When Pope Francis makes his first trip to the United States this month, he will act on a grand stage much as previous popes have done. There will be a private meeting with the president and public Masses in Washington, D.C.; New York; and Philadelphia. He will address the United Nations. Two aspects of his Read more
On Christmas Eve, 1991, I was preparing to celebrate Mass. I was at Casa Romero, a hospitality center for refugees set up by the Diocese of Brownsville in response to a massive number of Central Americans fleeing violence by heading north to the USA. Because I had some time before we were supposed to start Read more
It is difficult to believe that it has been fifty years since I joined my religious community, the Sisters of Social Service, and began a lifetime of commitment to the quest for justice based in the Gospel. Over the decades my spirituality and prayer life have deepened to be a contemplative life of “walking willing.” Read more
While pro-Russian and pro-Western media have been spinning the Crimea crisis as either a heroic exercise in righting a past wrong or a land grab by a new Hitler, the legal position is far from straightforward. Crimea was once an independent Tatar khanate, captured by Russia in the 18th century. The Tatars were deported by Read more
When Pope Francis was elected in March, Bridget Kurt received a small prayer card with his picture at her church and put it up on her refrigerator at home, next to pictures of her friends and her favourite saints. She is a regular attender of Mass, a longtime stalwart in her church’s anti-abortion movement and Read more
The presidents of more than a third of the 244 Catholic universities and tertiary colleges in the United States have called on Congress to pass immigration reform, saying the current treatment of immigrants is “morally indefensible”. The 93 presidents have appealed directly to all 163 Catholic members of Congress, many of whom are graduates of Read more
Americans continue to hold the military in high regard, with more than three-quarters of U.S. adults (78%) saying that members of the armed services contribute “a lot” to society’s well-being. That’s a modest decline from 84% four years ago, the last time the Pew Research Center asked the public to rate various professions. But the Read more
A strong media bias towards same-sex marriage in the United States has been revealed in a study conducted by the independent Pew Research Center. An analysis of reporting during a period when the issue was before the US Supreme Court found that stories predominantly supporting same-sex marriage outweighed those predominantly opposing it by 5-1. This Read more
Catholic Scouting groups in the United States have called for respect for all people while reiterating the Church’s teaching on sexuality following the Boy Scouts of America’s decision to admit gay youth. Some Catholic dioceses have stated that they will continue to sponsor Scouting groups under the new policy. Other dioceses, and the National Catholic Read more
Invoking just-war criteria, the United States Catholic bishops have questioned the moral legitimacy of the Obama administration’s use of drones in counter-terrorism actions. “Targeted killing should, by definition, be highly discriminatory,” said letters from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon and members of Congress. The letters questioning the use Read more