Recent attacks on priests and places of worship show the increased antagonism toward religion
It was a flat sense of duty to Our Sunday Visitor’s readers some years ago when I was in Poland working on a series of articles about the recovery of Polish Catholicism after 50 years of communism. To give readers a clear
We Catholics are not the only ones in the news. Noted a few weeks ago was the revelation of child sex abuse by ministers and other leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention, this country’s largest Protestant denomination. Now getting attention is the
Two wrongs do not make a right. The revelation of sexual abuse of children by leaders in Southern Baptist congregations in no way excuses similar crimes in the Catholic Church, but the reports can provide Catholics with facts to consider. First of
Many people say that anti-Catholicism passed out of American politics when John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, won the presidency in 1960 despite the religious bias that had been brought against him in the campaign. Well, if anti-Catholicism as a political issue collapsed
It is a secret, practically speaking. Few Catholics know that under American law many of the most famous “Catholic” universities in this country have no legal connection with the Church. Some years ago, the bishops of the United States formally voted
Talk about good news. I recently received the quarterly magazine published by the Dominican Sisters of the St. Cecilia Congregation in Nashville. Last summer, 11 new sisters professed perpetual vows in the community, and another 13 professed first vows. (Perpetual vows are
I have treasured it for a long time. Many years ago, I found in a small shop in Nashville, Tennessee, a Nativity set from France. I bought it, and it has been a beloved part of Advent and Christmas for me since
It started this fall. Many American dioceses voluntarily are providing news media with lists of priests who have been credibly accused, or admitted to, or convicted of sexually abusing youth. I almost always at least glance at the names. It is sad
Nov. 6 came and went. Most American Catholics regarded the day as special because of the midterm elections. Few thought of it as an anniversary, but American Catholics alive on Nov. 6, 1928, remember it as the day when Governor Alfred E.