This past week I buried my father-in-law. It was a hard week but also beautiful, and it reaffirmed my conviction about what I had written a few days before. In a Christmas Day post, I recollected how throughout history God has used seemingly insignificant people and events to bring about the most wondrous transformations–liberation from… Read More A Humble, Transformative Life Remembered

“The means of communication are the builders of a society. In and of themselves, they are made to build, to interchange, to fraternize, to make us think, to educate.” Pope Francis I don’t know if you heard, but prior to the 2016 presidential election, Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump. Citing the FBI’s refusal to prosecute… Read More How Should We Respond to the Age of Fake News?

As Christians around the world observe the feast of the Epiphany, we recall the day that the Magi, following a star by faith, arrived in Bethlehem to honor the newborn Savior. This year, however, I find myself reflecting more on their return journey, specifically the wisdom that lead them to go back a different way… Read More The Wise Men Went Another Way and So Must We to Protect Creation

Social isolation has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. And it’s killing us—quite literally: Individuals with less social connection have disrupted sleep patterns, altered immune systems, more inflammation and higher levels of stress hormones. One recent study found that isolation increases the risk of heart disease by 29 percent and stroke by 32 percent.… Read More Still Need a New Year’s Resolution? Love More, Better

My father and I heard on the radio the unexpected news that Rwanda’s Catholic bishops apologized for the Church’s complicity in the planning, aiding, and abetting of the 1994 genocide that claimed more than a million lives. This initiative, however, drew strong criticism from the government who found the apology “profoundly inadequate” and called instead… Read More An Important Step: the Catholic Church’s Apology over Role in Rwandan Genocide

“I can’t wait for 2016 to end.” I have heard numerous people utter these words lately, and I know what they mean. 2016 brought the fifth anniversary of an atrocious war in Syria, Brexit, the election of a self-professed murderer to the presidency of the Philippines, not to mention another slew of shootings on US… Read More The Significance of Christmas for a Troubled America

If there has been one overused line in the past few weeks, it’s the trope: “The election taught us…” We didn’t need this election to teach us that our country is polarized or that there is no “Catholic vote.” As commentators have said for years, political polarization shapes the Catholic electorate as much as the… Read More The Wounded Church: Pro-Life and Social Justice Catholics Remain Divided