1. Homeland Insecurity: The battle over God’s promise
(Columns/Plain Talk)

... a right to their homeland, but are they justified in taking it from someone else? Where do the persecuted flee to, and what happens when they arrive on someone else’s doorstep? Those questions ...

2. Letters From Readers
(Content/Letters From Readers)

... Mass and parish registration [Questions People Ask, May-June 2010]. I understand the Church’s position that parents are the first religious educators of their children. My parents were not churchgoers ...

3. If You Want to Make Your Priest Nervous…Study the Bible
(Columns/Plain Talk)

... even on days when I didn’t preach. Let’s stop it. Make your priests nervous—study the Bible. Read the readings ahead of time, and go to Mass with questions. If you’re still hungry, ...

4. Welcome Home
(Content/Fiction)

... just left a softball game and were transitioning at her house before embarking on a vacation. Cruise ships left frequently from the Port of Tampa. Determined not to ask questions, Carole set the table ...

5. Prayer: Choosing to Let God Get Close
(Content/Prayer)

... always needed to ask questions. It used to drive my parents crazy. My dad was always fixing things around the house, and when he didn’t have anything to fix, he’d build stuff. The only time ...

6. A Summer Reading List
(Content/Christian Living)

... How Big Is Your God? The Freedom to Experience the Divine by Paul Coutinho, SJ. “Father Coutinho asks deeply provocative and insightful questions, challenging readers not to let their limitations ...

7. Questions People Ask About Mary
(Content/Church Teaching)

Confused about Mary I have a question about the annunciation. My confusion is based on Luke 1:27, which says that Mary was betrothed at the time of the angel’s message. Would it not have been logical ...

8. Beads of Comfort: Finding God in the spaces between
(Content/Spirituality)

... calls God on the tough questions, but God doesn’t have to explain how the world works. Not to Job, not to David, not even to Jesus. Jesus, too, finds himself at a distance from God, especially ...

9. The Grace of Growing Up: The eighth gift of the Holy Spirit
(Columns/The Word in Our World)

... to Jerusalem where he will stand trial, endure crucifixion, and die for us, his disciples pester him with self-centered questions like, “Please, can we be first and sit at your right and left hand? ...

10. You Can’t Always Get What You Want: The what and the how of moral reasoning
(Columns/Morality Matters)

... order—we may arrive at strange or erroneous conclusions. Experts describe the process of moral decision-making according to what I like to call the “what” and the “how” questions.  ...

11. The Mystery Surrounding the Shroud: Hoax or Relic?
(Content/Church Teaching)

... Church has set science aside and invited the faithful to come and see for themselves. Science can answer many questions, but in the end, some questions can only be answered by faith. What do you believe? ...

12. What Catholics Should Know About Buddhism
(Content/Church Teaching)

All around the world today Catholics and Buddhists are engaged in dynamic interfaith encounter. Catholic theologians discuss vital questions of doctrine with their Buddhist counterparts. Priests and laypeople ...

13. Embrace the Lent You Get
(Content/Spirituality)

...  Most of Sara’s questions went unanswered that spring, but as the weeks of recovery dragged on, she did come to find God in her experience. She encountered God in the humility of needing to ...

14. Lenten Mending: Four Ways to Celebrate Lent
(Content/Christian Living)

... with abundance to our paltry efforts. Two biblical questions might guide our Lenten quest for Christ. Jesus asked “Whom are you looking for?” of the soldiers sent to arrest him and later of ...

15. Eldercare: A Step-by-Step Guide
(Content/Christian Living)

... Is your senior being treated or screened for arthritis, diabetes, and blood pressure irregularities? Problems in any of these areas can make it difficult to manage daily life. Make a list of questions ...

16. Kris Kringle and Mass at Midnight
(Content/Christian Living)

... History 101: A Concise Overview (Liguori Publications, 2008) and 101 Questions and Answers on Popes and the Papacy (Paulist Press, 2008). This text is also available in pamphlet format. For information, ...

17. Rediscovering Lectio Divinia: The Word Made Fresh
(Content/Scripture)

... Divina from his monks each day. So why is Lectio Divina getting so much attention these days? Prior to the Second Vatican Council, Catholics didn’t read the Bible but studied the questions and ...

18. The Tapestry of Life: A World Woven in Culture
(Content/Christian Living)

... give meaning to our lives, and we ask the questions that drive our search for fulfillment. But as much as culture is the matrix within which we define our identities and are held together as communities, ...

19. Religion in a Culture of Science, Skepticism, and Do-It-Yourself Spirituality
(Content/Spirituality)

... first is the advancement of science. Many think of religion as a mythological view of reality that has been disproved and displaced by modern science. Science has answered so many questions that people ...

20. The Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven, Hell
(Content/Church Teaching)

Since the beginning of human history people have asked questions about the end of the world, or to use traditional Catholic terminology, the Last Things. Escalating crises in the Middle East are increasingly ...