. Kildare, Ireland, became renowned as a reformer, peacemaker, and man of deep faith. Laurence’s early life was marked by hardship; at just ten, he was handed over as a hostage to the King of Leinster, a political practice intended…

Gerard Bennett Every now and then, you realise that you are part of something historic, quite possibly, a once-in-a-lifetime moment. In that situation, you don’t want to miss anything; you know you want to recall each part of this special time. So it was when the relics of St Bernadette visited the Oblates of Mary…

At the Last Supper when Jesus instituted the Eucharist, He chose to use two elements, bread and wine. The images are now so deeply ingrained in our consciousness that we never stop to ask, why bread and wine? Among all the things Jesus might have chosen, why these two? What do they carry in themselves…

Michael R. Heinlein What do we do when we return to the pew after receiving Holy Communion? Having welcomed the Lord of the universe into our own corner of it, in the humblest yet profound of ways, how should our prayer be directed? For years, I’d attempt various strategies hoping to make the most of…

Russell Shaw   Lately I’ve had occasion to read two books by St John Henry Newman. One is Newman’s first novel, Loss and Gain, while the other is that classic “history of my religious opinions” (Newman’s words), the Apologia Pro Vita Sua. Although the two volumes could hardly be more unalike in most respects, both…

The Hope Concert organised by Shalom’s prayer group spreads gratitude for God’s love and mercy. “Every song, prayer, and moment of reflection is chosen with one goal in mind: to remind everyone of God’s profound love and the comfort, joy, and renewal He brings,” explained Meggie Teixeira, one of the organisers. The concert aims for…