Two soldiers waved our van to the side of the road, where a mangy dog finished his scratch before ambling out of our path.

I was drenched with sweat in the tropical heat and humidity, as were my traveling partners. Along with 11 other men, I had traveled to this area to make the first contact with an isolated hill tribe.

About that time, the ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — A group representing some Pittsburgh priests and lay people issued its support for same-sex unions and LGBTQ people in response to the Vatican’s declaration this spring that the Catholic Church does not have the authority to bless same-sex unions.

In a statement released Monday, the Association of Pittsburgh Priests argued that...Read more

As thousands of members of the Southern Baptist Convention gathered in Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday to determine the future of the nation’s largest and most powerful evangelical Christian denomination, the Rev. Dwight McKissic Sr. got ready to consign the group to his past.

The 65-year-old Black pastor in Arlington, Texas, who has been ...Read more

If you’re free to worship as you see fit, chances are you’re not in China these days, where religious persecution is rampant.

Examples abound. Last month, the Catholic press agency AsiaNews reported that “in the space of just two days, almost all the ecclesiastical personnel of the apostolic prefecture of Xinxiang were wiped out with an ...Read more

I remember my mother calling me in from play, usually to do chores. I’d ignore the first couple of calls, because they challenged my desire to live life on my terms. Then I’d give in and show up at home.

“Didn’t you hear me?" she would always ask.

I did hear her — but I wasn’t really listening to her.

I heard the noise of her call...Read more

When I was 7 years old, I liked to watch a futuristic cartoon character named George Jetson and his wife, Jane, on our old black-and-white TV. It was amazing to see George, and his boss, Mr. Spacely, on a video phone. This was a piece of hardware that allowed them to actually see and speak to people in other locations.

Back in 1962, that was a ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA – As an ordained deacon, Laverne Williams noticed in the 1990s that many congregation members at Black churches often went to clergy members for help with mental health issues. But honest conversations about mental health in churches were not regular occurrences then, and health was a “very small part of the curriculum,” she ...Read more

LOS ANGELES – On the outskirts of Boyle Heights, a remnant of the neighborhood's historic Armenian past is having a revival.

The faithful are traveling from as far away as Simi Valley and Cerritos to pray at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, a church once deemed the center of Catholic Armenian life in Los Angeles.

Founded in 1952, the church hosted...Read more

Recently I wrote about common challenging emotional stressors that appear to be mostly stimulated of late by the pandemic’s social isolation. These conditions generate a strange combination of listlessness, undirected anxiety and inability to concentrate. Together they make up the paradoxical emotion of acedia.

If that is an accurate ...Read more

The practice of diagnosis, or “full knowing,” is important in medicine and other disciplines, including mental, emotional, social, and spiritual care and treatment.

We want and need to accurately know the issue or problem before we can accurately prescribe. For example, pancreatitis (inflammation) is different than pancreatic cancer (...Read more

There was a time when I ran three to five miles before work and trained for half marathons. Three years ago, however, I tore a muscle in my right hip flexor. I limped for months. I could barely walk, let alone run.

It took 18 months for my leg to heal. And when I finally tried running again, I sucked. My pace was slow. My knees buckled. My ...Read more

An influencer, that was my mama.

Oh, not like the ones we see nowadays, catching themselves in perfect light, a string of followers and fame. No, my mama had just three followers, my two older brothers and then me.

As near as I can recollect, we didn’t have much, least of all fame. Living on a piece of dirt in the top half of California, my...Read more

LOS ANGELES – The table was laden with food: a rack of lamb, well roasted and succulent. A platter of chicken over rice. A tray of tabbouleh, a bulgur salad speckled with parsley. A rainbow of watermelon, orange slices and grapes.

But the first things guests reached for as they gathered at the Fejleh family's home to break fast together on a ...Read more

Cardinals and bishops will now be allowed to be tried by the Vatican’s lay criminal tribunal, according to a decree issued Friday by Pope Francis.

Until now, the Catholic Church’s most senior officials accused of criminal offenses could only be tried by their peers in the "Corte di Cassazone" (Court of Cassation), which is presided over by ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is set to decide soon whether conservative Christians have a constitutional right to refuse to work with same-sex couples while participating in a city-funded foster care program that forbids such discrimination.

It is the latest and possibly most significant culture-war clash between the First Amendment’s ...Read more

BALTIMORE – It’s 2 1/2 hours before sunset, a drizzle is falling under gloomy skies, and the cars are lined up by the dozen in the parking lot of the Islamic Society of Baltimore.

Drivers and passengers, many wearing headscarves or skullcaps, wait in minivans, luxury sedans and old beaters for a signal to move forward. On reaching the ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Bishop Michael Hoeppner of the Crookston Diocese resigned Tuesday after a request to step down by Pope Francis and an investigation that showed he had covered up a sex abuse allegation against a priest.

Hoeppner is the first U.S. bishop to be disciplined under new Vatican protocols for reviewing and sanctioning bishops for sex ...Read more