The question of “who owns the Church” has had a stormy history in Catholic America, although the terms of reference have changed considerably over time.
Guest Columnists
23: A Psalm for Living
THIS WEEKEND WE find ourselves at what most people feel is the mid-point of Lent. The signpost is this Fourth Sunday in Lent, known as Laetere Sunday. Purple will be replaced with rose, and the entrance antiphon is from Isaiah: 10-11: “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast.”
Persuasive Disciples, Not Anarchic Disrupters
WE ARE LIVING through a dangerous moment in our national life, of an intensity and potential for destruction unseen since 1968. Then, a teenager, I watched U.S. Army tanks patrol the streets of Baltimore, Md., around the African-American parish where I worked. Now, a Medicare card carrier, I’m just as concerned about the fragility of the Republic and the rule of law.
Four Years Into a Latino Papacy
by Dr. Hosffman Ospino,
FOUR YEARS HAVE passed since the Holy Spirit inspired the election of the first Latino pope: Pope Francis. Wait. Did you say Latino or Latin American? Well, it depends on where you draw the line. I would argue that it is fine to speak of Pope Francis as a Latino pope.
A New Lenten Discipline
FOR LENT 2016, I adopted a new Forty Days discipline in addition to intensified prayer, daily almsgiving and letting my liver have its annual vacation: I quit sports talk radio, cold turkey.
Way of the Cross and Divine Mercy
HAVE YOU FOUND yourself wondering if Jesus loves you? Think you don’t deserve this love? If you want these doubts dispelled, try praying the Stations of the Cross.
A Lent to Remember
THE BEST LENT OF my life involved getting up every day at 5:30 a.m., hiking for miles through ankle-twisting, cobblestoned city streets, dodging drivers for whom traffic laws were traffic suggestions, avoiding the chaos of transit strikes and other civic disturbances, and battling bureaucracies civil and ecclesiastical – all while 3,500 miles from home sweet home.
Meatless Fridays: Of Faith and Fish
by Maureen Pratt FOR CATHOLICS AND other Christians who observe meatless Fridays, fish figure prominently, and this makes me (pardon the pun) happy as a clam. But I understand that some people are not as enthusiastic as I am about fish. The smell might be off-putting, the texture “slimy.”
Lent and the Culture of Greed
We live in a culture of greed where grasping for wealth and security can mask the emptiness we feel. Perhaps the Gospel story of Lazarus and the rich man would make a challenging daily reflection during Lent.
A Modest Defense of the ‘Liberal World Order’
I think liberal democracy is in grave danger… And yet I think there are things that can and must be said for the “liberal world order” and for liberal democracy.