“The Gospel needs to keep its shocking effect. . . It should always keep you on edge and never satisfied” (Tony Walsh, founder of Benedict Labre House). Hundreds of words have described the Gospel, but “shocking” seems …well, rather shocking! I imagine the first listeners of Jesus’ teaching were often

Today we celebrate the life of one of our sisters, the third funeral in three weeks. Have you heard/read that Catholic Sisters are diminishing in numbers? Math and shaking heads suggest we are a “dying breed” or a “species becoming extinct.” Not true! If we’re counting heads, we need to

We are in the “Good Shepherd Season” of the Church year. Often we read about sheep going through gates, grazing in pastures, hearing the voice of the leader, even following the shepherd. Homilists instruct us to be like sheep. Pope Francis exhorted us to smell like sheep. Too often, though

When Pope Leo XIV woke up this morning, what were his first thoughts? “Oh, that was an interesting conclave.” Then with more consciousness, “Oh, I’m the Pope.” Because he knows several languages, were his waking thoughts in English, Italian, or Spanish? Perhaps our waking thoughts were also on the Pope.

I imagine you sang “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today” complete with trumpets on Easter Sunday morning. I hope you sing it again regardless of the date on the calendar. After all, Jesus is risen. Jesus is always risen. What we sing about is the reality. It’s the perennial, non-stop Paschal

A good strong verb, even a little one, adds color to a written composition. Which is better: (a) He made demands as if he were a king or (b) He pontificated? Your answer is a matter of opinion. One thing I’ve noticed about the Resurrection stories is that they have

Do you ever look forward to your favorite Scripture story, waiting for it to be read in church? Well, I do. I anticipate my favorite Gospel story on Wednesday in Easter Week. Remember the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus? Every year I sympathize with Cleopas’s

Easter isn’t over yet. It’s hardly begun—even if you’ve already devoured the chocolate bunny from your Easter basket. Every day this week is just like Easter. And each day is a solemnity with all the festivity of Easter Day. For the rest of the week, we sing the Gloria at

The Most Reverent Charles Jason Gordon wrote a very insightful article in the April 2025 issue of America. I hope you’ll read it. Reminding us of the four marks of the Church, (one, holy, Catholic, apostolic) he discusses the four “marks” of the synodal Church he observed at the Synod

The key word in Advent is “wait.”  We wait for Santa, loved Nativity stories, the first snowfall, Advent calendars’ last doors—and the final ribbon on the last package.  While we wait, our days (sometimes as few as 21) are so filled that we really don’t wait. We rush. But Lent