Sunday – 8 May – is the Fourth Sunday of Easter, and we treat it as Vocations Sunday. Traditionally (i.e. for the last 50 years) we have presented it as a time to talk about the need for more young (and not so young) men to think of going into a seminary and preparing for Read more
I never met my uncle Martin. If he were alive today, he would be in his 90s, but he died when he was three years old, victim of what would today be a minor infection. However, before the development of antibiotics there was no such thing as a minor infection. Had Martin caught that infection Read more
For two years now, I have gone to Mass twice every Sunday, although I do so seated at my kitchen table. I can see the local Catholic church from my window, but I haven’t been inside it since the brief window, mid-pandemic, of supposed normality in July 2021. From my small town in Oregon, I Read more
Pope Francis is reorganizing the Vatican Curia — the church’s administrators and his senior staff — and may name new cardinals in June. Francis’ new apostolic constitution, “Praedicate Evangelium” (“Preach the Gospel”), issued last month, noted that the heads of dicasteries and other offices that manage the church need not be ordained. This highlighted Francis’ Read more
Despite advanced age and questionable health, Pope Francis keeps up a busy schedule of activities that looks to get even busier. The past several weeks surely have been extremely frustrating for Pope Francis. First of all, his tireless and ever more urgent appeals for an end to the fighting in Ukraine, which began in late Read more
If girls education makes societies stronger, more peaceful and prosperous, then the chances of Asia achieving those goals have become more distant with the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, girls’ enrollments in school had seen significant improvements in Asia. But with the pandemic, those gains have been wiped out. UNESCO estimates that about 24 Read more
Many patients recover from COVID within a week or two, but at least one in five experience Long Covid; persistent or new symptoms more than four weeks after first being diagnosed. Long COVID is a growing concern. But we still don’t have a clear definition and there are insufficient data to provide a trajectory or Read more
On the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi in 1965, in the middle of a historic visit to New York City, Pope Paul VI ascended the rostrum before the United Nations General Assembly and summoned the world to peace. The visit came two and a half years after John XXIII’s Pacem in terris refashioned the Read more
If you are looking for a way to idle away a couple of hours (or more if you are really keen), in your internet search engine type in an entry that goes something like, “the Resurrection of Christ in Western Art.” There will, of course, be many, many entries, however, they will have substantial similarities Read more
Anyone who has been tracking population trends over the past few decades knows two things: America is growing more diverse, and Americans are leaving their traditional religious homes. But while many are leaving behind their formal religious affiliations and practices, this growing nation is still seeking to connect with religious and wisdom traditions — either Read more