Perspective

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the gift of religious freedom remains as relevant, radical and necessary as ever. (Photo: Lightstock) Even before the founding of the United States, America was known as a land of liberty, particularly for religious minorities fleeing persecution. This included Catholics, who founded one of the original thirteen colonies. Unlike for other religious groups, however, the promise of religious freedom often fell short for Catholics. During...

Part Seven: After hearing the Kerygma, the saving news of the Gospel, and making a decision to follow Christ, the person being accompanied needs to hear what it means to follow Jesus. (Photo: Lightstock) 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. Part One: A Practical Guide for Everyday Catholics Part Two: Be A Disciple First Part Three:...

The United States Supreme Court is currently made up of nine justices. Front row: Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justices Samuel A. Alito and Elena Kagan. Back row: Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Photo: Fred Schilling, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) Article III of the Constitution, which establishes the Supreme Court, is the shortest of the three articles that define the...

(Photo: Lightstock) While praying through the second letter of St. Paul to Timothy one morning, the words in the chapter seemed to leap off the page and strike me in the heart. As someone who writes and reads online, I feel ever more strongly the need for wisdom and discernment in what I consume and say. The digital world is the new Wild West: a place of bots and trolls, but also an opportunity to evangelize. You and I might be one of the only Catholic voices others hear (or read) online, and...

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Society of St. Pius X, in 1981. (Photo: Antonisse, Marcel / Anefo, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 nl) The Holy See has declared that, if the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) proceeds with the ordination of bishops in July without a papal mandate, those involved in these illicit ordinations are automatically (latae sententiae) excommunicated — that is, excommunicated by their own acts. One may, indeed one should, hope that it does not come to that....

As the United States marks 250 years, the story of Franciscan missionary Francisco Garcés reveals a Catholic legacy that helped shape the American Southwest. (Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) After writing about Escalante and Dominguez’s exploration of Colorado, I unexpectedly found myself driving Route 66 across Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona (as the road celebrates its own centennial). Providentially, I was already reading an account of a great missionary and martyr who first...

As one YouTuber announces the abortion of their child, who potentially would have had Down syndrome, the life of Christy Hockel Davenport offers a powerful witness to the beauty, dignity and purpose of every human person. (Photo courtesy of the Hockel family/Mary Beth Bonacci) Just a few days ago, YouTuber Jesse Ridgway announced that he and his wife have made the “difficult decision” to abort their baby after testing indicated the child may be born with Down syndrome. In the announcement, he...

Jimmy Lai in 2019. (Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) At his May summit in Beijing, President Trump made an effort to convince Chinese leader Xi Jinping to release Jimmy Lai from his imprisonment in Hong Kong. Jimmy, whom I am honored to call a friend, is a 78-year-old diabetic who has been in solitary confinement some seven hundred days longer than the United States was engaged in World War II, and is now serving a twenty-year sentence for threatening Chinese national security....

(Photo: Unsplash) I just read a study that started by saying, “Pre-marital sex predicts divorce, but we do not know why.” The study found that the odds of divorce for these couples are double to triple — increasing as the number of sexual partners increases — over those who saved sex for marriage. These results remained consistent even after adjusting for religiosity, beliefs and values. In other words, it isn’t just because the “savers” are religious and hence don’t believe in divorce. Nor...

Pope St. John Paul II speaks during World Youth Day 1993 in Denver. (Photo by James Baca/Denver Catholic Register) When he was elected Bishop of Rome on October 16, 1978, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła had a rather limited experience of the Catholic Church in the United States. He had met American churchmen at the Second Vatican Council, and a few of them visited Poland in the ensuing years. The Cracovian cardinal had made two visits to the United States, one during the national bicentennial in 1976,...

The story of America and Colorado is ultimately a story of God’s faithfulness, mercy and invitation to holiness. (Photo: Adobe Stock) Blessed be the name of the Lord, now and forever. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made Heaven and earth. That formula for an apostolic blessing, a benediction that bishops give, has a lot to teach us as we reflect on our country’s last 250 years and our state’s last 150 — years marked by courage, sacrifice and perseverance — and as we look forward to...

On the cusp of the United States’ 250th anniversary and Colorado’s 150th, the Centennial State and its Catholic witnesses show modern Catholics a path forward. The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, completed in 1912, has stood as a visible symbol of the Catholic faith in Colorado for over a century. (Photo: Archdiocese of Denver Archives) Colorado celebrates its own 150th anniversary this year, as the rest of the country marks 250 years since the founding of the...