via CNS: Christmas will not be authentic if people get caught up in a frenzy of shopping, presents and meals, all while ignoring the poor and forgetting who the celebration is really all about, Pope Francis said. “If Christmas ends up as just a beautiful traditional holiday,” where everything revolves around “us and not him,… Read More Pope Francis: Christmas Turns the Tables

Following the recent death of seven-year-old Jakelin Caal, Fr. James Martin, SJ offered his thoughts: I want to point out that blaming the victim, or the victim’s parents, is a terrible, and indeed sinful, perversion of Jesus’s Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37). Remember that in Jesus’s parable a man takes the Road to… Read More Stop Blaming Parents for Trying to Save Their Kids’ Lives

In 2005 and 2006, my wife and I led a group of high school and college students to Guatemala for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. We learned about Mayan culture and what refugees endured during a 36-year civil war, and we saw firsthand the widespread poverty, unemployment, and other social problems (substance abuse, domestic violence, gang activity,… Read More Migrants Are Fighting for Survival

Former Millennial of the Year Nadia Murad is one of recipients of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Here are some highlights from her Nobel lecture: I hope that today marks the beginning of a new era – when peace is the priority, and the world can collectively begin to define a new roadmap to protect… Read More Nadia Murad: Let Us All Unite to Fight Injustice and Oppression

At NCR, Millennial writer Mike Jordan Laskey writes: War on Christmas. Did you roll your eyes when you read it? This cable-news fake controversy has been around long enough now to have become a parody of itself. But do not be complacent. There is indeed a War on Christmas going on, if a bit different… Read More The Real War on Christmas