The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war caused the premature suspension of the First Vatican Council on October 20, 1870 and left the...

Pope John Paul II said he came to Denver to proclaim the Gospel in the “modern metropolis,” but some organizers thought only 60,000...

On this 25th anniversary of World Youth Day in Denver, I can’t help sharing one of my favorite personal memories of John Paul II. It was...

I’m a cancer survivor, although mine was more of a “skirmish” than a battle. It was brief and relatively easily treated. But one long...

Saint Dorothy Day? A former communist who had an abortion does not fit the mold of the normal candidate for canonization; yet her...

Take my word for it: You don’t want to be around me at breakfast. I am not a chipper morning person, and it’s best to leave me to the...

July 25 is the fiftieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae , Blessed Paul VI’s encyclical on the integrity of love and the appropriate means of...

When the great Tom Wolfe died on May 14 — he of the white suits, the spats, and the prose style as exuberant as his wardrobe — I, like...

Every afternoon in downtown Denver, homeless men, women and children are given shelter, food and a place to wash themselves. Not far...

(Photo provided) Almost a quarter-century ago, Father Jay Scott Newman, back in Rome to finish a graduate degree after his priestly...

The vacation season is an opportunity to escape TwitterWorld and do some serious reading. These books will help make your summer...

On November 24, 2013, Pope Francis displayed St. Peter’s bones publicly for the first time. This momentous occasion culminated the...

(Photo: Pixabay) Two high profile suicides in four days.  Awful. In the wake of the deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, my...

The Church’s custom of reading virtually all of the Acts of the Apostles at daily Mass during the Easter season struck me as...

With hundreds of bishops coming to the Vatican in October 2001 for a Synod, I decided to spend that month in Rome conducting interviews...

I wasn’t surprised by the result of Ireland’s May 25 referendum, which opened a path to legal abortion in the Emerald Isle by striking...

“You are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary.” We recognize Jesus’ response to the busy Martha in...

(Photo: Pixabay) Did you know that we see hundreds if not thousands of advertisements a day? In fact, the consensus among marketing...

The bizarre comment and the weird gesture have not, until recently, been associated with high-ranking churchmen. Both, alas, were on...

A chapter in a remarkable American and Catholic life will close on June 6, when Abbot Thomas Frerking, OSB, concludes more than two...