On June 9, 1918, in a Denver chapel, thousands of people filed silently past the body of the first American Catholic laywoman ever granted the privilege of lying in state. This extraordinary woman was not a member of the city’s ruling class. She was a domestic worker, formerly enslaved, with only one good...
This morning, less than a month after Donald Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States, Pope Francis wrote a letter to the US bishops offering what many see as a stinging rebuke of the administration’s anti-immigrant and mass deportation policies. In it, he repudiates the notion of stigmatizing illegal immigrants with criminality...
The abounding wealth, with which God the Creator has enriched the lands that are subject to You, allow You to go on with the struggle; but at what cost? Let the thousands of young lives quenched every day on the fields of battle make answer : answer, the ruins of so many towns...
Politics has been burning me out this past month. I feel a real tension in trying to meet the responsibilities I have to be an educated and informed adult while also trying to focus on the areas of my life and community where I actually have influence. In the past, I’ve found a...
Carl Trueman has recently written an online piece published by First Things, entitled, “Why I Am Not a Catholic.” Here is the heart of his answer: “the present pope seems to be nothing more than a liberal Protestant in a white papal robe. And as a Protestant, I am acutely aware of the...
Reflections on “a further reception of the Council” in light of the Synodal Process This article is based on a conference given by theologian Rafael Luciani at the Annual Meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Women and Men Confederation (CLAR) for the preparation of the Third Phase of the Synod. Dr. Luciani...
I bet there have been times that you, like me, have experienced that empty feeling that you do not belong here, that you are an unwelcomed person – persona non grata. Now magnify that feeling many times. Imagine that you had to flee from your native country because of unbearable persecution and/or dire...
This week I spoke with Esther Harber. Esther is the Survivor Care Coordinator for Awake and a survivors of sexual assault by a Catholic priest. In this discussion she shares her own story and how her experiences of harm have impacted her faith. Esther has maybe the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever...
Homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Readings). The gospel reading on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Lk 2, 22-40) is really about humility. The word humility comes from the Latin ‘humous’, which means dirt or soil. Basically, the humble are down to earth; they don’t walk...
O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the newborn Lord, lying in a manger. O blessed virgin, whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia! This evening began our last thematic celebration of the Divine Infancy, this liturgical year: February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of...
In the search for a solution to the problem of migration in general and illegal migrants in particular, the attitude of the host society has an important role to play. In this perspective, it is very important that public opinion be properly informed about the true situation in the migrants’ country of origin,...
I honestly didn’t think the US Catholics could scandalize me any more than they already had. My entire life, I’d been taught by Catholics that the teachings of our faith are more important than political trends or popular culture. I’ve been told by many Catholics that when their faith and their politics contradict,...
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