On June 19, 2013 the State Department released its annual report, “Trafficking in Persons Report.” China received an automatic downgrade to the lowest ranking, Tier 3. The State Department acknowledged the one-child policy as the “key source of demand” for sex-trafficking within the country, but remained silent on revoking the policy in its recommendations for […]
When I grow up, I’m going to be a priest and a policeman.” “I want to be a nun who rides horses and sings. Can a nun have babies?” “Mummy, when I grow up I’m going to marry you.” I smile as I remember these statements made by some of my children when they were […]
“Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of us Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs?” – Benjamin Franklin, 1751 “Immigration is about more than immigration. It is about renewing the soul of America.” – +Jose […]
In the question period after a talk I’d given on my new book, American Church, a woman raised an important point: “If the Church in the U.S. faces as many problems as you say, why is it doing so much better here than in much of Europe?” Great question. My answer–which I also give in […]
It is late, almost midnight. The St. Louis Cardinals ballgame ended just a few moments ago, so I turn off the radio on the nightstand. Now, the house is quiet, the bedroom dark. The only sounds I can detect are the dog’s snoring and my wife’s soft breathing as she lays sleeping next to me. […]
A local Catholic leader has taken a critical view of the progress of the reform process in Myanmar, noting some improvements amid ongoing problems. The Archbishop of Rangoon, Charles Bo, made his comments at an event organized by international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). According to the archbishop, “The democratic […]
I am sure you remember this song we all have sung so often at Mass: “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord; We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord. “And we pray that all unity; May one day be restored. “And they’ll know we are […]
A graphic account of the deepening human suffering and violence in Syria has come from a priest ministering to people in one of the areas worst affected by the conflict. In a report describing the devastated city of Homs, the priest details his desperate struggle to provide basic food, shelter and medicine to more than […]
Sometime ago, my father and I went to get some fast-food for lunch. While there, a mother and three daughters came in. My father became silent, and discreetly watched them order their carry-out and then leave. “Do you know them?” I asked, when they’d left. “No. Not really” he said, then proceeded to tell me […]
“I hate to admit it,” my friend confided in me. “But, I really have a difficult time feeling close to the Virgin Mary. She’s just so far out there.” She paused and revealed the rest of her dilemma to me. “I have an even harder time with the Church’s teaching that we should imitate her.” […]
Fatherhood is definitely not an easy topic to think or converse about for the majority of people in our current age. Many wise people have stated their belief that the downfall of modern society is directly linked with the erosion of the true meaning of fatherhood. Normally I don’t like to put all of my […]
Burma Imposes a Two-Child Policy on the Rohingya Burma, a secluded country of almost 60 million people, sits in the corner of Southeast Asia between India and China. Also known as Myanmar, Burma currently has a fertility rate of 2.21 children and, unique for its part of the world, does not suffer from sex-selection. Buddhists […]
Is Pope Francis our first anticlerical pope? Technically speaking, he isn’t–his two predecessors also were more or less critical of clericalism–but he is well on his way to being the most outspoken one. Consider a widely circulated quote from a 2011 interview he gave while he was still Cardinal Bergoglio of Buenos Aires. In case […]
Not long ago, we were driving down Interstate 70 in the St. Louis area, just past the I-270 interchange, and saw a car pulled over by the police. Not just one policeman, though. There were at least three police cars there with colored lights flashing, Three cops! Wow, that has to be quite a feeling for […]
“Choosing Christ is the most important decision anyone can make because it is the only decision that has eternal consequences.” ~Father Larry Richards The young Catholics of the world are preparing for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro this upcoming July. Pope Francis has already marked this event as his first trip back home […]
In talking to my mother the other day, she told me she had found a couple of the Christmas video greetings we used to make and send every year since we moved 900 miles away. I apologized for not getting them made in recent years. “I thought when the children got older we would have […]
For a parent, there is nothing more humbling than understanding that God has entrusted us with the care of his precious little ones. Nothing in life makes us realize the enormity of our responsibility as well as the reality of our inability as when our newborn is first placed in our arms. It is the […]
Three men, brave and determined men, took that final leap into a new life; complete with new titles, responsibilities, and new homes today….never to be the same again. But they prepared for this over a seven year-span, immersed in the spiritual, biblical, and examples of those around them. They definitely had the support from family […]
On the Friday that is the 19th day after the feast of Pentecost the Church celebrates the feast of the Sacred Heart. On that day, as just about every Friday of every week of the year, my pro life colleagues will be present in front of two local abortion facilities. They will offer the counsel […]
“Mommy, why do we pray?” That seems like an easy question to answer, but I wanted to give her something to hang on to later in life. Satan tempts us not to pray. Someday she may feel she doesn’t have time to pray, she may be too hurt, angry, or afraid to pray, or she […]
The forward of Kathleen Basi’s new book, This Little Light of Mine says, “No one can teach well what he or she doesn’t know well. The best way to ensure that religious formation “takes” is for parents to live their faith, to be seekers alongside their children. Then, children see that religion is not something […]
By the time this column is published, this author will have participated in the sacrament of marriage. While I do not know what the future has in store for me, I do believe that the experiences I had in the past 14 months (our time of engagement) have been God preparing me for the married […]
I was Protestant for a time. I sang modern Christian music and swayed and held up my hands and loved the other members of the church. I found it difficult when there were divisions in the congregation and when some of my “family” decided to “plant a church” of their own. The trust was broken […]
The Sacred Liturgy is rich in ritual and ceremony, and that is fitting. It is the meeting of heaven and earth. It is humanity’s encounter with God that happens in no other on earth. In the Mass earthly bonds are transcended, and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is re-presented. We are there by […]
