No First Confessions as the Solution to Clergy Sexual Abuse?
Invoking the sex abuse scandal as a reason to keep children from Confession is an argument that doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.
Is it Time to Rethink Confession for Minors?
In confronting the present crisis, measures to deal justly with individual crimes are essential, yet on their own they are not enough: a new vision is needed, to inspire present and future generations to treasure the gift of our common faith. — Pope Benedict XVI, “Letter to the Irish People” “Tell me the details,” I … Read more
The Cure of Ars
Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney was born on May 8, 1786, three years before the world would collapse into the chaos of the French Revolution. His schooling did not start until he was nine. It lasted only three years. When Jean was eleven, an underground priest stopped at the Vianney family farm. When he asked Jean … Read more
Angels without Wings
I like to think of myself as a seasoned mom. Â But even a seasoned mom sometimes meets her match. It’s in our most trying motherly moments, I have found, that God graces us with the gift of humility — by opening our eyes to our helpless dependence upon others. One warm spring Saturday morning a … Read more
Not Your Standard First Communion
We Roman Catholics are in the midst of the First Communion season — dark suits fitted for seven-year-old boys, white dresses and veils for the girls, lots of flash photos, and earnest young faces in prayerful concentration for receiving Christ in the Eucharist for the first time. My memories of First Communion are quite different. … Read more