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Scripture for Life: We need to pay attention to how countercultural our Gospel is. We may live in the "most powerful nation on earth," but the might of our country has very little to do with the vulnerable, noncoercive character of divine power.

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This July Fourth, let's celebrate our dependence on one another

by Michael Sean Winters

Jul 1, 2022

Our independence succeeds only to the extent it is balanced by societal interdependence, by bonds that might restrain our independence and freedom but that do so in pursuit of the common good, by mutual dependence.

Abortion demonstrators are seen near the Supreme Court in Washington June 24 as the court overruled the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision in its ruling in the Dobbs case on a Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks. (CNS/Tyler Orsburn)

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What has the demise of Roe v. Wade cost the Catholic Church?

by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service

Jul 1, 2022

Thomas Reese: Now that the bishops and other anti-abortion Catholics have won their fight against Roe, will they embrace a more consistent ethic of life? Will they live up to the extensive social justice agenda they espouse on paper?

Smoke rises from a destroyed building after A Russian military airstrike in Lysychansk, Ukraine, June 17. (CNS/Reuters/Oleksandr Ratushniak)

Papal, ecumenical diplomacy appears unable to affect Russia's war in Ukraine

by Jonathan Luxmoore

Jul 1, 2022

The deep acrimonies surrounding the conflict in Ukraine have raised questions about interfaith ties with the Vatican and in the World Council of Churches, as well as about the realistic chances of religious mediation.

Opinion

Book Review

Historian's new book highlights Pius XII's moral failures

by Jason Berry

Jul 2, 2022

David Kertzer plumbs Vatican archives for evidence of Pius XII's moral failures, including public silence on Nazi atrocities and destruction of files on clerics accused of sex abuse.

Column | Soul Seeing

Soul-seeing sacramentals that stop us in our tracks

by Peter Gilmour

Jul 2, 2022

Soul Seeing: Like the Book of Proverbs, a cornucopia of pithy sayings, my underlinings encapsule challenging thoughts that touch into the depths of life, love, faith and the divine presence — soul-seeing sacramentals.

Commentary

'Emo' reggaeton brings out longing and nostalgia in the musical genre

by Stephen G. Adubato

Jul 2, 2022

Perspective

Oblivion and salvation in the ark of the honeybees

by Steven Salido Fisher

Jul 2, 2022

Views

What has the demise of Roe v. Wade cost the Catholic Church?

by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service

Jul 1, 2022

Column | NCR Today

Your thoughts on serving both God and guns

by NCR Staff

Jul 1, 2022

Vatican

Papal, ecumenical diplomacy appears unable to affect Russia's war in Ukraine

by Jonathan Luxmoore

Jul 1, 2022

Pope Francis listens to Orthodox Archbishop Job of Telmessos while meeting a delegation representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople at the Domus Sanctae Marthae at the Vatican June 30 (CNS/Vatican Media)

Amid war, reconciliation among Christians can foster peace, pope says

by Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service

Jun 30, 2022

Meeting with a delegation from the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople June 30, the pope said that as war continues to rage in Ukraine, it is a time not for "talking and discussing, but for weeping, for helping others and for experiencing conversion ourselves."

Editorial: Here's hoping Francis, the pope of surprises, keeps surprising us

by NCR Editorial Staff

Jun 30, 2022

Pope at pallium Mass: Church must go out to 'meet the world'

by Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service

Jun 29, 2022

Catholics need better understanding of the Mass, pope says

by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Jun 29, 2022

Despite row at home, Speaker Pelosi receives Communion at papal Mass, headlines Vatican events

by Christopher White

Jun 29, 2022

Politics

Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell visits the office of Global Sisters Report in Kansas City, Missouri, in July 2018. (NCR photo/Toni-Ann Ortiz)

Simone Campbell, key Obamacare ally, to receive Medal of Freedom from Biden

by Brian Fraga

Jul 1, 2022

Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell, the former executive director of the Catholic social justice lobby Network, will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden at the White House July 7.

Column

Your thoughts on serving both God and guns

by NCR Staff

Jul 1, 2022

Your thoughts: NCR readers respond to recent columns about America's tendency to idolize guns and where that fits into our alleged love for God.

What has the demise of Roe v. Wade cost the Catholic Church?

by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service

Jul 1, 2022

Supreme Court allows Biden to end Trump-era policy on asylum-seekers

by Carol Zimmermann, Catholic News Service

Jun 30, 2022

The abortion question may be decided politically. The real test is a moral one.

by Phyllis Zagano, Religion News Service

Jun 30, 2022

Links: Trump fatigue; artist Sam Gilliam dies; meet and greet two cardinals

by Michael Sean Winters

Jun 30, 2022

People

A Mercy sister oversees the distribution of relief goods in San Francisco, Southern Leyte. (Courtesy of the Religious Sisters of Mercy)

Halfway through 2022, catch up with Global Sisters Report

by Pam Hackenmiller

Jul 4, 2022

It's July, and 2022 is halfway finished. You may not have been able to read all the stories and columns you may have wanted to that we've published this year. Here are some of our favorite pieces and topics of 2022 so far.

Simone Campbell, key Obamacare ally, to receive Medal of Freedom from Biden

by Brian Fraga

Jul 1, 2022

Sisters inspire potential novices with stories of choosing vocation over romance

by Joachim Pham

Jun 30, 2022

Aleja Hertzler-McCain is NCR's newest Bertelsen Fellow

by Joshua J. McElwee

Jun 30, 2022

Catholic peace movement Pax Christi recognizes 20 new 'Ambassadors of Peace'

by Aleja Hertzler-McCain

Jun 29, 2022

Archbishop asks church to be in solidarity with migrants who died in truck

by Catholic News Service

Jun 28, 2022

EarthBeat

Honeybees cool off outside their hive on a warm day. (Steven Salido Fisher)

Perspective

Oblivion and salvation in the ark of the honeybees

by Steven Salido Fisher

Jul 2, 2022

Perspective: A tamed nature is not what I ask of the honeybees to be in their company. Allowing them to be wild does not change the fact that I love them — on some days, even envy them.

A flower is pictured in front of the destroyed regional administration building following shelling by Russian troops in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, June 8. (CNS/Reuters/Edgar Su)

Commentary

As long as fossil fuels flow, dictators like Putin possess power

by Svitlana Romanko

Jun 30, 2022

Commentary: We need an all-out mobilization to build renewable energy in Europe and around the world, and it starts by divesting from fossil fuels. This will help us end the war in my country and rebuild Ukraine from the war ashes.

Mine can be built on Apache sacred site, Oak Flat, federal appeals court rules

by Alejandra Molina, Religion News Service

Jun 28, 2022

Catholic Theological Society of America resolves to divest from fossil fuels

by Brian Roewe

Jun 28, 2022

Among future food supply in the Arctic, pope's message preserved as 'seed of hope'

by Christopher White

Jun 25, 2022

California seeks to pass human composting bill as Catholic bishops oppose it

by Alejandra Molina, Religion News Service

Jun 24, 2022

Culture

Commentary

'Emo' reggaeton brings out longing and nostalgia in the musical genre

by Stephen G. Adubato

Jul 2, 2022

Commentary: While it may seem contradictory, both sexually aggressive and romantic/vulnerable singing styles and lyrical themes can comfortably exist in tension with each other in the dembow rhythm of reggaeton.

Book Review

Historian's new book highlights Pius XII's moral failures

by Jason Berry

Jul 2, 2022

David Kertzer plumbs Vatican archives for evidence of Pius XII's moral failures, including public silence on Nazi atrocities and destruction of files on clerics accused of sex abuse.

The messages of Ziggy Stardust: Do not believe in endings

by Ray Levy Uyeda

Jun 25, 2022

The redemption of 'Obi-Wan Kenobi'

by Eric Clayton

Jun 25, 2022

'Outlove' tells how LGBTQ+ people do belong in the church

by Maxwell Kuzma

Jun 25, 2022

Celebrate Pride Month with books that honor all as 'wonderfully made'

by Flora x. Tang

Jun 18, 2022

World

Papal, ecumenical diplomacy appears unable to affect Russia's war in Ukraine

by Jonathan Luxmoore

Jul 1, 2022

Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, takes the oath of office beside his wife, Louise Araneta-Marcos, during the presidential inauguration ceremony at the National Museum in Manila, Philippines.

Marcos sworn in as Philippine president: 'You, the people, have spoken'

by Catholic News Service

Jun 30, 2022

Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was sworn in as the 17th president of the Philippines June 30, succeeding Rodrigo Duterte.

German leaders see crisis as Catholics resign from the church

by Thomas Winkel, Joachim Heinz, Catholic News Service

Jun 30, 2022

Church leaders push to expand their peacekeeping role in Africa

by Jonathan Luxmoore, Catholic News Service

Jun 29, 2022

Pope to send Cardinal Parolin to Congo, South Sudan

by Catholic News Service

Jun 28, 2022

Pope blasts violence in Mexico as he mourns 2 slain Jesuits

by The Associated Press

Jun 22, 2022

Global Sisters Report

Halfway through 2022, catch up with Global Sisters Report

by Pam Hackenmiller

Jul 4, 2022

Communion and culture wars: Is there a better way?

by Christin Tomy

Jul 1, 2022

Horizons - How can we as the church listen better, disagree better, and quite honestly, give a more credible witness in a hurting world? As I ponder this question and others, two moments rise to the top of my memory.

Sister recalls powerful healing between a crime victim and a perpetrator

by Maxine Kollasch

Jul 1, 2022

Sisters inspire potential novices with stories of choosing vocation over romance

by Joachim Pham

Jun 30, 2022

Resilient South Sudanese women deserve peace, respect and dignity

by Scholasticah Nganda

Jun 30, 2022

Missionaries of Charity kicked out of Nicaragua

by David Agren, Catholic News Service

Jun 29, 2022

Justice

A convoy of Nigerian soldiers patrol outside the town of Ouallam July 6, 2021. Church leaders are pushing to expand their peacekeeping role in Africa. (CNS/Reuters/Media Coulibaly)

Church leaders push to expand their peacekeeping role in Africa

by Jonathan Luxmoore, Catholic News Service

Jun 29, 2022

Church representatives from French-speaking Africa have urged closer regional cooperation in Catholic peacebuilding to offset mounting economic and security challenges across the continent.

Squirrel (Unsplash/Clovis Wood Photography)

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We humans need to open our minds to the personhood of nonhuman animals

by Daniel P. Horan

Jun 29, 2022

Fr. Daniel Horan: Too often, we humans live as if everything is about us and all nonhuman creation is for us to do with as we please. But more of us are beginning to explore of the idea of nonhuman animal personhood.

Archbishop asks church to be in solidarity with migrants who died in truck

by Catholic News Service

Jun 28, 2022

Helping immigrants build a haven amid fear and anger

by Amy Ketner

Jun 24, 2022

Gillgannon, US priest who spent three decades in Bolivia as Vatican II advocate, dies

by Thomas C. Fox

Jun 20, 2022

As DACA marks 10th anniversary, recipients voice frustration over inaction

by Rhina Guidos, Catholic News Service

Jun 16, 2022

Accountability

A woman prays in a pew at a nearly empty cathedral in Cologne, Germany, March 16, 2020. (CNS/KNA/Theodor Barth)

German leaders see crisis as Catholics resign from the church

by Thomas Winkel, Joachim Heinz, Catholic News Service

Jun 30, 2022

For the first time in the history of Germany, less than half the German population registered as members of one of the two large churches: Catholic and Protestant.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond conducts the procession to lead a live streamed Easter Mass in St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans April 12, 2020. The New Orleans Archdiocese declined to discuss the federal investigation. (AP file photo/Gerald Herbert)

FBI opens sweeping probe of clergy sex abuse in New Orleans

by Jim Mustian, The Associated Press

Jun 29, 2022

The FBI has opened a widening investigation into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans going back decades, a rare federal foray into such cases looking specifically at whether priests took children across state lines to molest them.

Vatican publishes slightly updated guidelines for handling abuse cases

by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Jun 27, 2022

Abuse survivors praise Supreme Court for declining to review California's Child Victims Act

by Katie Collins Scott

Jun 24, 2022

Southern Baptists agree to keep list of accused sex abusers

by Deepa Bharath, Peter Smith, Associated Press

Jun 15, 2022

Report finds 196 clerics abused minors in German diocese

by Associated Press

Jun 13, 2022

Coronavirus

Sr. Mary John Théophan Vénard Doan Thi Chuyen, far left, and another sister in medical gear serve a meal to two nuns with COVID-19 at Ho Ngoc Can Clinic in Xuan Truong district, Nam Dinh province. (Daughters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Bui Chu)

Vietnamese sisters look ahead after COVID-19 runs rampant through motherhouse

by Joachim Pham

Apr 14, 2022

Most sisters, novices and postulants from the convents and communities of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Bui Chu have been infected with COVID-19, since the pandemic hit their motherhouse in January.

People wait for a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Manila, Philippines, on Jan. 5. (CNS/Reuters/Eloisa Lopez)

As a world in pandemic seeks a return to normal, leaders urge vigilance, vaccines

by Chris Herlinger, GSR Staff

Apr 14, 2022

As the world seeks normalcy in the COVID-19 pandemic's third year, leaders and experts urge vaccination and vigilance amid complacency, vaccine opposition, economic hardship, and inequalities in vaccine access.

Government to lift health measure that blocks entrance of asylum-seekers

by Rhina Guidos, Catholic News Service

Apr 1, 2022

A pandemic is tough for new moms, but Catholic Latina moms faced added hurdles

by Melissa Cedillo

Mar 28, 2022

A hospital chaplain reflects on the power of memory during COVID-19

by Steven Salido Fisher

Mar 24, 2022

As pandemic eases, will the Communion cup ever make a comeback?

by Brian Roewe

Mar 23, 2022

Parish

Bishops and priests are seen during the June 23 opening Mass of the "Alive in Christ: Young, Diverse, Prophetic Voices Journeying Together" national multicultural gathering in Chicago. (CNS/Courtesy U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)

Speakers: 'Embracing historical memory' strengthens church ministries today

by Norma Montenegro Flynn, Catholic News Service

Jun 28, 2022

Finding healing and exploring ways to work more effectively with diverse communities was the focus of the general session on the second day of the "Alive in Christ: Young, Diverse, Prophetic Voices Journeying Together," a multicultural national gathering of Catholic ministry leaders.

In 2014 in Santiago, Chile, student Elvis played the role of Jesus in Colegio San Alberto's re-enactment of the Last Supper. (Amy Ketner)

Perspective

Helping immigrants build a haven amid fear and anger

by Amy Ketner

Jun 24, 2022

Perspective: I wanted Elvis and Daris to know the unconditional love of a welcoming, adoptive family. I longed for them, as immigrants and outsiders, to find acceptance in the Catholic community, as I had many times before.

Study provides 'detailed snapshot' of state of permanent diaconate in U.S.

by Catholic News Service

Jun 7, 2022

Your thoughts on the failing church in the West

by NCR Staff

Jun 3, 2022

Why doesn't a pro-life Catholic Church offer paid leave for new mothers?

by Stephanie Clary

Jun 3, 2022

Faced with bishops' inaction, Canadian woman develops eco-investment toolkit

by Beatrice Ekoko

May 17, 2022

Spirituality

Scripture for Life

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: We are chosen to be vulnerable

by Mary M. McGlone

Jul 2, 2022

Pencil Preaching

We can forgive

by Pat Marrin

Jun 29, 2022

Pencil Preaching will take a short break after this column. Be back later in July.

“The crowds were struck with awe and glorified God who had given...

Peter and Paul, Apostles

by Pat Marrin

Jun 28, 2022

Wake up!

by Pat Marrin

Jun 27, 2022

Something entirely new

by Pat Marrin

Jun 26, 2022

Come with me

by Pat Marrin

Jun 25, 2022

Theology

Views

We humans need to open our minds to the personhood of nonhuman animals

by Daniel P. Horan

Jun 29, 2022

A tugboat in New York City pushes a fuel oil barge past the Statue of Liberty Oct 13, 2021. (CNS/Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

Catholic Theological Society of America resolves to divest from fossil fuels

by Brian Roewe

Jun 28, 2022

CTSA committed to divesting from fossil fuels, saying the move follows the Vatican's lead and hopes to inspire its members to urge similar actions at their institutions in light of the "global environmental disaster."

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