I write this column each month with the help of prayer and discernment, usually in my office, while the kids are asleep or at school. I always marvel at how God, in the midst of the quiet, provides inspiration as words fill the blank page. But writing this month was …

Mientras nos preparamos para la celebración del bicentenario de la Arquidiócesis de Cincinnati más tarde este año, la Semana Nacional de las Escuelas Católicas – del 31 de enero al 6 de febrero – ofrece la oportunidad de reflexionar con gratitud sobre la importancia y el éxito de la educación …

Caroling. Festive parties. Charming decorations. Cookies. Gift-exchanges. The message is all around us: We should be happy because it’s Christmas. Indeed, to be anything other than effusively joyful means running the risk of being labeled a scrooge. So, no matter what is going on in our lives – or in …

I recently made the decision to sell a series of books by Hans Urs von Balthasar. They had always been treasures of mine but, at 16 volumes, I knew I would never get around to reading them. It’s impossible to buy them as a set anymore, and their rarity tempted …

Much of this difficult year has been spent in uneasy, uncertain waiting – waiting for businesses and schools to reopen, waiting for the development of a vaccine, waiting for life to return to normal and, for some, waiting for COVID test results. Perhaps most of all, we have spent many …

This year has been one packed with a cacophony of sound. There’s the bigger-picture noise: the dire warnings and subsequent mourning related to the ongoing global pandemic; the presidential election and ever-increasing polarization and ugliness we hurl at one another on social media; the ripping sounds of hurricanes tearing through …

Gran parte de este año difícil se ha dedicado a una espera incómoda e incierta – la espera de que las empresas y las escuelas abran nuevamente, la espera del desarrollo de una vacuna, esperando a que la vida vuelva a la normalidad y, para algunos, esperando los resultados de …

As we near the end of 2020, perhaps most of us are eager to see the completion of a troubling year that has brought great trials and deep pain to so many. And yet, even at this challenging time of COVID-19, job losses and civil strife, we have much for …

When did the belief in heaven and hell originate among Christians? I have heard that Jewish believers, some early Christians, and even possibly Jesus did not believe in an afterlife. Most Christians would probably be surprised to know of the diversity of Judeo-Christian beliefs about the world to come. The …

Recently I sat down with a journalism student and answered questions about my career. When she asked what I like most about my job, I didn’t hesitate: “Learning about and telling people’s stories,” I responded. “Interviews are an opportunity to encounter people and their lives that I likely never would …