A generation or so before Jesus of Nazareth, two great early rabbis rose up in Israel, namely Shammai and Hillel. [...]

Genuine ecumenical dialogue can never be fruitful merely through contrasting newspaper articles without personal conversation on a face to face [...]

As I mentioned before, the experience of an entire Lent on Patmos Island without full participation in the Eucharist provided [...]

Let me tell you, spending virtually this year’s entire season of Lent on the Greek Isle of Patmos, in an [...]

The story was a very dramatic one. After the apostle Paul had been driven out of the city of Lystra in what is now central Turkey, he was stoned and left for dead (Acts 14:19). When his grieving disciples and colleagues gathered around, he revived, caught his breath and (much to my shock, I must admit) resolutely went back into the same town to continue proclaiming the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection.

There he attracted a considerable number of disciples before retracing his steps back to his home base of Antioch. The witness of his ability to welcome hardship apparently made a difference.

We’ve finally entered the 2011 Season of Lent and the lateness of this year’s cycle brings us into overlap with [...]

For many years I have been privileged to be a member of the writing team which has contributed to this column, always under the banner headline of “Herald of Hope.”

The “heralds” are in fact many within our Catholic community of southeastern Wisconsin, certainly far more numerous than the few authors of this weekly column in our Catholic Herald over the years! Every one of us as members of Christ’s Body, the church, is a herald of hope.

During the season of Advent we deepen our sense of God as King of the Universe and Lord of History. [...]

As the holidays approach, we look forward to many family gatherings. Thanksgiving and Christmas are occasions for going to Grandma’s [...]

For Catholics the month of November has traditionally been a time to remember the poor souls. It is the season to realize that in Christ we are destined for life with God forever, that virtually every human being requires some purification in order to be fully embraced by God’s loving mercy and that we are bound together in Christ by the mystery we call the “Communion of Saints.”

Four events experienced recently have highlighted this wonderful mystery of our faith in a new way for me this year.