In Commonweal, Charles Taylor writes: Our relationships, if healthy and authentic, open us to others who expand and enrich us. Nowadays, our noblest social instincts can easily be thwarted by self-centered chats that give the impression of being deep relationships. On the contrary, authentic and mature love and true friendship can only take root in… Read More Moving Beyond Our Comfort Zones Can Open Us Up to Fuller, Richer Lives

Gracy Olmstead writes: This struggle is the focus of two recently published books: Alissa Quart’s Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America, which came out in 2018, and Eichner’s The Free-Market Family: How the Market Crushed the American Dream (and How It Can Be Restored), published in January of this year. Both books painstakingly document… Read More The Pro-Life, Pro-Family Case for Economic Justice

Check out these recent articles from around the web: The Challenge of Black Patriotism by Theodore R. Johnson: “Black patriotism does not hold that America is irredeemably racist — it asks if America is interested in redemption. It is forward-looking and informed by history, meshing optimism about the nation’s prospects with a realism about its… Read More Around the Web: Articles on Racial Justice and Reform

At the Washington Post, Christopher White writes: While some bishops have expressed reluctance to work with a Biden administration, Gregory has already signaled a different approach. Just days before receiving his cardinal red hat in Rome, Gregory said he intends to dialogue with the Catholic president, “working with him in those areas where we can… Read More What the Relationship between Joe Biden and Cardinal Wilton Gregory Might Look Like

Pope Francis writes: With some exceptions, governments have made great efforts to put the well-being of their people first, acting decisively to protect health and to save lives. The exceptions have been some governments that shrugged off the painful evidence of mounting deaths, with inevitable, grievous consequences. But most governments acted responsibly, imposing strict measures… Read More In NY Times, Pope Calls on World to Respond to Crises with Solidarity

via CNN: Pope Francis has for the first time publicly named China’s Uyghur minority among a list of the world’s persecuted peoples, breaking his silence on allegations of widespread human rights abuses in the country’s far-western Xinjiang region. “I think often of persecuted peoples: the Rohingya, the poor Uyghurs, the Yazidi — what ISIS did… Read More Pope Francis Speaks Out for the First Time on China’s Persecution of the Uyghurs

via Zach Lowe: In an unprecedented meeting, a delegation of five NBA players and several officials from the National Basketball Players Association met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday morning for a private audience to discuss their work on social justice issues. An assistant to Pope Francis reached out to the players’ association… Read More Pope Francis Meets with NBA Players to Discuss Social Justice