Students, sisters, and a priest pose before the newly reconstructed St. Benedict's Industrial School, an off-reservation boarding school for students from the White Earth Tribe in Minnesota, in 1886. ("Indian Girls Industrial School," College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University Libraries, accessed March 28, 2023, https://csbsjulib.omeka.net/items/show/915.)

Inside the effort to identify Catholic-run boarding schools for Indigenous children

News

Sisters are helping compile a list of all boarding schools that Catholic entities ran from the 1820s to the 1960s. During this time, tens of thousands of Native American children endured abuse at boarding schools across the U.S.

The Latest

Editors' Choice

Focus

Advocates for transgender youth rally outside the New Hampshire Statehouse March 7 in Concord. House and Senate committees are holding public hearings on four bills opponents say would harm the health and safety of transgender youth. U.S. bishops issued a document March 20 rejecting gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender individuals. (AP photo/Holly Ramer)

In Focus

US bishops' document against transgender health care is a disaster

The bishops' doctrinal note not only denies the reality of transgender, nonbinary and intersex persons, but compounds the harm experienced by already very vulnerable people, says columnist Daniel P. Horan.

Most Read Stories

Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego gives the homily as he celebrates a Mass of thanksgiving at St. Patrick's Church in Rome in this Aug. 28, 2022, file photo. (CNS/Paul Haring)
#1

Cardinal McElroy criticizes EWTN, says San Diego Diocese won't publish content

San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy sharply criticized the Eternal Word Television Network, the conservative Catholic U.S. media conglomerate, in an interview with Spanish magazine Vida Nueva published on March 24. 

ByAleja Hertzler-McCain
Advocates for transgender youth rally outside the New Hampshire Statehouse March 7 in Concord. House and Senate committees are holding public hearings on four bills opponents say would harm the health and safety of transgender youth. U.S. bishops issued a document March 20 rejecting gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender individuals. (AP photo/Holly Ramer)
Guest Voices
#2

US bishops' document against transgender health care is a disaster

The bishops' doctrinal note not only denies the reality of transgender, nonbinary and intersex persons, but compounds the harm experienced by already very vulnerable people, says columnist Daniel P. Horan.

ByDaniel P. Horan
Bishops attend Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Nov. 14, 2022, on the first day of the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. (CNS/Bob Roller)
NCR Voices
#3

Pope Francis, you have two years to remake the US hierarchy. Get to it.

No more "two for us, one for them," says columnist Michael Sean Winters. It's time to turn decisively, not slowly, in naming new bishops not stuck in the past.

ByMichael Sean Winters
#4

Pope Francis makes 'Vos Estis' clergy abuse law permanent

#5

Critics say US bishops' new statement on transgender health care lacks sound science and trans voices

#6

At Georgetown, former Speaker Pelosi talks women priests, Archbishop Cordileone

Opinion

Papa, don't preach, until the church has updated teaching on homosexuality

Guest Voices

Editorial: If only someone did something about the murder of three children

Editorial
Pope Francis and church leaders from around the world attend a Mass on the last day of the four-day meeting on the protection of minors in the church Feb. 24, 2019, at the Vatican. (CNS/Maria Grazia Picciarella)

A disappointing 10 years of Pope Francis on abuse

Guest Voices

Pope Francis may be bold in other ways, but not so much when it comes to responding to sexual abuse, says David Clohessy of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Bishops' transgender document and its critics both need more self-criticism

NCR Voices

What if we gave up nuclear weapons for Lent?

Guest Voices
(Unsplash/Sean Foster)

It's time for a Catholic ethic that sees sexuality as a gift, not a curse

Guest Voices

When so many debates in the church involve sexual ethics, it's helpful to take a look at the history of such teaching and why it has been exclusively negative, says moral theologian Fr. James Keenan.

Vatican

"Time for a nap, Holy Father."
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: It's naptime at the papal offices.

Pope Francis is assisted at the end of his general audience in leaving St. Peter's Square at the Vatican March 29, 2023.
Vatican News

Vatican says Pope Francis, in hospital for respiratory infection, is gradually improving

A Vatican update on Pope Francis' health says he is gradually improving and that his planned hospital treatments will continue. 

ByChristopher White
Indigenous people hold a banner calling on Pope Francis to "rescind the doctrine," an apparent reference to the so-called Doctrine of Discovery, a collection of old papal teachings that encouraged explorers to colonize and claim the lands of any people who were not Christian, placing both the land and the people under the sovereignty of European Christian rulers. The incident occurred during a papal Mass at the National Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec July 28, 2022. (CNS photo/Guglielmo Mangiapan
Vatican News

Vatican formally repudiates 'Doctrine of Discovery' used to justify colonization

The Vatican on March 30 formally repudiated the "Doctrine of Discovery," officially declaring that the historic policy used to justify colonial exploitation is "not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church."

ByChristopher White
Pope Francis meets leaders from the tech industry March 27 at the Vatican. The pope called for an "ethical and responsible" development of artificial intelligence. (CNS/Vatican Media)
View from the Vatican

Springtime in Rome: Pope Francis' critics, defenders and AI images

Bishop Robert Barron and Jordan Peterson filming in St. Peter's Square is not the only curious thing Vatican correspondent Christopher White has spotted this week.

ByChristopher White

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Pope Francis hospitalized for respiratory infection, Vatican says

Vatican News

Jesuit resigns from pope's clergy abuse commission, criticizing group's leadership

Vatican News

Don't treat Jesus as an idea, invite him into your heart, pope says

Women collect water in Blantyre, southern Malawi, March 17. (AP/Thoko Chikondi)
Politics

UN Water Conference shows global consensus on universal right to water

Water is connected to hope, peace and unity, say attendees of the 2023 U.N. conference, which brought together governments, businesses, scientists, environmentalists and civil society groups like sister congregations.

A woman drives donkeys to transport water in the drought-stricken district of Higlo Kebele, Ethiopia, Feb. 8, 2022. Catholic church leaders in Ethiopia welcomed a U.S.-funded food security program launched March 16, 2023, that will benefit millions of people suffering drought in the Horn of Africa country. (OSV News/Reuters/World Food Program/Michael Tewelde)
Justice

CRS, USAID help Ethiopia 'at a time of great need' amid devastating drought

Catholic church leaders in Ethiopia are welcoming a U.S.-funded food security program that will benefit millions of people suffering from the drought in the Horn of Africa country.

ByFredrick Nzwili, OSV News
Brussels sprouts in a pan
Science

Q&A: Shaun Larcom on the effect of a return to meatless Fridays for UK Catholics

About 28 percent of U.K. Catholics abstain from meat on all Fridays, reducing greenhouse gas emissions .012 percent. A similar level of compliance in the U.S. would have a 20 times greater impact.

 

ByStephanie Clary
Local residents take part in a procession carrying a replica of the Our Lady of the Torrents, a virgin historically associated with drought, in l'Espunyola, north of Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, March 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Faith

Pray for rain: Spanish farmers hold unique Mass amid drought

On Sunday, around 250 residents brought back the faded practice of a special Mass and procession to pray to Our Lady of the Torrents, a local virgin associated with rainfall.

ByEmilio Morenatti, The Associated Press

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Viewpoints

Fast or feast: Meatless meals can provide what you — and the world — need

Science

Malawi and Mozambique caught in dire consequences of Cyclone Freddie

Faith

Human composting, alkaline hydrolysis not acceptable for burial, say U.S. bishops

Culture

Jesuit Fr. Edward Dowling, circa 1940 (Wikimedia Commons/Maryville University Archives)
Book Reviews

The Jesuit priest who was a spiritual force behind Alcoholics Anonymous

Book review: Dawn Eden Goldstein's biography of Jesuit Fr. Edward Dowling explores the life of the Jesuit priest who was a spiritual sponsor and dear friend to Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

(Unsplash/Aaron Burden)
Book Reviews

Can queer liberation be found in the parables of Jesus?

Book review: If Jesus came to liberate all of us, does that mean queer liberation as well? Rolf R. Nolasco Jr. faces this question head-on in his new book Hearts Ablaze: Parables for the Queer Soul.

ByRyan McQuade
Jason Sudeikis in "Ted Lasso," now streaming on Apple TV+ (Courtesy of AppleTV+)

Why religion needs 'Ted Lasso'

As the third season of "Ted Lasso" kicks off, let's examine how this humble TV show can help us learn a thing or two about who or what God is, and what our response might be in our bruised, blessed world.

ByKaren Eifler
Pope Francis is interviewed at the Vatican for "Stories of a Generation," a Netflix series based on the pope's book, "Sharing the Wisdom of Time." (CNS/Vatican Media/Simone Risoluti)

The cinematic canon of Pope Francis — 10 years on film

The filmography of Pope Francis extends his teaching and influence across ages, cultures and history and transcend physical borders that people build to reach and transform lives and hearts with the Gospel message.

ByRose Pacatte

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

'Women Talking' asks us all to do more listening

Book Reviews

Geraldine Brooks' novel 'Horse' reckons with racism past and present

In 'Everything Everywhere All at Once,' a multiverse of absurdity meets intergenerational healing

Tent of refuge (Pexels/Taryn Elliott)

Looking for a tent of refuge in the desert of our times

"Tent of refuge" is a powerful biblical image of God Amma that indicates protection, welcome, shelter and training. Faced with our difficult reality, I propose to rediscover the tent of refuge called Christian community.

Students, sisters, and a priest pose before the newly reconstructed St. Benedict's Industrial School, an off-reservation boarding school for students from the White Earth Tribe in Minnesota, in 1886. ("Indian Girls Industrial School," College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University Libraries, accessed March 28, 2023, https://csbsjulib.omeka.net/items/show/915.)

Inside the effort to identify Catholic-run boarding schools for Indigenous children

Sisters are helping compile a list of all boarding schools that Catholic entities ran from the 1820s to the 1960s. During this time, tens of thousands of Native American children endured abuse at boarding schools across the U.S.

ByDan Stockman
Sisters attend a Talitha Kum Uganda Network (TAKUN) training workshop ahead of advocacy for vulnerable victims of trafficking in persons. (Mary Lilly Driciru)

Toward becoming a wounded healer with Jesus

During this Lenten season, it is worthwhile to unite all our pains with that of the suffering Messiah, in order to convert all painful situations into "redemptive pain," which will bear multiple fruits for all.

ByMary Lilly Driciru
Ursuline Sr. Amelia Stenger teaches students from Sts. Peter and Paul School in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, about growing a garden sustainably on the grounds of the Mount St. Joseph motherhouse in Daviess County. (Courtesy of Ursuline Sisters of Mount St. Joseph)

The blessings of our precious land

The Ursuline Sisters of Mount St. Joseph have been taking care of 750 acres of land in Kentucky since 1874. The farm is in our blood, and as we moved to leasing it, our questions centered on protecting the land.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Q & A with Sr. Kathleen Feeley, author of a history of SSNDs in Africa

Georgetown event lauds women's role in peace, but the world can do better for them

Amid darkness of Lent, 'God is bigger than any difficulty'

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