Essay

On this last May 13th, Catholics all over Portugal celebrated the 99th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima while others celebrated the approval of medically assisted procreation for lesbian couples and their […]

Readings: • Acts 2:1-11 • Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 • 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 or Rom 8:8-17 • Jn 20:19-23 or Jn 14:15-16, 23b-26 He is silent, yet sounds like rushing wind; he […]

The night I first saw the film Full of Grace is one I won’t soon forget. It was a night of extreme paradox. We were invited to the premiere by my parents, who had purchased […]

“You ascended into glory, O Christ our God, and You delighted the disciples with the promise of the Holy Spirit. Through this blessing, they were assured that You are the Son of God, the Redeemer […]

Mercy—it’s a word that’s dominated Catholic discourse over the past three years, primarily because Pope Francis rarely makes a public comment without invoking it. Of course, it’s hardly a new idea for Christians. Francis’s immediate […]

Readings: • Acts 15:2-2, 22-29 • Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8 • Rev 21:10-14, 22-23 • Jn 14:23:-29 “A gift is freely given,” wrote St. Thomas Aquinas, “and expects no return. Its reason is love. […]

Now that the dust stirred by publication of Pope Francis’s new document on marriage has started to settle, it’s time for assessments that avoid the overwrought tone of some early responses. Here, then, some preliminary […]

On a recent trip to Scotland Bishop Gilbert of Aberdeen asked me whether I was familiar with the Scottish writer George Mackay Brown. I had to confess that I had never heard of him. A […]

The announcement that Archbishop Christoph Pierre will succeed Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò as Apostolic Nuncio to the United States is an opportunity to pay tribute to a courageous churchman who has served Catholicism, Pope Benedict […]