Our culture is attempting suicide...
Phil Lawler
When I read the news headline it suddenly all seemed clear. The story reported that new positive COVID tests were attributed to “community spread.” Well of course! That’s how contagious diseases are contracted, right? They spread through the community. But this is the first time, in our long history of fighting diseases, that we have sought to stop the spread of a contagious disease by abolishing the community.

Are you discouraged? Don’t lose heart. Here are some practical things you can do to fight discouragement...

People keep asking: Why does press say ‘religious left,’ as opposed to ‘Religious Left?’...
Terry Mattingly
Every now and then, readers — or people I meet in daily life — ask this question: Why do journalists write so much about the Religious Right (capital letters), while devoting way less digital ink to the actions, policies and beliefs of the religious left (no capital letters). That is a complex question and you can hear me struggling with it all the way through this week’s “Crossroads” podcast...

Today’s lesson from Rome is about perspective and patience...

The dangers of canceling culture...
Fr. George Rutler
In the ethnic tradition of Anglo-Saxons, the “patter songs” of Gilbert and Sullivan have been the equivalent of contemporary rap music. Learning the repertoire was part of the expected rites of passage and, in the 1960s, I did my duty, even attaining to the heights of playing Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, a baronet disguised as young farmer Robin Oakapple in a New York City production of Ruddigore. In the second act, portraits of Robin’s ancestor come alive and step out of their frames to curse him as he writhes in unspeakable agony. While I quickly fell from that peak in my theatrical career, I still have clippings of critical reviews that thought my plangent voice and shrieks of pain were convincing.

The best ways to reheat and reuse leftover french fries...

Vatican warns: Using novel “We baptize” form of Baptism makes the sacrament invalid...

Pope Francis appoints six women to the Vatican’s Council for the Economy...

Whatever the future holds, don’t fear. Don’t fret. Just do what you can to be properly prepared...
John Cuddeback
One cannot but notice a growing sense of concern and even anxiety about the future. Are we in for serious disruptions of the social order, and should we be doing something to prepare? The fact is that the last several months have taught a lesson: things we thought could not happen can happen, surprisingly quickly. This lesson should not be without fruit in our lives. But what is the appropriate response?

‘No one has experienced this’ in Lebanon — Beirut blast threatens national catastrophe...

Ernest Hemingway and Flannery O’Connor were two very different Catholic writers, but both were pierced by suffering...

After Beirut explosion, Lebanon asks for prayer, turns to St. Charbel...

Pope Francis and a new private secretariat...
Andrea Gagliarducci
Why does Pope Francis feel the need to replace all the members of his private secretariat? At first, Fabián Pedacchio Leániz, who served as Pope Francis’ first secretary since the beginning of the pontificate, left the office at the beginning of the year. Pedacchio had been an official at the Congregation for Bishops since 2007, when then Cardinal Bergoglio sent him to Rome.

On the truest source of our dignity...
Msgr. Charles Pope
One of our deeper wounds is that we tend to doubt our dignity, especially in times of trouble. We look to human being who are fickle for a sense of honor and prestige in our life. But St. Peter Chrysologus reminds us of the true source of our dignity, and that of others, in a homily in last week’s office, saying, A virgin conceived, bore a son, and yet remained a virgin...

At Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis urges Catholics to follow ‘God’s logic,’ laments firebomb attack on cathedral in Nicaragua...

COVID-19 has changed the way Europeans go to Mass — for the worse...
Edward Pentin
In recent days I visited a number of churches in Italy and the alpine regions of Germany and Austria and was especially struck by how detrimental the reaction to the coronavirus pandemic had been to worship. Whereas most public places had become fairly relaxed about precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 — few people, for example, wore masks even in supermarkets and on public transport — when it came to churches, measures were strictly enforced.

Bishops see pro-Ortega 'terrorism' behind church attacks in Nicaragua...

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