Universality

by Sarah Albertini-Bond I have a memory from my days in grammar school when one of the nuns told us school kids in St. Matthias that the word Catholic meant “universal”. She went on to explain that Catholicism is so obvious, so universal, that’s why we called our church that name. In the spirit of [...]

Rebecca Curtin @ Patheos

Check out the latest “In All Things…: Young Women & Catholicism” post at patheos.com by Rebecca Curtin!

The Substance of Things Hoped For

by Kate Henley Averett There’s this man who sits in Harvard yard with a poster demanding “9/11 truth NOW.” I’m not sure if he’s there everyday – I suspect not – but he’s there quite often, often enough that he’s become something of a fixture in the landscape for me in my four and a [...]

On Priesthood and Humility and Healing

by Jen Owens These readings fall on the same weekend as the diaconate ordination of my Jesuit colleagues who are in formation here at the Jesuit school in Berkeley. So the Second Reading feels particularly prescient. It describes the characteristics of a good priest–one who is humble and patient with others because of an awareness [...]

Of Autumn Leaves, Catholicism(s), and Changes

by Pearl Maria Barros Lately, I’ve been struck by the dazzling colors of autumn – bursts of orange, yellow, and red coming out of the trees that shelter me as I walk to school each day. It’s like being surrounded by a variety of burning bushes; each one beckoning me to take off my shoes [...]

Traveling with From the Pews in the Back

By Kate Dugan I’ve just returned home to Evanston from a long weekend in Minnesota. I had the privilege of being on a very mini-book tour of two Benedictine schools in the land of 10,000 lakes–my alma mater, the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph on Thursday, and the College of St. Scholastica in [...]

Paradox

by Jessica Coblentz par⋅a⋅dox [par-uh-doks] –noun 1. a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. 2. a self-contradictory and false proposition. 3. any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature. 4. an opinion or statement contrary to commonly accepted opinion. A priest once told a [...]

Compound Interest or Preferential Option for the Poor?

By Claire Bischoff My relationship to my Catholic identity has been a rocky one, at best. I oscillate between thinking I am crazy to align myself with this church and stubbornly refusing to leave because I do not want to let the earthly powers that be define who counts as a true Catholic. A few [...]

God’s Punchline

By Felicia Schneiderhan Today’s Gospel reading is like a joke I’ve heard over and over again. Every time I think I know what it’s about; every time I forget the punch line. When the man comes up and asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” something inside me slumps. Yeah, yeah, I [...]

Spiritual Fitness

by Angela Batie People have never accused me of being “athletic.” I learned early on that I was far more inclined toward music and acting than sports. Sports required some semblance of coordination and endurance, neither of which I possessed. While friends train for marathons, I’m much better at cheering loudly from the sideline. My [...]

It’s Complicated

by Rebecca Curtin Sometimes I feel that when I talk about Catholicism I have a split personality.  This split causes me to do odd things (like add frequent parenthetical statements when writing about my Catholicism).  And, when I try to rationalize my “Catholic” ideas, I often wind up contradicting myself.  Consider the following conversation I [...]

Flesh of my Flesh: Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Johanna Hatch As someone who’s family has been shaped by divorce and remarriage, and as an advocate for same-sex marriage, this week’s Sunday readings seem like a particularly difficult pill to swallow. The first reading, from the second chapter of Genesis, is the creation story that so many are familiar with from our early [...]

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