Glad You Asked

History and literature are full of dramatic stories involving deathbed conversions and the administering of what is often called last rites. So perhaps it's understandable that many people, when they think of the...

Recent polls indicate that feelings of patriotism are at an all-time low in the United States. This is especially the case for younger Americans, who are less likely than their older counterparts to describe themselves...

According to the USCCB's voting guide , Catholics are called to "stand with newcomers, authorized and unauthorized, including unaccompanied immigrant children, refugees and asylum-seekers, those unnecessarily detained...

Today, millions of baptized Catholics exist on the church's margins. Many of them identify as "cultural Catholics," but what that means may depend very much on the individual. Some identify as Catholic even though they...

While people sometimes use the term "the church" as shorthand for the Vatican or the magisterium, the church is, strictly speaking, all its members, regardless of gender or vocation. So, while Catholic women are barred...

In the 6th chapter of Matthew's gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, introducing what today we call the "Our Father," or the "Lord's Prayer." But Jesus imparts this prayer in the context of various...

This Easter—2026—multiple Catholic parishes across the nation saw a surge in adult baptisms and new converts entering the church. Some dioceses reported all-time records for people becoming Catholic at Easter. This...

People go "parish hopping" for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes it's because of simple things like wanting more convenient mass times, or a shorter drive. Or it might be because they're looking for a community with more...

You don't have to be Catholic to recognize St. Francis of Assisi. Across the nation, you can find this gentle bearded figure, clad in simple robes, often with birds perched on his shoulders, as he adorns people's lawns...

Catholics are accustomed to thinking of the term apostle as referring exclusively to men: the Twelve who followed Jesus and were with him at the Last Supper, as well as the Apostle Paul. But the church also considers...

Mary's "Magnificat" is pretty revolutionary. It isn't praising God for abstract blessings, but for real material events, all of which have to do with radical social justice. And this makes sense, given the world Mary...

"Look to Mary as a model of authentic womanhood." That's the message church leaders have directed at generations of Catholic women and girls. Often, latent in this message, is the notion that authentic womanhood means...

According to several recent studies of health care systems across the globe, the U.S. health care system lags far behind those in other developed nations. The system is more expensive per person, but also for the nation...

Recent years have seen increased climate-related natural disasters. In the United States, an inland hurricane brought catastrophic flooding to the mountains of North Carolina. Ash from wildfires in Canada has clouded...

Catholic just war theory is a moral framework for evaluating warfare that dates back to St. Augustine but has its roots in older, pre-Christian ethical systems. Though the theory has been widely embraced not just by...