What’s all this fuss about bullying? Once in St. Charles’ schoolyard in Woonsocket, Francis Marrah punched me right in the eye. more

Most homosexuals lead routine daily lives indistinguishable, for the most part, from their heterosexual neighbors. more

Catherine of Aragon, Ferdinand and Isabella’s ill-fated daughter and Henry VIII’s ill-used wife, was actually quite a competent queen for England. During Henry’s several ventures overseas, Catherine was his regent, one time even defeating the Scots at Flodden Field while her husband had lesser luck in his French expeditions. more

I say bring back the Cappa Magna. more

Perhaps no words of Scripture are more controversial nowadays than the utterance of St. Paul to the Ephesians found in this coming Sunday's second reading: “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.” more

St. Ignatius of Antioch was perhaps only one generation removed from the Apostles. Some enthusiastically claim he was a disciple of St. John the Apostle. more

When President Obama announced his endorsement of homosexual marriage, he acknowledged that there were religious implications to his decision to endorse same-sex unions. more

The Archdiocese of Boston recently sponsored an afternoon of talks on issues critical to appreciating the church’s teachings on sexuality and reproduction. more

The Gospel according to St. Mark is traditionally considered to be the oldest of the four canonical Gospel accounts. more

A young priest of my acquaintance wrote his master's dissertation on the spirituality of the early Roman martyrs. more

The 19th century Russian writer Leo Tolstoy is remembered in the Western world chiefly as the author of the voluminous novels “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina.” more

In the United States worshippers at Mass are encouraged to kneel after the “Holy, Holy, Holy” and rise again at the “Great Amen,” just before the “Our Father.” This rubric is not mandated in some other countries. more

Although Good Friday has now passed and the church looks forward to the majestic celebrations of Christ’s Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and the Solemnity of Christ’s Body and Blood, nonetheless the crucifix that was the center of attention on that solemn Friday is still the center of attention as believers enter their parish churches Sunday after Sunday. more

Readings: Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; 1 John 4:11-16; and John 17:11-19 more

Uniquely among the Evangelists, St. John does not report the hallowed words of consecration that are so familiar to Catholics both from the Scriptures and from the Mass. more

Pope Benedict XVI’s elder brother, Father George Ratzinger, has collaborated in authoring a book on the family life that the two Ratzinger sons, George and Joseph, shared with their parents and with each other during most of the decades of the last century. more

Worshippers around the Catholic world will be greeted by rows of tulips, banks of daffodils, clusters of hydrangeas and a garden of lilies as they gather for Mass this Easter holy day. more

The world’s Christian communities begin Holy Week by joyously waving majestic palm branches in solemn procession around their altars and down their aisles in commemoration of Christ’s final entry into his beloved Jerusalem. more

The Stadium Theatre at Monument Square in Woonsocket has been gloriously refurbished to its 1920’s grandeur. The scene of many “double features” from my youth is now the venue for organ concerts, community college plays, and touring musical comedies. more

The Gospel according to St. John is a sequence of conversion stories. more