What will America become? The migration issue we confront today will greatly determine our future self-awareness and identity as a nation. It cannot be denied that we are a nation of immigrants. The current negative national narrative on migration has been influenced
It takes something extraordinary to rain on a triumph like the NCAA men’s basketball championship. But after Villanova prevailed in the final game on April 2, one of their players, 21-year-old Donte DiVincenzo, who is white, was asked by reporters about comments
It was a beautiful sign of renewing times that my alma mater, The Catholic University of America, held a conference marking the 50th anniversary of Blessed Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae. A campus that once was a hotbed of controversy and
I have to admit I was quite intimidated at first. I was honored, as well, but mostly intimidated. It’s not every day that a writer, even one with several books, and more than 30 years of media experience under her belt, is
Question: Is Mary Magdalene the sister of Martha and Lazarus and the one who anoints Jesus’ feet with perfumed oil? — Lori Yarsky, Pittsburgh Answer: The current consensus is that Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene are different women, but views in
Good Shepherd Sunday is not for the faint of heart. Sure, it’s consoling to contemplate Jesus as the shepherd who seeks out the lost sheep. He finds us caught in the thistles of our wayward hearts, lifting us up and taking us
The news that Pope Francis has set in motion the planning for an assembly of the Synod of Bishops dealing with the Amazon region next year may not strike most U.S. Catholics as a matter of great interest. But hold on —
Recently, walking in the woods with my 6-year-old daughter, I was amazed at how fluently she could speak about endangered animals. She chattered away about the last white rhino that died a few weeks ago. She knew about passenger pigeons who were
In this week’s Gospel, the disciples who encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus return to Jerusalem to tell what happened (see Lk 24:35-48). In the middle of their story, Jesus appears again, terrifying everyone. The disciples think he is a ghost.
This year, the observance of Holy Week came with more focus on hell than usual, because of the assertion on Holy Thursday by an Italian journalist that Pope Francis told him that hell does not exist. Eugenio Scalfari, the 93-year-old co-founder and
It was old, but it was fascinating! In a secondhand bookshop, I found a copy of the 1955 Official Catholic Directory. (The Official Catholic Directory has been published yearly for well over a century. It has the names and addresses of all