We need to tone down the rhetoric and see each other as people – flawed and fearful, but also hopeful and holy.

God shows us that our imperfections can become fields of second chances – moments when perseverance, mercy and shared burden accomplish what perfection never could.

Since the Second Vatican Council the Catholic Church has been entirely committed to ecumenism. While much of the work to accomplish unity is handled at higher levels, we each need to do our part.

It’s useful to observe that the Church presumes that one seeking an indulgence will already be in a state of grace, meaning free from unconfessed mortal sin.

The weight of a loaded schedule is possible even in retirement, but the weight is made lighter in silence with God, and in time for stillness to stop and sip coffee instead of taking it to go.  

As the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution this year, this series will examine the origins of the church and Catholic life in each of the 50 states, following the order in which they ratified the United States Constitution. The journey begins in Delaware, the first state — small in size, but foundational in the nation’s constitutional life.

As the pro-life movement faces tensions with previous political allies, Catholic writer Kathryn Jean Lopez, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute and religion editor at National Review magazine, recently spoke with Charles Camosy for OSV News about the loving, human encounters that can spread what St. John Paul II called “the Gospel of Life,” even in difficult times.

By showing up late or leaving early, we not only trivialize the real presence of Jesus, not only trivialize the Eucharist, but we also miss the full richness of the Mass.

The desire to “live to see your children’s children,” as Psalm 128 puts it, is wired deep inside the human heart. We want to see the children we worked so hard to parent in turn bring the next generation into being.

Our Catholic faith fundamentally rejects the possessive individualism of both major parties as contrary to the doctrine of solidarity. We do not have a home on the continuum of liberalism.