I’ve been thinking about gifts, and the meaning of them, with the upcoming March for Life and its 2026 theme: “Life is a gift.”

John Allen never believed journalism was about winning arguments or pleasing audiences. He believed it was about fidelity — to facts, to sources, to context and ultimately to readers.

Throughout the Bible, the Scripture writers describe many worrisome situations, but somehow the difficulty ends well because of God’s ever presence.

May she, Our Lady of Altagracia, our model of faith and charity, rekindle our hope and lavish us with her maternal consolation. And may she accompany us on our pilgrimage to heaven where she, crowned as queen, intercedes for our souls and awaits us.

Some might point out the pastoral benefits of an all-boys altar server team in promoting priestly vocations, while others might appreciate how allowing female altar servers emphasizes our common baptismal priesthood.

The idea will not leave my head: how do we anoint a whole world so terribly and self-evidently in need of soothing, healing, consolation and unconditional love?

Although Latinos are one of the fastest growing populations in the country and make up a large portion of the young Catholic Church, nearly half of Latino young adults are leaving the faith.

Given that his “Dilbert” cartoon spoofed corporate life, it seems fitting Adams approached the idea of religious conversion as a dryly analytical risk-return computation. To some his thinking recalled “Pascal’s wager,” in which 17th-century mathematician Blaise Pascal reasoned that a 50 percent probability of God’s existence represented a bet worth making.

By all appearances, January’s consistory was a first step to returning to a more collegial sense of governance that has largely marked the exercise of papal ministry since the Second Vatican Council.

Although few of us will ever sing at the Grand Ole Opry, may each of us find a way to use the talents God has given us.