In a recent homily, it was suggested that all of us are exiles – at least in some internal, psychological or spiritual way – from the abundant life God holds out for us. There may well be some food for thought here, but for me, especially as I write this article, “exiles” most clearly applies...Read More

WASHINGTON – Celebrity Cruise Lines has cut the use of priests to give ministerial service on board its ships to only major feasts.Read More

ROME – Laying a wreath at a memorial to Roman Jews rounded up by the Nazis in 1943 and joining in a standing ovation to a dwindling group of Holocaust survivors, Pope Benedict XVI broke the ice with Rome’s Jewish community even before he began to speak.Read More

It is nearly impossible to recognize Danny Cahill, the Oklahoma land surveyor, in NBC’s Biggest Loser. But if you look closely, you can see him in the corners of his smile and the familiar glimmer in his blue eyes – hints of the former man, eight months and 239 pounds ago.Read More

Your series of commentaries on health care reform has been interesting, but the latest, by Tony Magliano (CR, Dec. 10) was bizarre. As he has done before, Magliano criticizes that nebulous crowd of “many Catholics” out there who don’t measure up to his standard. He points out the urgent need to call politicians to prevent...Read More

When Kayla Cservek was studying theology at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, some of her friends in the on-campus seminary occasionally teased her about her birthday.Read More

WASHINGTON – Religion and politics met head-on this year, with abortion often at the center of the debate, but church-state tensions also arose over public displays of religious symbols, threats to the free exercise of religion and concerns about protecting the conscience rights of health care providers.Read More

VATICAN CITY – Christmas is not a children’s fairytale, it is God’s answer to humanity’s thirst for real peace, Pope Benedict XVI said.Read More