American Catholics, says Rev. Thomas Reese of National Catholic Reporter, live out their faith in the local parish, and “they want to meet somebody like Pope Francis. And if the clergy and the bishops and the people aren’t like Pope Francis, or namely like Jesus, more welcoming, compassionate, loving, they’re going to turn around and never come back.” More →

September 25, 2015

The Roman Catholic Church’s understanding of the permanent nature of marriage “is really meant to be a countercultural position,” says Professor Susan Ross of Loyola University Chicago’s theology department. “The Church’s challenge is to find a way to hold marriage as this sacred bond, while recognizing the very human situation in which it falls apart.” More →

September 25, 2015

“The American post-Enlightenment contractual idea of marriage—that is, marriage is what we decide it is—is an incredibly powerful idea that haunts the minds of American Catholics…The under-65 crowd is much more into contractual understandings of marriage than covenantal understandings of … More →

September 25, 2015

Pope Francis arrives in the US on Tuesday, September 22nd, for five busy days in Washington, New York, and Philadelphia. Managing editor Kim Lawton asks American Catholics about the beliefs that shape the Pope’s view of the world, and Stephen Schneck and Tom Roberts joins host Bob Abernethy in the studio for a conversation about their expectations for the pope’s trip. More →

September 18, 2015

“We got to know our neighbors in the surrounding community in a way we probably wouldn’t have otherwise, because we did all have to work through it together. And so in these last 10 years I would say we have been much more part of the community where we’ve been a building for over a hundred years,” says David duPlantier, dean of Episcopal Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans. More →

August 21, 2015

The Virgin Mary has been a companion throughout important events in Mexico’s national history, says Monsignor Jorge Antonio Palencia. “Our Lady has accompanied the nation across the foundation, through the independence movement, then through the revolution movement.” More →

August 7, 2015

Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, a Maryknoll priest in Nicaragua suspended by the Vatican for his leftist political activities in the seventies and eighties as part of the theological movement that was known for its radical embrace of the poor over the powerful, believes the Catholic Church under Pope Francis is “more attuned to Jesus.” More →

June 19, 2015

“Give people job opportunities, give children education, and then you bring them out of poverty. Just giving them condoms and contraceptives will not automatically draw them out of poverty,” says Rev. Joel Jason of the Archdiocese of Manila. But some women say lack of access to family planning and free birth control makes it harder for them to improve their lives. More →

June 12, 2015

Forty-two years ago, in a village south of Paris, a French-Canadian created a home where the mentally disabled could live in dignity and where others could learn from them the value of sharing and acceptance. There is now a worldwide network of these communities called L’Arche, the French word for Ark, a symbol of hope. More →

March 13, 2015

“Corporations are going to have to live up to a new standard if they are going to be able to hold on to the freedom of free enterprise, and the B Corp might be the way for that to happen,” says this emeritus professor of business ethics and corporate responsibility. More →

March 6, 2015