Our faith should transform our politics

In response to editors' requests for a regular sampling of current commentary from around the Catholic press, here is a column titled "Our faith...

Our Catholic schools need more champions

Exactly what does it mean to be a champion of Catholic schools? It means doing what you can from where you stand.

To accompany and to enlighten

Today I wish to consider the shepherding work of priests, who, in spiritual guidance and in confession, seek to help others to encounter the Amoris Laetitia, the “Joy of Love.” Earlier this year, Pope Francis, who has made Confession a constant theme of his pontificate, wrote in his recent book, “The Name of God is Mercy,” “It is important that I go to Confession, that I sit in front of a priest who embodies Jesus, that I kneel before Mother Church, called to dispense the mercy of Christ. There is objectivity in this gesture of genuflection before the priest; it becomes the vehicle through which grace reaches and heals me.”

Patience for freedom — The witness of St. Anselm

Anselm was chosen to lead the Church in England, at a time when King William Rufus wanted a weak archbishop in Canterbury, a man he could control and use for his own gain. Anselm, for his part, did not want to be a bishop; he begged not to be chosen, desiring to remain in his monastery in Bec, France where he was happily serving as abbot. But once chosen, Anselm threw himself mightily into the task and fought resolutely for religious freedom. He did this without failing to love the king but with love of God first: setting an example that would be imitated and carried forward by other English saints such as the martyrs Thomas Becket (a later successor in Canterbury), John Fisher and Thomas More.

Libertad con la ayuda de oración: Devoción del Primer Sábado

¿Se puede cambiar la dirección de la historia por medio de la oración? ¿Se puede prevenir la aniquilación nuclear por medio de la oración y los actos de penitencia? ¿Puede aumentar nuestra libertad por medio de la oración y penitencia? “Sí, sí y sí”.

‘O come, let us adore Him’

“Jesus was born in a humble stable, into a poor family. Simple shepherds were the first witnesses to this event. In this poverty heaven’s glory was made manifest. The Church never tires of singing the glory of this night.”

El Santo que inspira al Papa Francisco: San Ignacio de Loyola

Es por providencia de Dios, que ahora tenemos, por primera vez en la historia, un Papa Jesuita. No ha de sorprender, entonces, que el Papa Francisco se sienta cerca a San Ignacio y que haya sido grandemente impactado por su vida y su enseñanza.

‘Little Boy’: Changing the culture, one film at a time

If there’s one thing Americans can agree on in this era of social discord, it’s that we love film. We spent a staggering $10 billion on movie tickets in 2009.

My friend, the Catholic who wasn’t

My best friend is one of the most Catholic people I know. Only he’s not Catholic. But we can all learn something about being...

What is Scandal? Part Three: Counteracting Scandal’s destruction

In the previous editions of The Catholic Sun, we spoke about the “scandal” of the Cross of Christ, which is no scandal at all but rather “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (Cf. 1 Cor 1:7ff) and, then, about true scandals that lead others to sin, that impede them from doing what is right and that place a stumbling block along the path to their eternal destiny in heaven. Now, let us turn our attention to the roots of scandal, and then to key ways to counteract scandal’s destructive impact.