Check out these recent articles from around the web:

Time to Say Goodbye by David Brooks: “We could use better political leadership, of course, but the crucial question facing America is: How can we reverse this pervasive loss of faith in one another, in our future and in our shared ideals? I do not believe that most people can flourish in a meaningless, nihilistic universe. Despite what the cynics say, I still believe we’re driven not only by the selfish motivations but also by the moral ones — the desire to pursue some good, the desire to cooperate, to care for one another and to belong.”

What Do We Love When We Love America? by Terence Sweeney: “Augustine said of real friendship, that it makes e pluribus unum, out of many one. I pray that a rightly ordered patriotic love may help people and the common good to flourish. I pray that we will commit to better shared objects of our love: justice, dignity, and peace. I pray that we will confess our shared failures and celebrate our shared accomplishments. I pray we will celebrate the dappled beauty of our land and our people. I pray we will commit to the shared idea of a republic and the liberty and justice for which it stands. I pray that Catholics will continue to share with our fellow Americans the rich traditions of rightly ordered love, celebration of God’s diversity, and a commitment to human dignity. Committing to those loves is the best patriotism, the kind that knows what it loves when it loves this land.”

A Theology of Immigration by Jay Caspian Kang: “If the narrative is, This is my stuff, this is my country, this is where I belong, this is what I own, and I have to defend it and protect it—that’s one way of understanding it. But if the narrative is, Everything I have is a gift, and when I die, I’m going to give everything up, that I’m a steward and not an owner, and I can be judged by how I use what I’ve been given—that’s a different way of inhabiting the world. If the narrative is about how do we move closer to communion with God, and in closer connection with each other, with a life and a faith that does justice, in terms of caring for one another, that’s a very different way of inhabiting the world.” (Fr. Dan Groody)

How should Catholics protest Trumpism? by MSW: “In short, the opposition to Trumpism must learn how to persuade, not to demonize, to identify shared values and concerns with those who previously supported the president.”

Cardinal McElroy joins D.C. area faith leaders in issuing statement on immigration enforcement actions by Catholic Standard: “We condemn without reservation the use of indiscriminate and lethal force against civilians. The actions we have witnessed in recent days represent a grave departure from our nation’s deepest moral commitments and from the values of human dignity, restraint, and accountability that our faith traditions uphold. When the power of the state is exercised without regard for life, justice, or the common good, the foundations of democracy itself are put at risk.”

Can Marriage Bridge the Sex Divide? by Amber Lapp: “Four ideas come to mind, though the means to them are debatable and this list is by no means exhaustive: 1.) A cultural mindset that embraces marriage as formative and foundational, a place from which to build, something for everyone not just the privileged few—and that tells a more realistic story about love as something you work at, not something you simply find; 2.) Better access to work that pays a family wage with family hours, a predictable schedule and family benefits, especially for young men without college degrees; 3.) An acknowledgment that addiction—whether to substances, phones, porn, or gambling—is not a fringe issue but a widespread challenge with public policy implications. 4.) The personal formation necessary to prepare a young person for work and for marriage (whether through family life, friendship, education, religious institutions, sports, scouts, service, or other opportunities for models and mentorship in character and commitment—because formation is not something a person can bootstrap alone).”

Vice and the Crisis of Liberalism by Ross Douthat: “So if the law and the political theory underneath it treat people like atomized individuals, well, then people will inevitably behave more like atomized individuals, conceive of themselves more like atomized individuals and experience the ills of atomization more acutely. This is clearly part of what has happened with gambling and drugs and pornography. As our laws have become less moralistic and more libertarian, addictive behaviors have increased. An amoral understanding of liberalism has yielded, in a pretty direct way, to a more immoral society.”

Let Your Kids Fail by Russell Shaw: “How can parents help children develop this sort of resilience? The first step is to resist the urge to rescue. When a child struggles with homework, a parent’s instinct might be to provide answers. When a kid encounters a difficult teacher, a parent might want to intervene. When they break a school rule and receive a consequence, a parent might fire off emails to administrators complaining of unfairness. But each intervention sends a message to the child: You can’t handle this.”

Lent and Ramadan: a time for Catholic-Muslim solidarity amid rising bigotry by Jordan Denari Duffner: “Our faith teaches that all are created in God’s image, and thus we are called to extend our solidarity and support to all those facing injustice, even if they do not share our identity or religion. As our Muslim friends celebrate Ramadan amid our observance of Lent, let us also resolve to address Islamophobia and build interreligious bonds, for the good of us all.”

Affordability and the ‘Epstein Class’ Will Define American Politics by David Wallace-Wells: “In her comparative study ‘The Backsliders,’ published last fall, the University of Chicago political scientist Susan Stokes looks at the global democratic recession of the last several decades and identifies income inequality as the driving force — producing resentful populism, often ethnonationalist, but also a broad distrust of social institutions and political grievances among the very wealthy.”

‘We’re redefining who we are in the world’: Cardinal Blase Cupich, former bishop of Spokane, weighs in on U.S. foreign policy, immigration crackdown and more by Orion Donovan Smith: “‘I’m not on either side,’ Cupich said. ‘I’m on the side of human dignity. When I see that being violated or threatened, that’s when I speak out, whether that’s the person on death row, the child in the womb, the person who is poor and homeless or the immigrant. When it is a violation of human dignity, then we all suffer. That’s when we raise our voices.’”

What It Means to Be ‘Touch-Starved’ by Christina Caron: “Being touch-starved, or lacking wanted physical connection, has become increasingly common in our fast-paced, digital world, experts say. And a lack of touch can affect both our physical and mental well-being.”