A model of female leadership at Kolbe House Jail Ministry Meet MaryClare Birmingham, the first layperson to lead Chicago’s archdiocesan criminal justice reform ministry. After a winding career path that includes working both as an accountant and a physical therapist along with raising five children, criminal justice reform advocate MaryClare Birmingham affirms that she finally […]

This Advent, make room for a future without fear Do not be afraid. Good news of great joy is on the horizon. December feels like the soft landing every year could use. While January is often propelled by a crazed monster of executive function—New Year’s resolutions, goals and budgets, new semesters and scheduling!—the end of […]

Will supply chain shortages teach us to live with less? This Christmas season, American consumers may get a small taste of a common place in much of the rest of the world: scarcity. Toilet paper was the first product that seemed to disappear overnight as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold back in March 2020. Other […]

The church must find its way back to Jesus Christmas calls the church to refocus on its core mission, writes Father Bryan Massingale. Christmas celebrates a love so amazing it is beyond imagination and words. But what can this feast tell us about who the Catholic faith community is called to become, especially in times […]

6 names of Jesus to pray with this Christmas These three pairs of names can deepen your meditation on the mystery of the incarnation. Think of all the names you will write this season on Christmas cards, gift tags, shopping lists, and party invitations. Most of us have multiple names over the length of our […]

Not all gifts are easily defined As St. Paul tells the Colossians: “We are called to be grateful for everything.” As a child, my siblings and I eagerly anticipated Christmas. Poring through the Sears catalogue, we wrote our letters to Santa and composed our lists to give to him when we sat on his lap […]

In ‘The Hidden Life of Trees,’ forests are family, too Trees are, as it turns out, social and more than a little like us. Trees have friends. Trees talk to each other and send over resources when a neighbor is in need. Trees nurture their children. Trees sound the alarm about environmental threats. Trees grow […]

Catholics around the country bring ‘Laudato Si’’ to life To heed the call to care for our common home, we must work together. Many family and church friends would sacrifice a limb, as they say, for the well-being of their children or grandchildren. They are also prepared to give the shirts off their backs to […]

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