Catholic. Pastoral. Trusted.
The year: 1974. The fad du jour: streaking. The spectacle: A streaker unabashedly darts across the stage at the forty-sixth annual Academy Awards (the Oscars). What could be more obscene than a guy baring what quick-thinking host David Niven immediately called “his shortcomings” on worldwide television? Flash-forward almost fifty years...
The prospect of aging can cause feelings of fear and dread. In a society where the measure of a person’s value and worth fall heavily on the side of work and productivity, it’s no surprise that some elderly people feel irrelevant, useless, invisible, and unloved. If we go to the...
Several months ago, my husband had both knees replaced. The after-surgery care and commitment were more challenging than either of us could have imagined. I likened it to bringing home a newborn from the hospital. Constant attention was required; the tiniest detail made a substantial difference. I quickly learned to...
Saint Alphonsus Liguori—a prolific author of 111 spiritual works—called his writing the “apostolate of the pen,” and he wanted his fellow Redemptorists to engage in this ministry as well. Thus, Liguori Publications is foremost a ministry of the Redemptorists in the spirit of our founder. Our company also is a...
We are in the season of renewal. Watching nature unfold and come to life in the sunlight is a lovely reminder that we too are called to experience a beautiful rebirth. As long as we remain in the light of the Holy Trinity, we will not perish from sin. Do...
This year has flown by! Summer begins in June, the halfway mark of our publishing year, and we need to call out to you, our readers. Last year, we initiated the first Liguorian Readers’ Choice Awards, and we’d like to continue the tradition. We understand life is busy, so we’re...
On May 13, 1917, three children who were cousins—Jacinta, Lucia, and Francisco—received the first of a number of privileged visits from the Virgin Mary. They, and the world, would never be the same. Nations awaited the end of the “war to end all wars” as our Lady’s call for prayer...
There’s a moment in our lives when we are faced with the question: Is it worth it to love another person? When we are young, it seems falling in love is easy. There is romantic love to discover, new friends to make who seem to offer us something new and...
Every year I look forward to the Easter Vigil. It is the most wonderful of liturgies. The initiation sacraments are the heart of the celebration. Young and old, individuals and families, with their unique and diverse life experience, are welcomed fully into the Church. Smiles and tears, hugs and kisses,...
A variation on that old adage, “You are what you eat,” is a line I heard on a recent podcast: “You are what you think.” English philosopher James Allen wrote this: “As a man thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.” Perhaps this truth resonated so...
The good news is the worldwide Catholic Church gained sixteen million new members in 2020, says the latest data from the Vatican’s Central Office of Church Statistics. At 1.36 billion, Catholics comprise just under 18 percent of the earth’s population. The vast majority of the millions of new Catholics are...
The eleventh day of March marks two full years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic. I am stunned by this reality. Still. And what’s more shocking, in my opinion, is that we, as a nation, don’t have a better handle on the situation. Near the end...
As we commence our forty days of prayers, fasting, and almsgiving in March, we will also commemorate the feast of St. Joseph (March 19) and the Annunciation of the Lord (March 25). With these solemnities, we see what it means to exercise our faith in body, mind, heart, and soul,...
I’ve always found the word fast a bit strange. I’m referring to the Lenten obligation that many know well, and to that dreaded prescription given by doctors in anticipation of blood work or surgery. Our English word fast has German roots and holds varied meanings. The word can mean sure,...
Especially during the penitential season of Lent, we’re called to examine our lives in the sacrament of penance. This leads us to be in greater conformity with our faith and to better imitate our Lord. To that end, we may not only want to confess how often we’ve lied to...
Oversized photos of six Black Catholic men and women were carried in procession into Saint Ann’s Catholic Church in East Baltimore as the All Saints’ Day Mass began in 2021. Their names, along with a few biographical details, were called out, each one receiving enthusiastic applause: Augustus Tolton, Mary Elizabeth...
In the Victorian era, a widowed bride wore a small vial around her neck—known as a tear catcher—to collect her tears, which she tenderly poured atop the gravesite of her husband on the first anniversary of his death. Despite this poignant grieving ritual—possibly romanticized—the story is told of pallbearers carrying...
February is a strange month. It’s not quite winter and not quite spring. The Christmas season concluded early last month and Lent begins in early March. We find ourselves in an in-between phase. When we gaze upon the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, we are also caught up...
As a bonus mom to a just-teen (thirteen) and soon-to-be-teen (eleven), my linguistic knowledge expands constantly. Thank goodness for four more children in their early to mid-twenties who are much more in tune with trendy jargon than I am. They often save me from being completely discombobulated. I think the...
A troubling national trend is the gradual loss of “international” priests and religious. “International” is the designation given in the United States to pastoral ministers who come from places like India, Nigeria, Colombia, and Brazil to bolster the pastoral workforce in this country. Priests and religious are permitted by the...