Even our churches have embraced verbosity, as if more explanation equals more faith. But the Church’s own law recognizes what we’ve forgotten: The homily at daily Mass is recommended, not required.

We believe God gives us the kinds of consecrated life we need for the good of all the people of God.

As of Feb. 6, he will not be archbishop of New York. But Cardinal Timothy Dolan, in good health and full of energy, is by no means at the end of his ministry or influence.

When we apply the principles of sport — faithful practice, obedience to the rules, resilience after failure, self-control, discipline and trust in a greater goal — to our spiritual lives, then our discipleship is strengthened and our soul is made stronger and better prepared to meet God.

According to the Church’s liturgical calendar, the feast held on Feb. 2 each year is in honor of the Presentation of the Lord. Some Catholics recall this day as the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary because such was the feast day named until the 1969 changes in the Church’s calendar.

In the middle of the night, a mother caring for her child is not alone. A convent of nuns wakes up during the night just to pray for new mothers.

A change is coming in 2026 for the pope’s top man in America. Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, turns 80 Jan. 30, and he is widely expected to have his retirement accepted by Pope Leo XIV in the coming weeks.

Ordinary Time means a return to ordinary life: the sleeker, uncomplicated and functional way we most often pass through time. But while the house looks more spacious and less cluttered again, there’s always something sad about packing pretty things into attic-bound boxes to be stored away.

Each of the objects, the surroundings in our Catholic churches, has a purpose and a history. Here is an overview of some of those sacred areas, objects and surroundings.

Insofar as some Anglicans might indeed see themselves as “ministers” rather than sacramental “priests,” in a certain sense we might even “agree” with them about a female archbishop of Canterbury, since the Catholic Church has always acknowledged that women are capable of non-sacramental teaching and leadership.