Focus

• Food for Thought

  Apr 22, 2016

  Father Jim Gardiner, a Franciscan Friar of the Atonement, says that when comforting the sorrowful, we should note that those we are trying to comfort

  
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  Chicago archbishop says Pope makes clear doctrines are to serve people

  Apr 15, 2016

  Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich (pic right) welcomed Pope Francis’ reflection on marriage and family life, saying that while not changing any church doctrine, the apostolic exhortation “makes clear that doctrines are at the service of the pastoral mission.”

  
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  Admonish the sinner, but show love, too

  Apr 15, 2016

  When one thinks about the spiritual work of mercy "admonish the sinner," the picture of John the Baptist in the desert -- the fiery prophet we see in Matthew 3:1-10 calling for people to repent their evil ways and to produce good fruit as a sign of repentance -- comes to mind.

  
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  When admonishment is merciful and compassionate

  Apr 15, 2016

  The inmates Pope Francis visited in a Mexican prison Feb 17 were encouraged by him to consider “the possibility of writing a new story” in their lives and to believe “that things can change.”

  
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  Food for Thought

  Apr 15, 2016

  Many of us are reluctant to point out a person's transgressions, let alone sins, making the spiritual work of mercy, the one that tells us to admonish the sinner, difficult to carry out.

  
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  Pope Francis challenges the Church

  Apr 15, 2016

  Pope Francis is calling for something more radical than changing from rigid, conservative rules to lax, liberal ones. As he writes in The Joy of Love, at Paragraph 300, “neither the Synod nor this Exhortation could be expected to provide a new set of general rules, canonical in nature and applicable to all cases.

  
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  Pope Francis: Children are always gifts, even in tough circumstances

  Apr 15, 2016

  Pope Francis’ latest writings on the family include a strong affirmation of the need to welcome children even in difficult circumstances.

  
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  When dealing with doubt, we can help one another

  Apr 08, 2016

  We are called, as Catholic disciples, to counsel the doubtful, and the doubt-filled, just as they are called to counsel us.

  
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  Walking the path of doubt together

  Apr 08, 2016

  On the spiritual journey of life, we are sometimes doubtful, often discouraged, occasionally skeptical and always on the way.

  

• Food for Thought

  Apr 08, 2016

  In a May 2015 blog post for the Archdiocese of Washington, Msgr. Charles Pope writes that counseling the doubtful, as a spiritual work of mercy, is not concerned with "mere expedience," but it's about helping someone with "what is moral, upright and holy."