THE HUMAN SIDE “It ruined me for life.” This utterance is that of a participant in lay volunteerism. Disturbing images of working with the poor in a foreign country were burned into his memory — images of the gap between rich and poor that drive him to continue to serve the poor back at home. […]
Effie Caldarola: Mollie Tibbetts and our church
FOR THE JOURNEY Can you take any more bad news about the Catholic Church right now? I didn’t think so. The Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse and the cover-up by church officials, the disgrace of the former Cardinal McCarrick, the confusing letter by a disgruntled former papal nuncio to the U.S. in […]
Father Kenneth Doyle: Sacraments for those with dementia?
QUESTION CORNER Q: I bring holy Communion to a local nursing home. Of the 66 Catholics there, many of them have no visitors. Those with dementia are asked whether they would like to receive the Eucharist, and if they say yes, I give them the host. It saddens me that Jesus suffered to give us […]
Sister Francine Costello, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet: The face of a loving God
VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP Hawaii Catholic Herald As an immigrant child who grew up in a war zone, I often felt nervous and fearful. When we wanted to visit family, our passes and other documents were inspected before we could cross the barrier. One day, a Japanese soldier came […]
Sex abuse crisis: Greg Erlandson | Our hope remains in the Lord
AMID THE FRAY People ask how I can do my job as a Catholic editor and journalist these days without being depressed. Actually, it is depressing. How could it not be? The church I was baptized into when I was two weeks old, the church that I have attended, wrestled with, studied and love is […]
Sex abuse crisis: Carolyn Woo | You have let us down!
OUR GLOBAL FAMILY The McCarrick breaches and the Pennsylvania grand jury report of criminal child sexual abuse by the church drew anger, disgust, sorrow, disappointment and sadness for the “collateral damage.” I think of the priests who made God’s love real for my husband David and me, bishops who stood up for peace and justice, […]
Sex abuse crisis: Laura Kelly Fanucci | When hard conversations have to happen
FAITH AT HOME “I wish we didn’t have to talk about this.” What parent hasn’t thought or uttered these words, taking a deep breath before jumping into a hard conversation with their child? Whether a crisis at home, a conflict at school or an atrocity in the news, tough subjects are unavoidable in families. The […]
Father Kenneth Doyle: Is the death penalty out completely?
QUESTION CORNER Q: I have always been against the death penalty — since the prisoner is behind bars and removed from doing further harm to the public. But a recent piece in The Wall Street Journal included statements by criminals who said that they were not as aggressive with victims when they knew there […]
Christina Capecchi: Breaking up with your phone
TWENTY SOMETHING Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash I’ve been emailing my friend Becky, a newspaper editor in South Dakota, about our growing desire to unplug. We used to compare notes on “Dancing With the Stars,” but lately we’re both watching less TV. “My eyes have started to reject going from screen to screen,” she emailed […]
Msgr. Owen F. Campion: God forgives, we are restored
23RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Isaiah 35:4-7a; James 2:1-5; Mark 7:31-37 The first reading for this weekend, from the Book of Isaiah, speaks of the blind, the deaf and the lame. Today’s culture is very different from that in which this section of Isaiah was written. Physical impairments now can be managed in most cases. […]
