Every Sunday, we pray a dangerous prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” It’s dangerous because we’re asking God to judge us as we judge others, creating our own measuring stick for God to use: “The measure you give will be the measure you get” (Mt 7:2). There is good news here as well. If we need forgiveness from God, he promises it to us so long as we ourselves show mercy. We are not judged, however, by how we treat our friends, bu

The juxtaposition of Thanksgiving with the Church’s annual month of prayer for the dead hadn’t previously struck me with force; that it did this year has something to do, I expect, with my late sister-in-law, Linda Bauer Weigel. Linda died in January after a heroic battle with ovarian cancer – a dreadful diagnosis she received just before Thanksgiving 2019. But she was determined that the rotation of family holiday get-togethers be maintained; it was her turn and my brother J

By Kateri Williams Most Catholics are familiar with the Marian apparition sites in France, Portugal and Mexico.  Yet, many are unaware of the Marian apparitions that took place in Kibeho, Rwanda between 1981 and 1989 to three children.  Recognized by the Vatican in 2001, Our Lady of Kibeho is the only Marian apparition site approved by the Catholic Church on the Africa continent.    November 28 is the feast day of Our Lady of Kibeho, and as we commemorate the 30th anniversar

From the day it was announced that the Vatican would conduct an investigation into the career of former Washington cardinal-archbishop Theodore McCarrick (compelled to renounce his cardinalate and subsequently laicized for sexual abuse and the abuse of power), it seemed unlikely that the McCarrick Report would fully please anyone. That intuition hardened as two years passed without any report. During that period, I also came to the view that, whatever the report reported abou

(Photo: Brett Jordan / Unsplash) Dear Admin, As you may recall, I’m a member — oops, check that, WAS a member — of your Facebook group...

God’s grace flows through us like a river, washing us and nourishing his divine life in us. His grace flows freely when we let go of the attachments that dam us up, blocking grace’s entry points. If we are distracted by technology and do not make time to pray, are stuck in impurity, or consumed by work, we will miss what’s most important. Those dams not only block the grace from working within us, but they also block it from flowing out to others and becoming a source of ligh

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: There are many exemplars of the cardinal virtue of courage in the Catholic Church today: Catholics...

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary” (Lk 10:41-42). It would be easy to imagine Christ saying this to us now, calling us away from our anxieties to sit at his feet, like Martha’s sister Mary. Jesus wants to give us the peace that we need in the midst of our anxiety about “many things.” By calling us into communion with him, Jesus shows us that He is the one thing that is necessary, the most essential thing in our li

The Pandemic of 2020 has been hard on every Catholic. Eucharistic fasting for this length of time may remind us what 20th century heroes of the faith in underground Churches endured, and what 21st century confessors in China and elsewhere endure today; and that is no bad thing. Still, it is very, very hard to be the Catholic Church without being a vibrantly eucharistic Church. That’s true for everyone. The people of the Church should realize that it’s especially true for pri

Sixty years ago, Father John Courtney Murray, SJ, published what I regard as the finest Catholic analysis of American democracy ever...

Our country has been through a lot this last year, as we all know. As many people have reacted against the founding and history of the United States, I have found myself drawn towards greater patriotism. By this, I simply mean a deeper appreciation of what I’ve been given by my country and also a growing realization of the duty I have to work for the common good, here and now. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of this duty under the fourth commandment that enjoins

The Good Samaritan by Rembrandt, c. 1633. (Photo: Public Domain) Most of us are familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan, which...

CINCINNATI, OH - OCTOBER 12: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden waves after delivering remarks during a voter-mobilization event at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal October 12, 2020 in Cincinnati, Ohio. With 21 days until the election, Biden is campaigning in Toledo and Cincinnati. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) The image of the pre-conciliar Catholic Church in the United States as catechetically effective and politically potent can be hard to s

October 16, 2020 Dear brothers and sisters of the Archdiocese of Denver, Today, the Oversight Committee of the Independent...

(Photo: Denver Catholic file photo) The feeling of being in uncharted territory is one that many of us are experiencing these days. When...

Holy mass in Christian church during the coronavirus pandemic Covid-19. Safe personal distance with face masks. Chruch during pandemics By Deacon Rob Lanciotti   Deacon Rob Lanciotti is a permanent deacon at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Fort Collins and holds a doctoral degree in Microbiology. He was employed as a virologist for the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for 29 years. Back in June as we began returning to Mass, I wrote from my perspective as a virologi

(Photo: Pexels) Well, it’s that time again. A national election is weeks away. So I guess it’s time for my quadrennial election column....

Earlier this fall, I was happy to be one of the initial signatories of “Liberty and Justice for All,” a call for national renewal drafted by scholars concerned about the dangerous deterioration of American public life. The temper of the statement can be discerned from its opening paragraphs and its conclusion: We stand at the crossroads. Over the next several years, the noble sentiments and ideas that gave birth to the United States will either be repudiated or reaffirmed. T

You’re probably hearing a lot about socialism recently. It’s become a hot button issue in our culture with major politicians advocating...

Every four years, Catholics face an intense dilemma in regard to the vote. There are ardently Catholic Democrats who wonder how their...