Catholic Church

By Eduardo Echeverria, Catholic World Report - Pope Francis’ recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, On Fraternity and Social Friendship, advances a plea to all men and women of good will that they “recover the shared passion to create a community of belonging and solidarity”... “a universal aspiration to fraternity”... embodying brotherhood, not only within the boundaries of local communities, but also cross-culturally, uniting them in their inalienable dignity seeking “free and open . . . authentic encounters,” with a focus on seeking the “the truth in dialogue”... for the sake of the common good.

By Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D., Catholic Exchange - The Catholic tradition speaks of “Seven Deadly Sins.” One of the sneakiest and deadliest is often overlooked, which is exactly why it is sneaky and deadly. It is called “sloth” or spiritual laziness... The sloth perceives the kingdom of God to be boring and so can find no energy to pursue it. Everything else–work, kids’ soccer games, Super Bowl parties, shopping – takes precedence so that the sloth never gets around to seeking God.

By Patrick Reilly, EWTN News - Newman has had such a big impact on my life, and so I speak about him from the heart. I discovered him only after graduating from college and wish I had his example much earlier. Across nearly 30 years of promoting faithful Catholic education, I have looked to Newman as a patron because of his lifelong devotion to teaching and his important writings on education.

By Msgr. Charles Pope - In the Gospel for today’s Mass (Thursday of the 27th Week of the Year) Jesus says, If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? (Lk 11:13)... I received an e-mail once, regarding this verse: “This line bugs me. I think I know the larger point that Jesus makes here, and/or perhaps it’s poorly translated, but it seems a bit harsh for Jesus to refer to mankind as ‘wicked’. Wicked? That’s tough stuff! But perhaps, to Jesus, we are evil.”... So what is going on here? Why does Jesus call us wicked?