Mother Seton and the American Crisis

by William Doino Jr.

If American Catholics are looking for a Christian role model during these turbulent times, Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton—the first American-born saint—is a wonderful choice. Continue Reading »

28 Aug 2017

A Papal Tutor of Heroic Virtue

by George Weigel

To teach prayer and holiness to edgy adolescents is no small achievement. To do it under the pressures of a homicidal Nazi Occupation is remarkable. To do it with a future pope means that Jan Tyranowski’s lessons extend far beyond Dębniki and touch the entire world. Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2017

Shūsaku Endō’s Swamp

by John T. R. Terry

Silence questions whether Christianity can take root in the swamp of Japan—echoing medieval tales of bringing the Gospel to hostile territory. Continue Reading »

23 Dec 2016

Mother Teresa’s Inspiration Day and Ours

by Br. Michael Baggot

Those of us who aspire to transform the public square with some fraction of St. Teresa’s success would do well to imitate first her unyielding attention to divine communion and spiritual discernment of the signs of the times. Continue Reading »

8 Sep 2016

Segregated in Death

by Peter J. Leithart

It is hard to mourn together while we have different understandings of death and the sacred. Continue Reading »

29 Jul 2016

John Paul II's “Beloved Krakow”

by George Weigel

Several years ago, Father Raymond de Souza, one of my fellow faculty members at an annual Kraków-based summer seminar on Catholic social doctrine, made a trenchant observation about the city John Paul II used to call “my beloved Kraków.” Kraków, Father de Souza observed, was the city where . . . . Continue Reading »

11 Nov 2015

Thin Places

by Timothy George

Several years ago, my son Christian and I, along with our friend David from Brazil, made a pilgrimage to Skellig Michael. Skellig is the Irish word for “rock,” and Skellig Michael is a rocky mountain island jutting 700 feet out of the icy waters of the North Atlantic, just off the coast of County Kerry in western Ireland.

2 Nov 2015

The Saints and All of Us

by George Weigel

Written from Rome: Amidst all the Sturm und Drang of Synod-2015, something genuinely new in the life of the Church began, and it shouldn’t escape our notice. For the first time in two millennia, an entry in the liturgical books will now read, on the appropriate day, “Saints Louis and Zélie . . . . Continue Reading »

28 Oct 2015

A Family of Saints

by William Doino Jr.

If there was one serene moment amidst all the ecclesiastical discord at the recent Synod in Rome, it was when Pope Francis canonized Therese of Lisieux’s parents, commending them to the faithful:The holy spouses Louis Martin and Marie-Azelie Guerin practiced Christian service in the family, . . . . Continue Reading »

26 Oct 2015

The amazing, and now Venerable, Father Al

by George Weigel

At an inch or so over five feet and weighing, I would guess, something on the underside of 100 pounds, Sister Winnie, a soft spoken Filipina, is not your typical dinner speaker. Yet a few weeks ago she held a room full of Washingtonians spellbound with her story – which is also the story of a largely unknown American of whom the Church in the United States should be very proud. Continue Reading »

29 Jul 2015