Cardinal George Pell has said that the first task of bishops is not to be theologians but to teach, explain, and defend the Church’s faith and morals. The Australian cardinal delivered his intervention at the synod on the family in Rome last week, and an extended form of it was posted to the Catholic Herald’s website. Read more
On one of the first evenings after our then foster (now adopted) daughter Teenasia came to live with us, second-grade Jacob was at the dining room table doing religion homework to prepare for his upcoming First Communion. My husband, Bill, was upstairs giving 4-year-old Liam a bath, and I was holding wriggling 16-month-old Teenasia, trying Read more
Recently, my family and closest friends gathered for my son’s baptism. We were joined by our larger church community, people we’re connected to in varying degrees, some of whom we embrace upon greeting, others whose hands we clasp briefly with a single word–peace–only once a week. Even my husband’s parents, unable to make the trip, Read more
Preaching before more than one million people in Philadelphia, Pope Francis argued strongly against a narrow approach to faith. At a Mass at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on September 27, the Pope expanded on readings of the day in which Jesus and Moses chided their followers for narrowness. “To raise doubts about the working of Read more
I do, at times, consider leaving the Society of Jesus. Like when I hear a baby cry right at the end of the Eucharistic prayer, or unlock the doors of a neglected community car that isn’t mine, or wake up alone. I was reading Eat, Pray, Love. I am not ashamed to admit reading the Read more
I don’t recall being asked but herewith I tell my story – proffered on end of a long stick (as Flannery O’Connor once said) so I can snatch some back if anger is provoked. I was born during WWII and educated at Catholic Schools (1948-1960). Our family practiced its faith even if it didn’t really value a Read more
Evangelical voters are a major force in Iowa Republican politics. A force that can tip the balance in the state’s marquee event: the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses. And it’s been that way for a long time. Sixteen years ago those voters delivered in a big way for a Texas governor named George W. Bush. But it’s Read more
The family of Blessie Gotingco began the novena on May 15, timing it so that the final day of prayer would fall last Sunday, the one-year anniversary of Blessie’s death. A man, who has name suppression, was convicted of Gotingco’s rape and murder at the High Court in Auckland on Friday. Gotingco went missing on Read more
Religious identity used to be “inherited.” “Cradle Catholic” is shorthand for born into the faith; within Judaism, the faith is passed through a Jewish mother to her children unless they grow up to proclaim a different religion. But children don’t just inherit parents’ spirituality, says psychologist Lisa Miller in her new book, “The Spiritual Child.” Read more
Eduardo Verastegui is a man of many talents: singer, model, actor, producer, pro-life speaker. After a successful career in music as a young man, he began acting in Mexican telenovelas, earning the nickname “the Brad Pitt of Mexico”. After moving to Hollywood to pursue a career in films he returned to the Catholic faith of Read more