News

I imagine that most seven-year-old’s confessions are about the same: being mean to one’s sibling; disobeying one’s parents; being greedy at the store; stealing one’s brother’s gum balls out of… Read More

Sara Perla from Catholic University wrote a piece for OSV for parents who are anxious about their children’s faith lives: “Time after time when I asked students to tell me… Read More

If you have ever been to a stand-up comedy show, you know that comics tend to be something of a mess. Comedy is, for many of these people, a way… Read More

Many hospitals regularly engage in something called a clinical mortality review (also called morbidity & mortality rounds or “M&M” conferences). These meetings are used to try to understand if a… Read More

One of the prominent images of the Francis pontificate is that of the Church as a field hospital in the midst of battle. “Tend the wounds, tend the wounds!” calls… Read More

In 1990, 238 synod fathers met in Rome for the 8th Ordinary General Synod on “The Formation of Priests in Circumstances of the Present Day.” They presented Pope John Paul… Read More

Today I continue the series I promised last time: baby steps toward increased trust between bishops and priests. Today’s step is phone calls—both from the bishop to priests and priests’… Read More

I have been slowly reading through the first write-in section of our national survey of Catholic priests. We asked priests, “In your opinion, what is one step that should be… Read More

Sometimes I send my column to particular friends who I think may have insights on the topic that would help either the writing or the content. One friend who shares… Read More

I wrote recently about obedience in the context of authority in the Church, and I promised a part two on leadership. It is easy to see how obedience can be… Read More

The Church is nourished by the blood of the martyrs. This is something that is communicated nonverbally almost everywhere you look in the Church. Walk into one and try not… Read More

In college, someone recommended that I read A Right to Be Merry by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. When I finished it, I knew two things: cloistered religious life was absolutely… Read More