Frances Cabrini had met with Pope Leo XIII and told him of her dream to go to China as a missionary. “No,” Pope Leo answered, “not to the East but to the West.” He wanted her and her new Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to go to America and do pastoral work among the Italian immigrants. What happened after that is a bright page in the sometimes tumultuous story of Italian-American Catholicism. catholicreview.org/mother-ca… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog

Our sons were just 3 and 5 when we first started attending Mass at St. Joseph’s in Cockeysville. We didn’t know anyone in the parish, but Msgr. Paul Cook was the pastor there, and he was welcoming and kind. catholicreview.org/we-are-hi… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog @OpenWindow_CR

I’m divorced and remarried, and have recently felt called to return to the Catholic faith. I just submitted my annulment paperwork to the tribunal, but they said the whole process can take at least a year. My parish priest said I could do something called the “brother-sister process” in the meantime to start receiving Communion again right away, but I’ve never heard of this before and I’m not sure exactly what it means. Can you explain? catholicreview.org/question-… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog #QuestionCorner #AskACatholic #CatholicQA

In many ways, Father Michael J. McGivney was just one more of that band of hardworking Irish-American priests who spent themselves building up the church in America in the latter years of the 19th century. But in one truly extraordinary respect, he was unique: Before he was 30, Father McGivney had founded what was to become the largest Catholic men’s organization in the world: the #KnightsOfColumbus. catholicreview.org/father-mc… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog

At his May summit in Beijing, President #Trump made an effort to convince Chinese leader Xi Jinping to release #JimmyLai from his imprisonment in Hong Kong. Jimmy, whom I am honored to call a friend, is a 78-year-old diabetic who has been in solitary confinement some seven hundred days longer than the United States was engaged in World War II and is now serving a twenty-year sentence for threatening Chinese national security. That conviction has no more legal or moral validity than that of the Lord by Pontius Pilate. And I find it deeply moving that, in the prison cell where Jimmy does colored pencil sketches of religious scenes, many of them depict the Crucifixion; one of those sketches is among my most prized possessions. By conforming himself in prayer to the crucified Lord, Jimmy Lai is living his unjust punishment as an occasion of grace. catholicreview.org/the-stren… #commentary #Blog #FaithBlog

On June 11, during their spring meeting in #Orlando, #bishops of the #UnitedStates will gather at the Basilica Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe, to consecrate the United States to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The consecration will celebrate America’s semiquincentennial, that is, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. catholicreview.org/why-the-b… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog

If you use #ArtificialIntelligence for certain tasks, a good Catholic question to ask is simple: Am I aware of how my use of #AI — and my support of AI systems — affects human dignity and the common good? Catholic social teaching offers principles of discernment to help answer that question. catholicreview.org/magnifica… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog

It can be easy for Catholics to lose sight of the forest for the trees. Sometimes we can lose sight of the bigger global picture, get distracted from what matters most for humanity, even give into the temptation to zero in too much on internal ecclesial life. In more recent years, the Church has also been burdened by internal debates and feuds which distract us from the mission Christ entrusted to us. catholicreview.org/pope-leos… #AI #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog

#PopeLeoXIV’s new encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” arrives at a defining moment in human history. #ArtificialIntelligence and digital technologies are reshaping every dimension of modern life: communication, labor, economics, medicine, education and even our relationships. “Never has humanity had so much power over itself,” the #pope writes. catholicreview.org/magnifica… #AI #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog

This time of year is packed with ceremonies and performances. There are sacraments and graduations. There are end-of-year projects and exams. There are assignments that matter and assignments that don’t, and it’s hard to know which is which. This season has been nicknamed “Maycember” for a reason. We the parents, in order to finish a far-from-perfect school year, are struggling to keep up with all the activity. We might just barely be hanging on. But we’re committed to making it to June, which might not be all that much less chaotic. catholicreview.org/im-ok-you… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog @OpenWindow_CR

Forever ago—or maybe it was just the other day—I packed a lunchbox for my 4-year-old to take to school. He took his lunch to preschool and ate it with his friends at lunchtime. Then he brought his box home empty. I can’t tell you how many hundreds of lunches I’ve packed since then. The choices have varied over the years. But the lunch always goes to school full and comes home lighter. Today I packed that same child’s lunchbox yet again, maybe for the last time. catholicreview.org/the-final… #Graduation #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog @OpenWindow_CR

A little more than a year ago, I wrote a piece reminiscing about Haussner’s. Then last fall, I received an email from a woman named Lisa. She lives on Cape Cod, and she had found that blog about Haussner’s online. She told me that she owned a replica of one of the signature pieces of art at Haussner’s called “Ise Biggest,” a painting of a little girl standing on a book next to a St. Bernard. Lisa was looking for a new home for the painting, and she generously offered it to me. catholicreview.org/a-surpris… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog @OpenWindow_CR

H.L. Mencken — writer, journalist and prominent iconoclast of the century past — took a generally dim view of the clergy (along with many other things). But his view of Cardinal James Gibbons, archbishop of Mencken’s Baltimore for 44 crucial years, was different. catholicreview.org/cardinal-… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog

Day 21 of my 30 Days Challenge 🚀✨ Today, Ositex Creative Hub proudly showcases a clean and modern blog website built with creativity, structure, and purpose in mind. #OsitexCreativeHub #30DaysChallenge #FaithBlog #facebookviral #FullStackJourney

As a rule, we don’t do much traveling in the spring. Weekends in April and May are chockfull with the abundance of school and work and life that happens in this season. But sometimes you have to make an exception. catholicreview.org/an-overni… #Blog #Commentary #FaithBlog @OpenWindow_CR

Three-quarters of a century ago, on April 29, 1951, I was baptized by Father Thomas Love, S.J., in Baltimore’s Church of Ss. Philip and James. Old Scratch must have thoroughly sunken his claws into my infant self; according to family tradition, I sent up such a howl when he was ousted by water and the Holy Spirit that my cousin Judy hid in a confessional. (Critics may find traces of this experience in my later prose style; I couldn’t possibly comment.) catholicreview.org/in-thanks… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog #Saints

#Family life is hard. In case no one has affirmed that for you lately, let me be the one. Whether you’re in the stage of diapers and bottles, wiping faces and losing sleep or whether you’re worrying about the children who have grown, the now-adults making their stumbling way through a suffering world, families will always be holy, hard and humbling schools of love. catholicreview.org/what-the-… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog

Recently I went to confession on Saturday afternoon before my parish’s vigil Mass. The priest told me to say a rosary for my penance. But since I was the last one in line, Mass was starting right away and I didn’t have time to say my penance. Then I’m embarrassed to admit I wound up forgetting about it, and I didn’t actually say the rosary like I was supposed to until a few days later. Now it occurs to me that since I didn’t say my penance right away, my confession was invalid and I shouldn’t have received Communion at Mass. Is this a new sin I need to confess? catholicreview.org/question-… #QuestionCorner #AskACAtholic #CatholicQA #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog

Many #cardinals have had #books written about them, but few have become the fictionalized heroes of best-selling novels. Cardinal Francis J. Spellman, archbishop of #NewYork from 1939 to 1967, was one — possibly the only one. catholicreview.org/cardinal-… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog

Donuts after Mass are a bit of a Catholic tradition, after all. “It’s the American inculturation of the Catholic Church,” he said with a laugh. catholicreview.org/donuts-af… #Commentary #Blog #FaithBlog @OpenWindow_CR What's your favorite donut?