National Catholic Reporter | The Independent News Source

Apr 19, 2018

Wisconsin diocese calls off plan to rescind employees' pensions

Updated

Apr 19, 2018

Blog | NCR Today

On Columbine anniversary, students act as 'artisans of peace'

by James Hug

Apr 20, 2018

Tens of thousands of students across the U.S. have again walked out of their schools in a coordinated effort to demand an end to gun violence. This protest takes place on the 19^th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting.

US infrastructure investment key to better jobs, less hunger, Bread for the World recommends

by Julie Bourbon

Apr 20, 2018

National investment in widespread infrastructure improvement would create jobs, raise wages and help create a more inclusive economy — key to eradicating hunger and poverty in the United States, a new policy recommendation by a Christian anti-hunger lobby says.

Environmental vulnerabilities are linked to every other problem in Haiti

by Chris Herlinger

Apr 19, 2018

Cap-Haïtien, Haiti — "We are all seeing how natural disasters are increasing in intensity as well as the devastating effects on people in their paths. Communities in Haiti, especially farmers, are trying their best to adjust accordingly, but more is needed."

A weekend at Cape Cod shows glimpses of a future church

by Bill Mitchell

Apr 19, 2018

The Field Hospital: Gathering the way we did without a priest made me wonder about similar meals of remembrance in the early church. And what future gatherings might be like as the number of Catholic priests continues its insistent decline.

Opinion

Blog

Morning Briefing

by Dennis Coday

Apr 20, 2018

NCR Today: Columbine High School, 19 years later. La Crosse, Wisconsin, diocese continues pension plan. NAACP wants a new EPA chief. Puerto Rico fears losing Congressional support. How roads are connected to hunger.

Column | Distinctly Catholic

Bishop McElroy: Politics should pursue common good, not special interests

by Michael Sean Winters

Apr 20, 2018

Distinctly Catholic: San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy's April 18 lecture at Loyola University Chicago opens the debate about how the church should engage politics. He is calling for an approach in which Catholics remember to put their faith first, as the ground of a virtue ethics.

Blog | NCR Today

Tax time reminds us of the costs of war

by Mary Ann McGivern

Apr 19, 2018

Column | Distinctly Catholic

Links for 4/19/18

by Michael Sean Winters

Apr 19, 2018

Column | Young Voices

Millennial philanthropy can teach Catholic Church three things

by Christian Mocek

Apr 19, 2018

Blog | NCR Today

Morning Briefing

Apr 18, 2018

Politics

Cardinal, hospital staff urge Illinois legislators to act on gun bill

by Joyce Duriga, Catholic News Service

Apr 18, 2018

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich called on Illinois legislators to pass a bill that tightens restrictions on gun shop owners and helps stem the flow of illegal guns into Illinois.

Bishop McElroy to address partisan polarization in lecture at Loyola in Chicago

Apr 17, 2018

April 18, Bishop Robert McElroy analyzes the breakdown of U.S. political culture and offers suggestions for addressing it in a talk, "Forming a Catholic Political Imagination," at Loyola University Chicago.

The March for Our Lives changed me

by Claire Bangasser

Apr 17, 2018

Clergy reject Missouri bill on concealed guns in churches

by Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service

Apr 12, 2018

State legislatures tackle assisted suicide, abortion, school aid

by Julie Asher, Catholic News Service

Apr 5, 2018

Faith-based education group is calling out Betsy DeVos

by Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service

Apr 4, 2018

Vatican

The Francis Chronicles

Pope's quotes: Cruelty is human

Apr 20, 2018

Pope's quotes: Some of our favorite quotes from Pope Francis.

Book collects conference discussions on applying 'Amoris Laetitia' in US

by Joshua J. McElwee

Apr 20, 2018

The organizers of a 2017 conference of bishops and theologians to examine how Pope Francis' family life exhortation could be applied at the local level have put together a volume collecting the participants' discussions.

Pope calls German cardinal to Rome to discuss eucharistic sharing

by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Apr 19, 2018

Don't be 'couch potatoes,' get up and evangelize, pope says

by Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service

Apr 19, 2018

Francis agrees with his critics: A pope can be wrong

by Christopher Lamb, Religion News Service

Apr 19, 2018

Francis, the comic strip

by Pat Marrin

Apr 19, 2018

Parish

Wisconsin diocese calls off plan to rescind employees' pensions

Updated

Apr 19, 2018

A Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin, plan to rescind employees' pensions will not take effect, according to an April 18 press release. The proposed plan is being placed on hold. Until a final decision is made, the statement said, the current pension plan will continue.

A weekend at Cape Cod shows glimpses of a future church

by Bill Mitchell

Apr 19, 2018

Parish roundup: Senior housing, confirmation joy, fighting depression and holy exercise

by Dan Morris-Young

Apr 18, 2018

Catholic response to gun violence is contradictory and confused

by Ken Briggs

Apr 12, 2018

Italian-American church in Brooklyn's 'Little Guatemala' gets new lease on life

by Katherine Fung, Religion News Service

Apr 12, 2018

Parish roundup: Modern social justice heroes celebrated; Houston religious schools booming

Apr 11, 2018

World

German church to review employment practices after European court ruling

by Jonathan Luxmoore, Catholic News Service

Apr 20, 2018

Germany's Catholic Church said it would review its employment system after top European judges warned it could violate anti-discrimination laws by requiring staffers to be religious.

Mexican priest stabbed in his parish

by Catholic News Service

Apr 19, 2018

A Mexico priest has been stabbed to death in his parish, the latest attack on clergy in the heavily Catholic country.

Motion fails: Parliament wanted to direct CCCB on papal abuse apology

by Deborah Gyapong, Catholic News Service

Apr 19, 2018

Caritas Syria: Air strikes reopened wounds, but agency still able to help

by Dale Gavlak, Catholic News Service

Apr 19, 2018

In Henan, Chinese Catholics warned to follow rules on religious affairs

by Catholic News Service

Apr 18, 2018

Encuentro Eclesial event unites Cuban Catholics, bridges US-Cuba division

by Soli Salgado, Gail DeGeorge

Apr 18, 2018

Justice

US infrastructure investment key to better jobs, less hunger, Bread for the World recommends

by Julie Bourbon

Apr 20, 2018

Catholic virtues necessary to address political polarization, bishop says

Apr 19, 2018

Chicago: The current polarization in the United States is the result of a "profound sickness of the soul," which is best addressed not politically but morally, through the cultivation of the virtues of a Catholic imagination, said San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy April 18.

Justice Action Bulletin: Student-led scholarship for DACA recipients; California homeless

by Maria Benevento

Apr 17, 2018

Los Angeles Archdiocese formalizes guidelines for Native American inclusion

by Heather Adams

Apr 16, 2018

After 50 years, clergy work together again in San Antonio, for affordable housing

by Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service

Apr 12, 2018

Georgetown University agrees to a vote by union-aspiring grad students

by Menachem Wecker

Apr 11, 2018

Environment

Commentary

Access to clean water is a life issue that the church must defend

by Christiana Zenner

Apr 20, 2018

Commentary: Is it possible that, given the intrinsic theological goodness of creation, as well as water's centrality to human flourishing, that waters could have rights in themselves, worthy of protection not only for human beings, but also for the life-giving qualities they embody?

Pope Francis' encyclical inspires the Laudato Si' Project in Wisconsin

by Brian Roewe

Apr 20, 2018

The mission of the Laudato Si' Project is "to restore people's connection to the natural world." To do that, it focuses on three core themes: education, stewardship and recreation.

Environmental vulnerabilities are linked to every other problem in Haiti

by Chris Herlinger

Apr 19, 2018

'Laudato Si' universities' commit to forming environmental consciences

by George Rodriguez

Apr 19, 2018

10 reasons why environmentalists love to pay taxes

by Donna Schaper

Apr 17, 2018

Pope joins meeting to prepare synod for the Amazon

by Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service

Apr 16, 2018

Accountability

Perspective

At disgraced Cardinal O'Brien's funeral Mass, Cardinal Nichols urges prayer

by John Cooney

Apr 20, 2018

During a somber service, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster urged mourners to pray for Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien's soul and for those he offended during his life.

Catholic Whistleblowers want 'substantial revisions' to church's sex abuse policies

by Brian Roewe

Apr 18, 2018

A group of priests, religious and laypeople who support abuse survivors, known as Catholic Whistleblowers, sent a letter on Easter to the U.S. bishops' conference asking for seven reforms to the 2002 Dallas Charter and to the Essential Norms policy for handling sexual abuse allegations.

Alumnae question Franciscan University of Steubenville's commitment to Title IX

by Jenn Morson

Apr 16, 2018

Expert in diocesan finances has 'never seen' pension move like La Crosse's

Updated

Apr 16, 2018

Campus Notebook: Two ways to handle abuse allegations; Canisius College appoints first woman as business school dean

by James Dearie

Apr 13, 2018

Francis' Chilean critics welcome apology, hope for action on abuse cover-up

by Maria Benevento

Apr 12, 2018

Books

A return to church tradition on women deacons

by Phyllis Zagano

Apr 18, 2018

Book Review: The basic question: How will the church bring the word, the liturgy and charity to the people of God? If the answer is ordaining women as deacons, these works together present an understanding that the church could return to its tradition without troubling any teaching about priesthood.

Authors take the environmental movement to task

by Eric Anglada

Apr 11, 2018

With the 2015 publication of "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home," Pope Francis' ecological manifesto, the Catholic Church stepped powerfully and clearly into the now-decadeslong public conversation about the state and future of our planet, the role of the environmental movement and our understanding of the human's place within creation.

A bold federal endeavor built a town

by Dennis McDaniel

Apr 4, 2018

Deep incarnation liberates all creation

by Marian Ronan

Mar 28, 2018

Eastern icons challenge Western notion of Resurrection

by Melissa Jones

Mar 21, 2018

Author argues Catholic Church taking lead on global political stage

by Marian Ronan

Mar 14, 2018

People

Blog

NCR Podcast: New columns, American culture and baseball

Apr 20, 2018

Listen: Columnists Carmen Nanko-Fernández and Mike Jordan Laskey talk about the similarities between baseball and faith.

Blog

On Columbine anniversary, students act as 'artisans of peace'

by James Hug

Apr 20, 2018

At disgraced Cardinal O'Brien's funeral Mass, Cardinal Nichols urges prayer

by John Cooney

Apr 20, 2018

US infrastructure investment key to better jobs, less hunger, Bread for the World recommends

by Julie Bourbon

Apr 20, 2018

Campus Notebook: University of Dallas removes president; Controversy over commencement speaker

by James Dearie

Apr 20, 2018

Catholic virtues necessary to address political polarization, bishop says

Apr 19, 2018

Spirituality

The Peace Pulpit

Let's spread the message of Jesus wherever we go

by Thomas Gumbleton

Apr 19, 2018

The Peace Pulpit: If we reflect on the experience of those first disciples and try to not only hear it, understand it, but to come every week prepared to experience that presence of Jesus in his word and in the Eucharist, we too will strengthen our faith and know that he is alive.

Soul Seeing

The March for Our Lives changed me

by Claire Bangasser

Apr 17, 2018

Soul Seeing: I have been to three marches in the past two years. The March for Our Lives in D.C. differed from the others. It changed me. We didn't chant our frustration at the status quo as we walked along Pennsylvania Avenue; instead, we stood still and listened.

Third Sunday of Easter: From confusion to faith

by Mary M. McGlone

Apr 14, 2018

NCR Podcast: 'Gaudete et Exsultate'

Apr 13, 2018

New papal document provides practical help for parishes

Apr 13, 2018

Life is never normal for those of us who believe

by Jocelyn A. Sideco

Apr 12, 2018

Theology

Blog

NCR Podcast: New columns, American culture and baseball

Apr 20, 2018

Listen: Columnists Carmen Nanko-Fernández and Mike Jordan Laskey talk about the similarities between baseball and faith.

Church's social teaching always a 'work in progress,' archbishop says

by Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service

Apr 18, 2018

While some fundamental principles of the Catholic Church's social teaching are permanent, there are ever-changing social and political conditions that can change how it is applied, said Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.

A return to church tradition on women deacons

by Phyllis Zagano

Apr 18, 2018

Faith, feminism and being unfinished: Remembering Anne E. Patrick

by Leo J. O’Donovan

Apr 17, 2018

College of the Holy Cross theology firestorm has core values at stake

by Michael Sean Winters

Apr 6, 2018

Play ball? Like Easter, interruptions to daily rhythms are sometimes needed

by Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández

Apr 6, 2018

Media

New film documents famous exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth

Apr 19, 2018

Review: Director William Friedkin is respectful of exorcism but seems very eager to be the one to show the world an actual exorcism and not the product of someone's imagination.

Matt and Shanzi, two of the singles featured in "The Dating Project" (David Bolen)

'The Dating Project': Upbeat, realistic documentary offers hope for modern love

by Kathleen Cavender

Apr 13, 2018

"Dating is now perceived as outdated — yet it's longed-for," says Boston College's Kerry Cronin, whose students, amid the hookup culture, see vulnerability in a coffee date or holding hands.

New films of interest to Catholic readers

Apr 7, 2018

Remembering Stéphane Audran of 'Babette's Feast'

Apr 5, 2018

'Paul, Apostle of Christ' presents a compelling historical portrait

by Erik Lenhart

Apr 3, 2018

PBS's 'Dolores' tells the story of Dolores Huerta remarkably well