Commentary

January 18, 2023

By Cardinal Blase Cupich

Protecting God’s children

The approach of Catholic Schools Week gives us an opportunity to revisit the efforts the Archdiocese of Chicago has been taking to keep our children safe.

January 18, 2023

By Father Donald Senior, CP

Jan. 29: Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Editors’ note: It is with great sadness that we mourn the Nov. 8, 2022, death of Passionist Father Donald Senior, whose Scripture column we were honored to publish over the past six years. As we look for a new Scripture columnist, we will continue reprinting Father Don’s past columns, with the permission of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ.

November 30, 2022

By Nancy Gavilanes and Elmida Kulovic

Welcoming the stranger

Over the past few months, Catholic Charities has been reflecting on the following quote from celebrated theologian and prolific writer Father Henri Nouwen: “Community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another.”

January 18, 2023

By Michelle Martin

Don’t just sit there

We’ve reached the doldrums of the year. Christmas and New Year’s are over. Easter is so far away we haven’t even started Lent yet. While the days are slowly getting longer, it’s still dark when I wake up and again by the time I finish work, and long periods of damp, gray weather mean that there’s not all that much sunlight in between. Meanwhile, we’re besieged by what seems like endless streams of bad news, from climate change to political divisions so deep it can seem like people are living in entirely different worlds. Students in school have started the long slog from winter break to the end of the year, in what they assure me feels like an endless treadmill of history fair and science fair to diagnostic testing to math homework to how do I do a bibliography? My kids always get a little squirrelly this time of year, and it doesn’t surprise me. I do, too. So what to do? Just about anything, as long as you do something. Extra points if it involves helping someone else, which will brighten your mood as well as their day. The corporal works of mercy aren’t there simply to benefit the hungry and thirsty, the sick and the homeless and migrants. They are there for the benefit of those who perform them, to show them what it means to bring positive change into the world, to allow them to participate in the work of God. It’s not always easy, and often, our small efforts don’t seem to have much effect. I can offer someone panhandling on the street a piece of fruit from my bag, or maybe a dollar, and what good have I done? Plenty of people — maybe plenty of people reading this — would say that I’m contributing to the problem, encouraging people to beg and not doing anything that will materially alter their circumstances. That’s true, as far as it goes. But, for a few minutes at least, they will be less hungry. If I do it right — if I offer something, ask if they want it and listen for their answer — for a few seconds, they will know they are seen and heard, treated as a fellow human being, a fellow child of God. And there is so much more to be done, and so many ways to do it. There are organizations, from Catholic Charities to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, that are always looking for volunteers. If signing up and showing up at a set time isn’t your thing, you can still walk out your door and clean up your neighborhood. As I said, it doesn’t matter so much what you do. As long as you do something.

October 9, 2019

By Bishop Robert Barron

Talking with skeptics on Reddit

I just finished my second dive into the Reddit AMA world. One of the most popular websites in the world, Reddit is a forum for all sorts of online conversations and presentations.

February 6, 2019

By Father James Keenan, SJ

Doing virtue in Rome

I arrived here in Rome two weeks ago. I will be living and writing my columns for Chicago Catholic for the next seven months here.

April 25, 2018

By Don Wycliff

Writing the script of our lives

I recently attended a workshop on trauma and emotional resilience in children for people who work in the child-welfare system. The keynote speaker kept coming back to one theme: Each of us must write the script of his or her own life.

August 17, 2022

By Kerry Alys Robinson

Anonymous blessing

At a desert monastery, I had the opportunity to walk a labyrinth made of stones surrounded by exotic flora. I was completely alone, but far from lonely, enchanted by the mysterious beauty and contradiction of uninviting, captivating cacti amidst the craggy landscape. With each step closer to the center, I offered the prayer I have prayed daily.

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