Read & Reflect

A Forgiving Heart Does Not Keep Score: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This Sunday, Peter asks Jesus how many times he has to forgive a brother who sins against him.  Jesus tells him to forget the math.  Why? Gospel (Read Mt. 18:21-35) In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus instructed the apostles on how to handle problems that would arise in His Church when brother sinned aga...

Would the Resurrection Survive Cross-Examination?

The question posed starts with the standard of proof. A civil verdict requires only a preponderance of the evidence, a fraction over half. However, the test I applied in my book, Resurrection on Trial, is explanatory adequacy, used by historians and forensic investigators for events long past. Does...

[Daily Rosary Meditations] Memento Mori

Synod group calls for gender-equality mechanisms in Church workplaces

The General Secretariat of the Synod on Tuesday, Sept. 8, published the final report of Study Group 6, which presents concrete proposals for renewing relations among bishops, consecrated life, and ecclesial associations, including specific mechanisms to promote greater equality between men and women...

Pope to new bishops: The most important mission is to ‘remain with Jesus’

Pope Leo XIV said the first task bishops must place before every other responsibility is to “remain with Jesus,” because, he emphasized, “we are bishops, but first and foremost we are disciples.”“To speak about him, we need to be with him; to lead his people, we must allow ourselves, every day, to b...

Papal synodality: Why Pope Leo gave Eastern Churches the power to remove patriarchs

The Dicastery for Eastern Churches, Rome.Twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome. Six are headed by a patriarch: the Coptic, Syriac, Melkite Greek, Maronite, Chaldean, and Armenian Catholic Churches. Four more are headed by a major archbishop, an office t...

French victims ask Pope Leo to take action on spiritual abuse

A group of more than 200 victims of spiritual abuse and their relatives is asking Pope Leo XIV to take concrete steps to prevent and respond to instances of spiritual abuse within the Church.In a Sept. 7 letter, published in La Croix, the group asked the pope to clearly define spiritual abuse in can...

Where is the Torreciudad shrine dispute headed?

A Spanish newspaper has published alleged letters from Pope Francis, suggesting the late pope supported the bishop of Barbastro in a dispute with Opus Dei about the Marian shrine in his diocese.The publication of the allegedly leaked letters comes just days after Bishop Ángel Pérez Pueyo, SOD, of Ba...

Andorran PM says abortion to be legal by April, with or without Vatican approval

The Andorran Prime Minister has announced a plan to decriminalize abortion in the microstate by April next year “whether the Holy See likes it or not,” despite a Catholic bishop serving as co-head of state.Andorran Prime Minister Xavier Espot. Credit: Andorran gov.Xavier Espot, the Andorran PM, anno...

The Birth of Mary: Reflecting on the Feast Day

Most years, on Mary’s birthday, I’m recuperating from a Labor Day weekend involving a backhoe and at least one cookout and probably canning of one sort or another. Labor Day seems like the perfect backdrop for a reflection of the Blessed Mother, though. It’s a chance to stop and honor the work and t...

Writing, Reading, and the Holy Spirit: Icons as Divine Relationship

In the collection of Eastern monastic writings called the Philokalia, the goal of the spiritual life is clear: “We must make ourselves a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit,” writes St. Diodachos of Photiki. This directive to enshrine the Holy Spirit in oneself is consistent throughout the collection...