Only time will tell whether, as synod organizers keep insisting, the Synod on Synodality has produced a real groundswell of support among the laity for making the process called synodality a permanent feature of church life.

Ignatian spirituality, a fundamental part of a Jesuit’s life, has become very popular and accessible to lay people since the Second Vatican Council.

There are so many success stories and hard-working principals, faculties, parent groups and pastors who believe in the Good News of Catholic education and struggle to find fresh, creative ways to keep schools alive and flourishing!

Getting one gun off the street may not have a great impact all by itself, but people such as Monsignor Nalepa and Father Murphy know that sometimes you must try to make a difference. Little by little, gun by gun, we can.

Fingers pointing at materialism and media must ultimately point to the church’s own miserable failures of leadership and its inability to inspire trust and confidence within a laity that may generously be described as “disappointed” or “disillusioned” with her efforts on many fronts, but especially on the issue of sexual abuse.

A quarter-century later, the memory of that silent embrace remains. So does my gratitude that Witness to Hope continues to strengthen the faith of Catholics and lead seekers to Christ and his Church.

Since COVID is still evolving, I think it is too soon to say we’ve reached a genetic truce, but it is certainly easy to say we’ve accepted it as just one more of life’s indignities.

Some seminaries attach the wearing of clerical clothes to a specific stage of formation called “candidacy,” but candidacy can also occur at different times in different places.

The questions need to be asked and re-asked: What are we intentionally doing to find and grow our places, and our relationships, together as family?

Faith formation cannot be achieved solely in the classroom. Even the best teacher, catechist or youth minister cannot fully substitute for the role of loving parents.