3+ week, 2+ day ago (1311+ words) What the border-hawk Catholics get wrong The procession was one of many such actions carried out by Catholics across the country, a sign of both Catholic solidarity with the targets of the Trump ... In mid-October, Catholic clergy arrived at the doors of the makeshift ICE detention center in Broadview, Illinois, in hopes of bringing the Eucharist, the central sacrament of the faith, to those inside. As Father David Inczauskis walked alongside the procession, he felt a spark of hope: Maybe ICE really would allow a delegation from their group to offer Communion to people in federal custody. Hundreds of people walked with Inczauskis and fellow clergy, bearing signs invoking scriptural themes alongside images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a dazzling icon of the Virgin Mary as she appeared to an Indigenous peasant in the 16th century in what is now Mexico....

1+ week, 5+ day ago (60+ words) For millions of people, for more than 2,000 years, the advent has represented an opportunity to reflect, to anticipate'to make holiness out of the spiritual equivalent of standing in line, to sit in ... What began as a form of religious expression has morphed into a brand-a-palooza. Read: The luxury makeover of the worst pastry on Earth...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (263+ words) Listen to more stories on the Noa app. Arthur C. Brooks: The key to critical self-awareness All of this might strike you as strange. Mother Nature tells you to do something that makes you miserable. And the more miserable you get, the more you do it. But Mother Nature simply doesn't care whether you're happy. She just wants you to ascend the hierarchy and pass on your genes. Happiness is your problem, not hers. As I have shown in the past, getting happier very often requires you to resist your natural tendencies, not give in to them. The world is constantly inviting you to try to make yourself appear bigger in others' eyes and in your own; this fact underpins the entire social-media business model. The trick to finding happiness is to get smaller. Here are three ways you can achieve…...

2+ week, 4+ day ago (998+ words) Pope Leo's relative silence carries certain risks, but it might be exactly what American Catholics need right now. Quiet American is an oxymoron for most people, at least those outside the United States. The British writer Graham Greene used the phrase as the title of his 1955 novel, describing a soft-spoken and well-meaning CIA agent who nevertheless causes havoc abroad. In my native Canada, our reserved self-image has no greater or more pleasing foil than our southern neighbor. Fairly or not, complaining about brash Americans is a national pastime. And yet, over the past six months, the unthinkable has taken shape: a quiet American papacy. Given the intense national enthusiasm that followed Pope Leo XIV's election, in May, perhaps the most striking feature of his papacy is how inconspicuous it's been. A casual American observer likely hasn't heard much about Leo'and…...