Dear Editor: There is barely a news account – of the U.S. or the world – that does not cry out for healing, for justice, for peace. But I myself have been the most heart-broken over the suffering of the parents and children crossing our border. This is not a horror taking place in a brutal society off the radar. This is not an issue for partisan politics. This is a human rights crime that is being perpetrated in our names as Americans. Families are being ripped apart even in our own diocese: in Fort Hamilton where I grew up, a pizza delivery man was detained and his future in this country now rests in the hands of the court.
Author: settinger
Shootings Stem from Mental Health Issues
WHEN PLANE HIJACKING became a national threat, we immediately addressed the problem by upgrading preventive measures at our airports: X-ray surveillance, body searches, luggage inspections.
Lifting Up the Vocation Of Fatherhood
Many men today are redefining what it means to be a father. They are intimately involved in the raising of children and the responsibilities of family life, navigating the competing demands of work and home with love. How can we as a Church support their callings? What sources of inspiration in our Catholic tradition offer ways to honor fathers?
A Turning Point Helped Refocus My Vocation
BORN INTO a peasant family in a rural area of Central Vietnam, I am the second of five children. Growing up, I had to work very hard as a farmer.
Finding Forgiveness for Fathers – And Sons
It was Wednesday, the day the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (R.C.I.A.) meets at my parish. At the start of each session, we engage in a modified Lectio Divina. This past Holy Week, we were reading the Gospel about the two disciples walking to Emmaus. We focused in on how the disciples knew it was Jesus that they had asked “to stay with us.”
Hope Over Despair
This past week, we read the reports of the deaths by suicide of fashion designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.
Pope Names First Layman to Head Pontifical University
Pope Francis has appointed the first layperson to head Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University.
German Bishops Asked to Set Aside Eucharistic Sharing Plans
Pope Francis has asked the Catholic bishops’ conference of Germany not to publish nationwide guidelines for allowing Protestants married to Catholics to receive Communion at Mass, but to continue having diocesan bishops judge specific situations.
Revision of Youth Protection Charter Is Nearly Complete
The chair of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People said a two-year project to revise the charter that guides the U.S. Church in protecting minors from sexual abuse is nearly ready to be presented to the full body of bishops.
Court Rules for Conscience in Baker’s Case
In a 7-2 decision June 4, the Supreme Court sided with Colorado baker Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop in a case that put anti-discrimination laws up against freedom of speech and freedom of religious expression.