During a trip to Europe in 1953, accomplished 20th-century jazz pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams was exhausted,
emotionally drained, and facing financial peril when a friend took her to a small church in France where she began to pray.
As Deanna Witkowski explains in her 2021 biography of Williams, titled “Music for the Soul,” that’s where the musician’s spiritual journey and conversion to Catholicism began.
Commenting on the election of former President Donald Trump to serve a second term, Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington offered a reminder that no matter who occupies the White House, the Church’s advocacy and priorities will not change.
After it became clear that voters passed an amendment to enshrine the right to an abortion in the Maryland state constitution, the Maryland Catholic Conference was quick to acknowledge that the result was “a painful moment” in the state’s history.
On the day former President Donald Trump successfully won the 2024 presidential election, the leader of the U.S. bishops published a statement of congratulations to the president-elect that focused on the importance of the nation’s democracy.
While the exact breakdown of the Catholic vote in the 2024 election remains unclear, one expert notes that available exit polling data suggests that in future elections, white Catholics can be penciled in as a significant GOP voting bloc.
At a time when the convergence of faith and social media is in the news after Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer mocked the sacrament of Communion in an Instagram video, Father Simon Teller said faith-based social media content, including that which is light-hearted, is possible if it’s done in a way that the creator believes “brings people closer to Jesus.”
Archbishop Richard Henning began his journey as the 10th bishop and seventh archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, succeeding Cardinal Seán O’Malley.
Given the low level of participation by American Catholics in the process leading up to the Synod of Bishops on Synodality, the leader of the U.S. bishops says that efforts to involve a greater share of the laity in the next stage — dubbed the “implementation phase” — will be crucial to success or failure.
A Holy Year, or jubilee, is a “great religious event” in the Catholic tradition, according to the Vatican. The Holy See describes it as one of “forgiveness of sins and also punishment due to sin … reconciliation between adversaries, of conversion and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and consequently of solidarity, hope, justice, commitment to serve God with joy and in peace with our brothers and sisters.”
The head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops says Pope Francis’ new encyclical offers a “simple and powerful” cure to many problems that plague modern society.
