Walk into any Roman Catholic church in the world, and just beside the door will be a pedestal on which is placed a bowl containing holy water. By habit, everyone entering or leaving the church dips his or her fingers into the
Raising public awareness about the role of slavery in building the U.S. Catholic Church and sparking hopes for racial justice and reconciliation were themes that emerged in a recent discussion at The Catholic University of America in Washington.
The discussion featured former New
In his latest book, Joseph Pearce sets out to work through all of church history in hopes of identifying where God was actually at work, as opposed to where human impulses and evil influences appeared as wolves in sheep’s clothing.
A reader asks: “I was speaking to a friend of mine and the subject of women deaconesses came up. He says we never had deaconesses in the Church. I disagree. He is a good friend, but I think he is misinformed.” However,
Colleen Pressprich explains the Jesse Tree: “Put quite simply, the Jesse Tree is the family tree of Jesus. It traces the lineage of Christ all the way back to Adam and Eve. In other words, the Jesse Tree connects the dots between
Father Patrick Briscoe reflects on the powerful radio address given by the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain in 1938, where he condemned antisemitism. At that time, the world was witnessing the horrors of the Holocaust and the rise of Nazi Germany, making
On Oct. 15, 1565, St. Charles Borromeo addressed an assembly of the bishops of the dioceses under his jurisdiction. The purpose was a solemn one. The Council of Trent had mandated such meetings of bishops to prompt the implementation of the council’s
Archeologists with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem recently discovered an ancient Christian inscription paraphrasing Psalm 86 that dates back to the height of the Byzantine era. The text in Koine Greek — the language of the New Testament — appears painted in
It’s been a few weeks since Pope Francis met informally with Portuguese Jesuits in Lisbon for World Youth Day. During that conversation, he shared his opinion about the Church in the United States, which many American Catholics took offense to. Too often
In honor of the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, writer David Werning gives a rundown of the major writings of his pontificate, including four apostolic exhortations and three encyclicals: “Summing up the thought and influence of a particular pope upon his