On Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court heard arguments on a Pennsylvania adoption case, as senior U.S. bishops warned of the case’s potential consequences for religious freedom and the role of Catholic welfare agencies in American public life. Fulton v. City of Philadelphia concerns the right of religious individuals
The Vatican’s Secretary of State has asked papal representatives to share with bishops some clarifications regarding comments on civil unions made by Pope Francis in a recently released documentary, according to the apostolic nuncio to Mexico. The clarifications explain that the pope’s comments do not
Motherhood is never easy — don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! It looks a little different for every woman, but for more of us than not, our journey to and through motherhood can be a challenge. Mine certainly has been, a road so full of twists and turns that it looks more like a corkscrew than a straight path. Yet as I
The following article is part of the Popcaks’ ongoing series on the Liturgy of Domestic Church Life. To learn more, join their Facebook discussion group: CatholicHŌM (Households on Mission)–Family Discipleship In the Liturgy of Domestic Church Life, the practices associated with the Rite of Christian Relationships are all
On April 2, 2005, the Pope lay dying. After a nearly-27 year pontificate, one of the most famous men in the world was on his death bed. I sat at home, alone, and watched news coverage of this holy man’s last hours. That afternoon, the
“Francesco,” a newly released documentary on the life and ministry of Pope Francis, has made global headlines, because the film contains a scene in which Pope Francis calls for the passage of civil union laws for same-sex couples. Some activists and media reports have suggested
American Catholics have grown accustomed, over the last 30 or 40 years, to the wonderful and moving stories of those who have converted to the Catholic faith, particularly from various Protestant denominations. Some of these stories have become quite well known, such as that of
Thanks to a new technology in development called in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), in the near future any combination of donor parents—one woman, or two men, or three women and three men—may be able to have a child. IVG would allow scientists to take the genetic matter
In 2020, getting married became an act of rebellion and imprudence. Scores of weddings were either postponed or profoundly circumscribed. But it didn’t take a virus to damage the marital impulse. Matrimony has been slowly developing herd immunity in the West for forty years now.
Ten years ago this month, I called my grandmother, a devout Catholic living in the Shenandoah Valley of western Virginia, to declare my intention to return to the Catholic Church of my youth, which I had left along with my evangelically-inclined parents after my First Communion.