Palestinians light candles before Christmas morning Mass at St. Catherine's Church, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, West Bank, Dec. 25, 2021. (CNS/Debbie Hill)
Book Reviews

An Advent book for liberation, discovery and subversive hope

Culture

This book takes us on a journey of truth telling, care, justice and hope. It gives us insights on what we can do with the life we’ve been given and a history we have told time and again.

The Latest

Editors' Choice

Focus

Honeybees emerge from the warmth of the hive to observe a beekeeper. (Charlie X. Constance)

In Focus

In Advent, a beekeeper prepares for an uncertain nativity scene

A honeybee hive needs at least 60 pounds of honey to survive the winter. In this way, all their hoarding of honey from summer blooms has a purpose. With only 38 pounds of honey, I worry about my beehive.

Most Read Stories

Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne gives the homily as he concelebrates Mass at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome Feb. 7, 2020. (CNS/Paul Haring)
#1

Seattle Archdiocese criticized for buying $2.4 million home for archbishop

While the Seattle Archdiocese argues that the new home will provide needed space for guests and events, others are critical of the purchase, given Archbishop Paul Etienne's initial promise to live a "simplified life."

ByKatie Collins Scott
Dominican Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, speaks during a Nov. 15, 2022, session of the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore.
Guest Voices
#2

The confusing path of the US Catholic bishops

At their fall plenary meeting, the bishops spent less time on the Gospel than on internal church matters.

ByPhyllis Zagano
Michael and Vickie Leach with their children
Soul Seeing
#3

Love says: You still have a life left to live

My soulmate since first we met at Your Father's Mustache tavern 54 years ago, Vickie died just the way she wanted to. At home. With loved ones at her side.

ByMichael Leach
#4

First Day of Advent: The unimaginable days to come

#5

Hierarchicalism is the root of US bishops' culture war mentality

#6

Amid rising homelessness, Catholic-run tiny home villages build more than shelter

Opinion

US World Cup team reflects America as it should be

Guest Voices

Letters to the editor on the fall U.S. bishops' meeting

Letters to the Editor
The United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. (Unsplash/J. Amill Santiago)

Three moral issues facing the lame-duck Congress

NCR Voices

Aid to Ukraine, the child tax credit and the debt ceiling are three priorities columnist Michael Sean Winters thinks the lame-duck Congress should address.

Editorial: Climate change needs a Catholic 'both/and' solution

Editorial

Don't just be a Christian, be a disciple this Advent

NCR Voices
People holding lighted candles leave St. Peter's Basilica after Pope Francis celebrated Mass Oct. 11 to mark the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. (CNS/Vatican Media)

The church is, once again, at a crossroads

NCR Voices

This is my first time writing for this space since I became publisher of the National Catholic Reporter just a couple of weeks ago. I'm new to the job — but I'm not new to NCR and what it means to so many people.

Vatican

Pope Francis is seated next to Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, England, spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, during a meeting at the end of a two-day spiritual retreat with South Sudanese leaders at the Vatican in this April 11, 2019, file photo. The pope plans to visit South Sudan July 5-7. (CNS photo/Vatican Media via Reuters)
Vatican News

Vatican confirms Pope Francis will travel to Congo and South Sudan in early 2023

Pope Francis' much anticipated and twice delayed trip to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo is back on, the Vatican announced on Dec. 1.

Francis, the comic strip: Brother Leo helps his class get ready for Advent.
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: Brother Leo helps his class get ready for Advent.

ByPat Marrin
Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves with the Vatican in the background
Vatican News

Prefect of Vatican economy office steps down, citing illness

Three years after Pope Francis appointed him to speed up financial reforms, transparency and budget controls at the Vatican, Jesuit Fr. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves has resigned for health reasons.

ByCatholic News Service
Pope Francis greets Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople at Sakhir Palace in Awali, Bahrain, in this Nov. 4, 2022, file photo. In a letter to Patriarch Bartholomew, Pope Francis said Christians must acknowledge how sin has exacerbated divisions and how growing in holiness is part of the search for Christian unity. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Vatican News

Overcoming Christian divisions would give world hope, pope tells patriarch

While formal dialogue about the theological and historical causes of the splits in Christianity are essential, so, too, is a recognition that "sinful actions and attitudes" have contributed and continue to contribute to divisions in the body of Christ, Pope Francis said.

ByCatholic News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Vatican Swiss Guard slayings back in spotlight with new book

Vatican News

Even a two-minute examination of conscience is helpful, pope says

Vatican News

Regional representatives meet pope, discuss 'continental phase' of synod

An advent wreath with all candles lit. (Unsplash/KaLisa Veer)
Viewpoints

In Advent, we hope and wait. Climate change doesn't lend itself to either.

Fr. Thomas Reese: Advent is supposed to be a time of anticipation and hope, but the threat of global warming brings me anxiety and fear.

Solar installers are seen on a residential home Oct. 14, 2016, in Scripps Ranch, California. (CNS/Reuters/Mike Blake)
Politics

Catholics in Puerto Rico pursue solar as preferred energy solution

Archbishop Roberto González Nieves has lent support to Queremos Sol, a coalition that advocates for renewable energy in Puerto Rico, focusing on rooftop solar. González has urged churches and schools to switch to solar.

ByAleja Hertzler-McCain
Aerial shot of the Valley of the Gods in Bears Ears National Monument. (Creative Commons/Courtesy of Bureau of Land Management)
Justice

Across the US, Native Americans are fighting to preserve sacred land

"It's important that we unify, and we work together, and share the teachings to protect our sacred areas because once God, once our sacred and holy places are gone, we will no longer exist. Our religion will be gone forever," said one Native American activist.

ByAlejandra Molina, Religion News Service
Honeybees emerge from the warmth of the hive to observe a beekeeper. (Charlie X. Constance)
Faith

In Advent, a beekeeper prepares for an uncertain nativity scene

A honeybee hive needs at least 60 pounds of honey to survive the winter. In this way, all their hoarding of honey from summer blooms has a purpose. With only 38 pounds of honey, I worry about my beehive.

BySteven Salido Fisher

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Viewpoints

After 70 years, William Everson's 'Canticle to the Waterbirds' still sings

Viewpoints

Beat swords into plowshares and leaf blowers into rakes

Faith

Forest rangers, local towns stop planned cut of Christmas tree for Vatican

Culture

Palestinians light candles before Christmas morning Mass at St. Catherine's Church, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, West Bank, Dec. 25, 2021. (CNS/Debbie Hill)
Book Reviews

An Advent book for liberation, discovery and subversive hope

This book takes us on a journey of truth telling, care, justice and hope. It gives us insights on what we can do with the life we’ve been given and a history we have told time and again.

Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: Andor," exclusively on Disney+ (Courtesy of Disney+)

'Star Wars: Andor' shows us hope in the darkness

"Andor" might just be some of the very best "Star Wars" out there. "Andor" does undoubtedly give us a darker take on "Star Wars"; but, as dark as it is, I believe it's a story of hope and redemption.

ByEric Clayton
Oscar Isaac and Keisha Castle-Hughes star in a scene from the movie "The Nativity Story."

Celebrate the Advent season through art

Here's a list of Advent movies, music, art and books that can add new elements of joy and understanding to your family's Advent journey.

 

ByClare McCallan
Members of the Tekakwitha Conference gather for a sunrise service July 24, 2014, during the Native American Catholic organization's 75th annual meeting in Fargo, North Dakota. (CNS/Nancy Wiechec)
Book Reviews

A Native Catholic asks: What do we mean by 'heathen'?

In her book Heathen: Religion and Race in American History, Kathryn Gin Lum traces how the othering use of "heathen" has changed through the years to meet the evolving needs and desires of power and whiteness.

ByKirby Hoberg

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Catholic imagination of 'Joe Pera Talks With You' finds grace in mundanity

Lou Reed's 'Transformer' is where the wild is

Book Reviews

Scholars outline history of the Pharisees and roots of harmful anti-Jewish stereotypes

A 19th-century illustration of a nun in habit holding a rosary (Wikimedia Commons/Internet Archive Book Images)

How does a habit rosary represent a community?

From A Nun's Life podcasts - A listener is creating exhibits on congregations of women religious, and wants to include rosaries sisters used to wear on their habits. This clip from "Ask Sister" offers some alternatives.

(Unsplash/Alicia Petresc)

Immaculate reconceptions: Engaging Advent and moving beyond ourselves

Horizons - This time of waiting and reflection prepares us for the promise of Christmas. Yet, it might also invite us to reconceive of the way in which we prepare to welcome that new life into our lives and our world.

ByColleen Gibson
Gypsy students at Soar Primary School in Lahore, Pakistan. With 82 students, the school caters to those who mostly come from families of beggars, day laborers, garbage collectors, sanitary workers and singers-dancers. (GSR photo/Kamran Chaudhry)

St. Joseph sisters in Pakistan focus on neglected itinerant community

St. Joseph of Chambery Sr. Shakila Bhatti founded the Soar Primary School in 2010 among Gypsies who lived in tents, with the school beginning as a small tent made of bamboo and tarpaulin sheet in often-swamped ground.

By
Two people walking together (Unsplash/Soumik Mondal)

Accompaniment is walking at the pace of another

When we accompany, it is the other person who leads the walk. We are happy to stay close, to give support, making our presence felt to encourage, motivating them when they are weary, lost and neglected.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Where does Jesus want to meet us?

Zechariah is my main man for Advent

Q & A with Sr. Sylvia Ndubuaku on how attacks, abductions affect Nigeria's nuns

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