I’ve visited the grand cathedral a few times since the late 1990s. It is an impressive place to visit and to pray.

Some legislators – at the state and federal level – are so afraid of anything that acknowledges the humanity of an unborn child that they cannot imagine granting any kind of protection, even when it should be obvious.

It’s an important movie that will challenge your thinking, even if you already consider yourself pro-life.

We fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and abstain from meat on the other Fridays of the season, but it’s not much of a sacrifice to splurge on lobster instead of beef as a Lenten meal.

A lot of the typical resolutions have more to do with our exterior than our interior. I’d like to suggest a few resolutions that might improve your spirit and your mind.

We all wanted some definitive answers by now. God willing, February and June – the next U.S. bishops meeting – will bring the remedies that victim-survivors of sexual abuse, and the whole church, desperately need. 

Harden not your heart. Combat disaster fatigue with compassion.

It’s time now for those of us in the church to funnel our anger and frustration into helping the victims and the church to heal. The church may have stumbled and fallen along the way when it comes to protecting children and vulnerable adults. God willing, we have learned from our falls and our failures. 

Many years ago, I read an essay that pointed out that the church – whose head is Christ – must have a dual nature: like Jesus, both divine and human. If the church were not human, it would not be riddled with sinners and all that sin brings into our lives; but if the church were not divine, it could not have lasted two millennia, the argument went.

We cannot simply say, “Have a nice day,” to someone who is clinically depressed, and expect that to change his or her situation. But we can learn to identify warning signs (see box) and get help for those who are hurting.