Commentary

St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr, (d. 107 AD)

St. Ignatius was from Antioch, the capital city of the Roman province of Syria. Little is known about the first part of his life. He was born around the year 35 AD, probably to pagan parents, and he later converted to Christianity. He may have been a disciple of St. John the Evangelist.

A political examination of conscience

Pope Francis’ recent speeches to Congress and to the United Nations were models of Church engagement in the public arena. By re-framing the task of politics and anchoring policy debates to the natural law, both messages were radical critiques of the prevailing culture of each institution and should serve as an examination of conscience for public officials at all levels of government.

Life after the convent: finding the courage to start over

There is no scrapbook of Kathy Webb’s life as a Dominican sister. No picture frames or friendship bracelets, no nun memorabilia perched in a closet or buried in a trunk. The only artifact from her convent days is the long apron she wore to protect her white habit, bearing her former identity on a tiny tag sewn onto the back: “Sister Cora Marie 558.”

Jesus, the great high priest

THE SECOND READINGS OF WEEKS 27-33, YEAR B, FROM THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS

St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), religious

St. Francis was born in Assisi, Umbria, Italy, in 1182 to Christian parents, his father, Pietro, and his mother, Pica. His baptismal name was Giovanni. After Pietro, a wealthy textile merchant, returned from a business trip to France, he added the name Francesco. Francesco was a fun-loving young lad, quite popular, and a troubadour. He and his many friends merrily romped about the countryside singing and enjoying each other’s company.

Anti-Catholic bigotry fails to dampen call to love in Philadelphia

"Enter that line and you enter the path of destruction!" That's what a man holding a sign filled with Bible verses screamed to me as I came close to a security checkpoint for access to the much-anticipated papal Mass in Philadelphia Sept. 27.

Saints Cosmas and Damian, martyrs

More Legend than History. There is very little accurate historical information about Sts. Cosmas and Damian, but their legend has been popular and revered over the centuries. As the story goes, Cosmas and Damian were twin brothers, born in Arabia sometime in the early to mid-Third Century.

Our lives don’t belong to us

It was [recently] revealed that, for the first time in its history, Harvard University, which had been founded for religious purposes and named for a minister of the Gospel, has admitted a freshman class in which atheists and agnostics outnumber professed Christians and Jews. Also . . . the House and the Senate of California passed a provision that allows for physician assisted suicide in the Golden State. As I write these words, the governor of California is deliberating whether to sign the bill into law. Though it might seem strange to suggest as much, I believe that the make-up of the Harvard freshman class and the passing of the suicide law are really related.

Four reasons why clerk shouldn’t have been jailed for defending marriage

Kim Davis, the now-famous clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, who became known for her refusal to issue marriage licenses, was arrested and incarcerated [earlier this month]. She had refused to affix her signature to licenses being sought by two people of the same sex, even after the Supreme Court had legalized gay marriage, noting that this would force her to act against her conscience and her deeply-held religious convictions.

Culture of relativism harming families, individuals, society

As people from around the world gather in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families, it is important to take stock of one of the deepest challenges to the family today: moral relativism. Relativism is a powerful challenge to nurturing healthy families because it harms the moral ecology of society. It is hard for family life to flourish in a toxic moral, cultural and political ecosystem.

Reasons that I’m a big fan of Saint Junipero Serra

My first encounter with then-Blessed Junipero Serra was when I was a Crosier religious brother on a trip to Phoenix, Arizona, in the 1980’s. I have a special devotion to the Cross, and I had an aunt, now deceased, Sister Mary Eve Goering, O.S.F., who was a Franciscan Sister of Little Falls, so the Franciscans have a dear place in my heart. There, above the entrance to the La Casa Retreat House in Mesa was a statue of Father Serra holding a Latin Cross and dressed in a Franciscan habit. I liked him right away!
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