US should stand up for Western Sahara's self-determination

Remembering whose we are

Patricia Datchuck Sánchez | Jan. 11, 2014

Most of us celebrate our birthdays. Some among us also celebrate their feast day or patron saint day, but how many of us celebrate the day of our baptism? In his book Christianity: The Making of Christians (Kevin Mayhew Ltd., 1979), Mark Searle reminds readers that for many centuries it was the custom in the church to celebrate the pascha annotinum or the anniversary of baptism. It was a sort of class reunion for the baptized, their sponsors and the bishop, at which they celebrated the Eucharist together.

Luminosity

Patricia Datchuck Sánchez | Jan. 4, 2014

A well-circulated Hasidic tale tells the story of a rabbi quizzing his students. He asked, "How can we determine the hour of dawn, when the night ends and the day begins?"

One of the students suggested, "Day begins when, from a distance, you can distinguish between a dog and a sheep."

Author's creativity gives voice to the Jewish Mary

Susannah Heschel | Dec. 25, 2013

IN QUEST OF THE JEWISH MARY: THE MOTHER OF JESUS IN HISTORY, THEOLOGY, AND SPIRITUALITY
By Mary Christine Athans
Published by Orbis Books, $19

What Christmas is all about

Erin Ryan | Dec. 24, 2013

Christmas: In the bustle of the holiday shopping and commercialism, it's easy to forget that Christmas doesn't end at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 25.

Holiday hospital stay brings an incarnate experience of powerless nativity

Teresa Rhodes McGee | Dec. 24, 2013

Christmas Soul Seeing: Instead of baking Christmas cookies and running last-minute errands, I had been thrust into an incarnate experience of powerless nativity that transcended a calendar date.

We are all one family: meeting old friends and new in Bangladesh

Bob McCahill | Dec. 23, 2013

Christmas: Since 1984, NCR has published Maryknoll Fr. Bob McCahill's annual Christmas letter, chronicling his experience among the people of Bangladesh.

Transformations follow after nuns take in mother and child

Colleen Dunne | Dec. 21, 2013

During the 2010 Christmas season, the Benedictine sisters of Baltimore found themselves in the midst of a modern-day Christmas story.

The yearly Christmas letter demands a good editor

Melissa Musick Nussbaum | Dec. 21, 2013

My Table is Spread: The Christmas letter author needs a director's eye and a film editor's willingness to leave hours of the story on the cutting-room floor.

Bethlehem L'Arche workshop makes Christmas sheep

Catholic News Service | Dec. 20, 2013

The Ma'an lil-Hayat workshop is in full swing as adults shape felted wool into round balls for a large order of sheep to fill people's Nativity scenes.

Ma'an lil-Hayat -- Arabic for "Together for Life" -- is part of the international L'Arche network founded in 1964 by Canadian Catholic Jean Vanier for people with intellectual disabilities. The workshop takes a local resource closely associated with the Christmas story -- sheep wool -- and uses it to bring dignity and recognition to a population often overlooked in Palestinian society.