by Don Zirkel It may have been our first serious family meeting led by the children and not their (septuagenarian) parents. The memorial gathering in our upstate vacation home was so similar, and so different. It resembled many of the spiritual retreats of our lifetimes – challenges and prayer, silence and sharing, mood music and […]
by Stefanie Gutierrez My husband Manny and I have no family in New York. We moved here from Florida as recent college graduates, with Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” rolling around in our heads. I look back on our first months here as both providential and full of what I endearingly call “Godsequences.” The […]
by Father Eugene Hemrick At 6 a.m., I rise and turn on my music station that is interrupted every 30 minutes by the news. After Mass, I read the newspaper that awaits me on the kitchen table. The first thing to appear on my computer at work is MSN news. Before dinner, I sit and […]
by Paul Morisi A concern of many Catholics today (not just of pastors and bishops) is “where are the young Catholics?” It can be a scary sight, to enter a church and to see that demographic absent. Simply putting a bulletin insert inviting “20 somethings” to a prayer group might not be enough (especially if […]
by Sister Constance Carolyn Veit, L.S.P. St. Jeanne Jugan was well into her 40’s when she established the Little Sisters of the Poor. Some might consider her a “delayed” or “late” vocation, but I don’t think Jeanne was delayed at all. From an early age, she had a sense of her vocation. Jeanne knew that […]
by Tom and Mary Hartmann “What Americans need are experiences of living the economy according to the Gospel,” a wise friend said to us after Mass one morning. When we got home we started talking about all the economic challenges we experienced in our large family. We remembered what we learned over the years as […]
Father Peter J. Daly Pope Benedict XVI’s visits to Mexico and Cuba were good things. Both countries are extremely troubled. The Catholic Church in those countries could use the encouragement of the Church’s supreme pastor. I’ve never been to Cuba, but I have frequently been to Mexico and Nicaragua over the past 12 years. We […]
by Father William J. Byron, SJ Charles Murray’s book “Coming Apart” has provoked a lot of commentary from the left, right, and center of the ideological spectrum. The book’s subtitle, “The State of White America, 1960-2010,” explains to some extent why readers would be curious. But something else is driving the well-deserved attention that Murray’s […]
by Paul Morisi As I began my work in youth and young adult ministry, I sought counsel from others who worked with young people in the Church. I spoke with many wonderful people who gave me many insights. The one piece that sticks out in my mind is “the youth are not the Church of […]
by Mark Pattison Remember TV-Turnoff Week? It’s now called Screen-Free Week. Organizers of the annual week long voluntary blackout of TV recognize that TV isn’t the only screen where children – and adults – go for mindless entertainment. In fact, when Billy Crystal can joke during the Oscars about people watching movies on their cellphones, […]
