(Photo by Dan Petty/Denver Catholic) “Could you explain what the Catholic Intellectual Tradition means?” This simple question from a superintendent reflected the renewal that is happening across the country. We’ve finally realized that Catholic education cannot simply follow along with current trends. Even if we can learn from contemporary methods, we stand within an unparalleled tradition reaching back thousands of years. The wisdom we have handed down through each generat

(Photo by Rachel Moore) By Karin Middleton Assistant Director of Family Ministry Archdiocese of Denver Bringing your child to be baptized gives him or her a tremendous grace and gift of God. It begins your child’s relationship with the Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit as well as the Church. God charges parents to communicate his love and truth at home and in the world (see Deuteronomy 6:7). Jesus affirms this by inviting parents to bring the little children to him (see Matthew 1

Rescue workers dig through rubble from the destroyed World Trade Center in Manhattan, NY. (Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) Several weeks after Islamist terrorists hijacked four planes, wreaking havoc in lower Manhattan and at the Pentagon in the name of deranged religious convictions, I was at dinner in the papal apartment with John Paul II and three of his closest associates. The mood was somber, which was unusual at that table. The pope’s hope for a “new springt

A peaceful moment with a sleeping goddaughter became a profound reflection on grace, prayer, witness and the love of God for one new godfather. (Photo provided) A warm November day might be rare in Denver, but in Florida, it’s to be expected. But even as November days go, this was a perfect one. It was sunny and temperate, there was a light breeze, and my four-month-old goddaughter, newly baptized, was asleep on my chest. I sat quietly on my mom’s screened-in porch, admiring

The phrase “contraceptive mentality” can confuse Catholic couples trying to discern family size faithfully and live the Church’s call to responsible parenthood. (Photo: Pexels) By Elizabeth Timpe It has been 58 years since the publication of Humanae Vitae, the pro-life encyclical by Pope St. Paul VI. In the decades since, the Catholic Church has promoted methods of Natural Family Planning (NFP) to help couples live out this teaching. Notably, the Couple to Couple League (CCL)

(Photo: Unsplash) Reluctant as I am to fiddle with the U.S. Constitution, I’m willing to consider an amendment banning any elementary school from opening before Labor Day. That’s the way things were when I was a boy in Baltimore and could no more imagine being in school before Labor Day than I could imagine rooting for the New York Yankees. Labor Day marked the end of summer vacation: Ocean City, Maryland, emptied a few days earlier; my mother took my brother and me to Stewar

For the Solemnity of the Assumption, a masterpiece of sacred art reveals the relationship between beauty, longing and love. Assumption of the Virgin by ​Titian, c. 1516-1518. Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice, Italy. (Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) “What makes good art?” It was the way my friend asked the question. Knowing him, he wasn’t looking for an answer that included anything along the lines of “sound composition, good lighting, technical

(Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) Jealousy is not the same as envy. Envy desires what another possesses, while jealousy seeks to guard what one has so that no one else may possess it. It’s an important distinction for understanding the Bible. God calls himself jealous toward his people Israel, wanting to keep them for himself so that they do not follow after the customs of surrounding nations and their strange gods. In Exodus 34, after charging Israel to tear down

Part Nine: Once someone has encountered Jesus, the need to change, repent and convert becomes clear. Denver Archbishop James Golka baptizes a young man during the 2026 Easter Vigil at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver. (Photo by Dan Petty/Denver Catholic) Editor's Note: This column is part of a yearlong series on evangelization, breaking down what often feels like a tall order into real, practical, actionable steps towards intentional accompaniment

A Man for All Season's poster, cropped. (Photo: Fair Use via IMDB) 1966 was a great year for movies and six decades later, the five nominated for “Best Picture” at the 39th Academy Awards the following year are all still worth watching: Alfie; A Man for All Seasons; The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming; The Sand Pebbles; and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe? That 1967 Oscar ceremony seems to have taken place on a distant and different planet, though, light-years rem

(Photo by Lena Hall Photography) I had terrible postpartum depression with my second-born and didn’t even know it. I was convinced that if I fixed this particular problem or got that much more sleep, everything would be better. But I was in such a dark place, I couldn’t see how dark it really was. A Tough Beginning We had two children within our first two years of marriage, so life was changing very rapidly. When our first was born, every part of motherhood felt new and overw

(Photo: Lightstock) Fiction can often convey the human texture of a time and place better than scholarly works of history. Herewith, and in honor of the national semiquincentennial, some novels that help tell the Catholic story in these United States through a fictional lens. The Pre-History: Through the life of one of my native state’s notable daughters, Margaret Brent, Lucia St. Clair Robson’s Mary’s Land recounts the initial settlement and later struggles of the only Eng

I had martini lunches, a human-fax-machine job and no intention of moving to California. God had other ideas. (Photo: Lightstock) I was a college dropout. Twenty years old. Working for an oil company. Dating an executive. Enjoying martini lunches at the old world oilmen’s clubs. It was like a Mad Men throwback, and I loved it. There was only one problem. My job was “human fax machine.” In those pre-fax days, I walked up and down the streets of downtown Denver, delivering docu

In Baptism, every Catholic receives a new identity in Christ and a mission to share his love with the world. Archbishop Golka blesses those gathered for Easter Sunday Mass with holy water, following their renewal of baptismal promises. (Photo by Dan Petty/Denver Catholic) The day after I was installed as Archbishop of Denver, one of my younger nieces came running up to me. She gave me a massive hug, looked up at me and said, “It’s like a tsunami of love just ran through us.”

Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata by Giotto, c. 1500. (Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) October 3rd will mark 800 years since the death of St. Francis of Assisi. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed a Jubilee Year of St. Francis from January 10, 2026, to the following January. The fact that the entire Church is invited to enter this Jubilee shows us just how important the witness of St. Francis remains as a man truly conformed to

The Speyer Cathedral, Dom Speyer in German. (Photo: Sail over via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0) Speyer is a charming city on the west bank of the Rhine River. Its splendid medieval core is dominated by a magnificent 11th-century cathedral, the resting place of German emperors for three hundred years and one of Europe’s greatest expressions of Romanesque architecture. (For fans of British royalty, the future King Edward VII was introduced to his future wife, Alexandra, in th

(Photo: Lightstock) By Jordan Langdon, LCSW Parent Coach Families of Character There's something about August that feels like another New Year. Maybe it's the stacks of school supplies in every store or the calendar that suddenly fills up overnight. Whatever it is, we all start thinking the same thing: This year is going to be different. We promise ourselves we'll be more organized. Mornings won't be so rushed. Homework won't become a nightly battle. Family dinners will

(Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) In his June 2 Wall Street Journal column, Jason L. Riley noted a disturbing trend in our American moment: “According to the Department of Labor, 1 in 3 men were neither working nor looking for a job in April.” That sad state of affairs is multi-causal, to be sure. The hard fact, though, as Jason Riley argued and Nicholas Eberstadt demonstrated in his book Men Without Work, “is that the long-term rise in male joblessness doesn’t ste

(Photo: Unsplash) A 2025 YouGov poll revealed some interesting factoids about Americans’ reading habits — or lack thereof. 40% of us didn’t read a book last year. About a quarter of the country read one to four books in 2025, and 13% clocked in at between five and nine books in all formats (print, electronic, audio). 19% of us did 82% of America’s book reading. So let’s up our game. Herewith, some suggestions for your own reading pleasure this summer, which I hope you’ll pass

Research shows premarital cohabitation is linked to higher divorce rates and lower marital satisfaction. Here's why. (Photo: Lightstock) Dr. Phil is ruining my life. His reels keep showing up on my Facebook feed, upon which I waste far too much time. I have been particularly fascinated by the episodes featuring clearly incompatible engaged couples trying to work out their problems. And I yell, “Just break up! Don’t get married! Run!!!” And then I learn that they have three ki