“We need to open the dialogue” to reduce tensions between North Korea and the United States, says Stephen Colecchi. Colecchi is the director of the U.S. bishops’ Office of International Justice and Peace. He was one of three panelists at a Georgetown University forum discussing the issue. “The only way to open up the relationship Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Catholic’
How a Catholic reacts to the Superpope shirt probably says a lot
Thursday, November 2nd, 2017
Typically, the usual way we talk about the internal differences among Catholics is in terms of left v. right, liberals against conservatives. Although those terms are inexact and often misleading when applied to religious groups, there’s no denying they do capture something. However, they’re hardly the only way of slicing the Catholic pie, and a Read more
A Catholic reaction to Kazuo Ishiguro’s Nobel Prize
Thursday, October 12th, 2017
Kazuo Ishiguro, the Japanese-born author of The Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go, and five other acclaimed English-language novels, was awarded the Nobel Prize on Thursday. No doubt, Ishiguro’s many Catholic fans, myself included, heartily applauded the news. In striking contrast to many modern novelists, his deeply moral stories go to the heart of the Read more
Ways to avoid bitterness as a Catholic
Monday, October 9th, 2017
What does it look like to be consumed by bitterness? It looks like the way an awful lot of Catholics speak to and about one another. Bitterness isn’t born ex nihilo. Bitterness is the festering of a spiritual wound, and many Catholics are infected by bitterness because they have suffered real, penetrating, stinging wounds at the Read more
Belfast Catholics flee mixed-religion housing estate
Monday, October 2nd, 2017
Four Belfast Catholic families have been forced to flee their homes after sectarian threats. They have been living in a social housing project which is supposed to be a flagship cross-community development. People of various religions live there. One of those who fled said police had visited his home on Tuesday night, telling the family Read more
Vibrant community bears witness to the true meaning of word “catholic”
Thursday, September 28th, 2017
The Diocese of Mendi is nestled in the mountains in the southern highland region of Papua New Guinea. When the first missionaries came to the area in the mid-1950s there were no Catholics. The diocese now has 80,000 – around 10 percent of the population. Bishop Donald Lippert says the diocese has a vibrant and Read more
Thomas More, Cardinal Newman, and the question of conscience
Monday, September 11th, 2017
St. Thomas More and Blessed John Henry Newman may not on first glance seem to be a good pairing: the twice-happily married lawyer and public servant and the celibate Oxford Fellow and Oratorian priest. The sixteenth century Catholic martyr and the nineteenth century convert and confessor; the witty teller of merry tales and the seemingly Read more
Hindu to Atheist to Agnostic to Anglican to Catholic to priest
Monday, July 17th, 2017
A remarkable journey will reach a new stage on 15 July when Br Robert Krishna OP will be ordained a priest by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at St Benedict’s, Broadway. Br Robert’s journey began in Bangalore, India. Originally a Hindu, he became an atheist at the age of 10, and in his late teens considered Read more
What does it mean to be a green Catholic
Thursday, July 13th, 2017
The Catholic Church has a rich history of being environment conscious. Blessed Pope Paul VI wrote Octogesima Adveniens, a 1971 apostolic letter that warned against the consequences of unchecked human actions. “Due to an ill-considered exploitation of nature, humanity runs the risk of destroying it and becoming in turn a victim of this degradation,” he wrote. In Read more
Reformed churches, Catholics overcome Reformation divisions
Thursday, July 13th, 2017
The World Communion of Reformed churches (WCR) representing about 80 million Christians signed a “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification” with Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist leaders last week in Wittenberg, Germany. It was in Wittenberg in 1517 that Martin Luther unveiled the 95 Theses that launched the Reformation. Centuries of dispute followed about whether Read more