I was greeting people following a parish event, recently, when an elderly lady accosted me and said, rather abruptly, “You’ve got to change your ideas on immigration.” Having been caught off guard a little, I responded, simply, “That’s not going to happen, ma’am, but hope you have a good day.” more

TO THE EDITOR: In his July 16 article, Father John A. Kiley spoke about the influence that the religious sisters had on his vocation to the priesthood. I could not agree more. more

“Well, it’s the Fourth of July; summer’s almost over,” my mom proclaimed each year as the nation’s birthday approached. more

The mainstream media delights whenever Pope Benedict XVI weaves environmental protection into his preaching, as he did this July in Australia before some 200,000 young Catholic pilgrims from across the planet. more

A parishioner handed me a slim book entitled “Church History 101.” As the title implies, the brief treatise outlined Catholicism’s 2,000 years in summary fashion: the ancient church, the medieval church, the reformation church, the modern church. more

A few hours before Benedict XVI preached at Australia’s World Youth Day about global ecological crises, I was at a supermarket checkout line in America not using reusable shopping bags. There I … more

Strengthened by the presence of Christ, the Church journeys through time toward the consummation of the ages and goes to meet the Lord who comes. But on this journey, she proceeds along the path already taken by the Virgin Mary, who advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and loyally persevered in union with her son. Pope John Paul II, “Redemptoris Mater” more