In Costa Rica, we don’t have much Gothic architecture, for obvious reasons, but we do have a neo-Gothic church built in 1930 in my father’s hometown of Coronado. It is, in my opinion, the most beautiful church in the country. As a kid, I spent my weekends in the plaza in front of it, chasing […] The post For LGBTQ+ Catholics, blessings are a double edged sword appeared first on U.S. Catholic ..read more

In 2022 and 2023, Pope Francis invited community organizers from the United States to meet with him at the Vatican. Robert Hoo, a senior staff member and community organizer at West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), was one of 20 organizers who met with him in 2022. “The first thing [Pope Francis] said was, ‘Thank you […] The post Community organizing is synodality in action appeared first on U.S. Catholic ..read more

Readings (Year B): Acts 9:26 – 31Psalms 22:26 – 27, 28, 30, 31 – 321 John 3:18 – 24John 15:1 – 8 Reflection: Remaining on the vine This chapter is considered part of what scholars call the “farewell discourses” in the Gospel of John: Jesus’ last words to his disciples before the last supper, and […] The post A reflection for the fifth Sunday of Easter appeared first on U.S. Catholic ..read more

In 1964, artist Norman Rockwell, best known for his photorealistic depictions of everyday American life, painted the now-iconic picture of 6-year-old Ruby Bridges on her way to school. Titled The Problem We All Live With, the painting is Rockwell’s witness to the violent reality of racism in the United States. As the first African American […] The post New poems trace the timeline of racial justice appeared first on U.S. Catholic ..read more

Listen on: Apple | Spotify What do we know about the life of the early Christians in the first few generations after the death of Jesus? While there’s a lot of debate about such topics as leadership roles and gender equality, Acts is pretty explicit about a few details: The very first Christians held all […] The post Glad You Asked: Was the early church communist? appeared first on U.S. Catholic ..read more

Zero at the Bone By Christian Wiman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023) Despair hits differently at different times, and sometimes what hits isn’t despair, but a pleasurable cosplay of it. What poet Christian Wiman explores in Zero at the Bone, an interweaving of poems, reflections on poems, and memoir is the real thing. His musings […] The post What we’re reading this month: April 2024 appeared first on U.S. Catholic ..read more

This summer, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will host the National Eucharistic Congress as part of its year-long Eucharistic Revival, meant to “restore devotion and understanding to this great mystery.” Some, however, have argued that holding this Revival amid the ongoing global synod has placed the U.S. bishops in conflict with the pope […] The post What does the Eucharist mean to you? appeared first on U.S. Catholic ..read more

Liars! Deceivers! Truth twisters! Alternative-fact-mongers! This may sound like a litany snatched from recent headlines. Actually, it’s a basic theme in the New Testament letters of John. A closer look at the Bible often reveals that, despite the modern ring to an idea, “there’s nothing new under the sun”—including this quote, which comes from Ecclesiastes. […] The post Who really wrote the books of John? appeared first on U.S. Catholic ..read more

Pope Francis’ recent declaration, Fiducia Supplicans (On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings), has garnered much attention around the globe, including everything from enthusiastic endorsements to cries of heresy and schism. These responses were so dramatic and varied, in fact, that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith followed up with a press release “concerning […] The post What does ‘Fiducia Supplicans’ mean for people in the pews? appeared first on U.S. Catholic ..read more

As a history student at the University of Iowa, Evan Hudson did not expect his recreational experimentation with opioids to have long-term consequences. But then he moved to Vietnam to teach English and suffered a motorcycle accident. Opioids were easily accessible, and Hudson began self-medicating with heroin. “From that point on, I was fully in […] The post The opioid epidemic calls for a Catholic response appeared first on U.S. Catholic ..read more