Jeanie Hannaman

By Sheryl Collmer, Crisis Magazine - The 19th-century author Charles Dickens wanted that for his children, too. The animated feature film The King of Kings—opening April 11, on the eve of Holy Week—is loosely based on a virtually unknown Dickens work: The Life of Our Lord, written for my beloved children. Dickens wrote it exclusively for his children, and he read it to them every Christmas. It was never meant for publication; indeed, the family was forbidden to share it outside the household.

By Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, National Catholic Register - Observers point to many serious problems: the decline in marriage and the impending demographic crisis; the parallel decline in young people accepting the call to priesthood and the religious life; ever growing family fragmentation; lingering fallout from revelations of clergy sexual abuse of decades ago; the scandal caused by prominent Catholics who stridently oppose foundational moral truths; lack of clarity in presenting the Church’s teachings on the sensitive issues of our time and the ensuing divisions that result from it; the rise of social media as an alternative magisterium, replacing parents and parish alike as the primary educators of children. And the list goes on.

By Fr. Nnamdi Moneme, OMV, Catholic Exchange - Holy Mother Church exhorts us to rejoice on Laetare Sunday of the Lenten Season with these words, “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breasts” (Is. 66:10-11). But how can we pause to rejoice when we are recalling our many sins, performing our Lenten penances for these sins, reflecting on the suffering of Christ for our sins, and striving to unite our sufferings with His? Doesn’t it seem out of place to rejoice in such a setting?