This week, we embark on an enlightening journey for Pentecost with renowned Catholic art historian Elizabeth Lev. With a scholar's eye and a storyteller's flair, Lev unravels the rich symbolism and profound significance woven into the masterpieces depicting this pivotal moment in
Every year, various myths about Christmas circulate. Some are innocent misunderstandings of things from the Gospels, while others are downright hostile. One of the most common ideas is that Christmas is based on a pagan holiday, so it’s really “pagan” in origin.
The costs of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church are impossible to quantify. It has been 20 years since that wave of news broke over the Church in the United States. And it has been 20 years since the American bishops
The placement of most saints’ feast days has less to do with the season and more to do with the date of their death. But the Spirit works through that, too, and often the lives of the saints have particular messages that
In the month of November, we remember and pray for our beloved dead and contemplate the lives of the saints who have gone before us. This month is therefore a good time to ponder the meaning of death from a Catholic perspective,
After writing gift guides for some 20 years, Lori Hadacek Chaplin is still pleasantly surprised by the quality and creativity of Catholic artists, authors and entrepreneurs. For Our Sunday Visitor’s 2022 Advent and Christmas gift guide, she features items such as a
As many would likely tell you themselves, bishops in the United States have been called a lot of names, with Most Reverend and Your Excellency making up only part of the list. But there’s one name currently under consideration for a select
Let’s get reading! Sometimes we need resources that give us a pat on the back or a gentle hug. Other times we need the raw reality of what’s going on in the world and how to navigate it. This year for Our
In a new In Focus for Our Sunday Visitor, writer Susan Erschen offers readers ways to cope with the loss of a loved one with the help of the writings of C.S. Lewis. Erschen writes: “Grief enters all of our lives at
With the arrival of Halloween, we’re given another way to consider good versus evil, the struggle for redemption, and the cost of choosing the wrong side. Horror movies seem an unlikely venue for spiritual reflection, but the good ones make the darkness
This year we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The question of the council’s legacy is an ongoing matter of continuing debate among theologians whose discussions of the finer theological points of the council