Rushing out the door on my way to work, I was stopped cold by large yellow spray-painted letters: F-U-C-K. The word screamed from the white fence separating my apartment building from my neighbor's home. Worse yet, ...

Does Cuba's revolutionary and pop icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara truly inspire those of us working for peace and justice in the 21st century? A recent photo exhibit in East Los Angeles suggests ...

Summertime…and the living is on the go. This summer I headed south to El Salvador in Central America. It's a breathtakingly beautiful land country, but with a turbulent history that includes many modern-day Christian ...

Down for the count During his homily on World Marriage Day, the priest asked everyone who had been married less than a year to stand up. He then asked everyone married one to five years to ...

I love the Easter rituals that help me connect with the emotion and significance of this holiest day of the year. So I felt particularly blessed to be present for two different sets of rites ...

Recently, I was talking with a group of socially conscious Catholic friends about money. The question came up, "How does being Catholic influence how we think about money?" Our answers were revealing. The bummer of bucks One mentioned ...

In Oscar Romero: Memories in Mosaic, editor Mar?a L?pez Vigil paints a collective portrait of the beloved prophet, pastor, consoler, and martyr of El Salvador. Some 200 ordinary campesinos, priests, laity and even some wealthy people ...

Sex, drugs, and mandolins. That pretty much describes the first half of Francis of Assisi's life, says best-selling author David Spoto. His book, Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi ...

The scandal moves to California The epicenter of the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal is poised to move west to California. That's because a new state law , effective Jan. 1, 2003, ...

As an adult I make mistakes several times a day and usually feel slightly bad about each one. My nieces and nephew—Cristina, age 8; Patrick, 5; and Carolina, 3—make a mistake ...

Jesus was all about non-violence as the way to transform your enemy?s heart. Modern warfare has other ideas about what to do with your enemy's heart. As the debate around pummeling Saddam ...

I was eight years old when on Jan. 22, 1973 , the U.S. Supreme Court made abortion legal throughout the country. Growing up in a post-Roe v. Wade world, I listened to friends who had chosen ...

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic-Throughout the years people from diverse cultures have developed many festive customs in preparation for Christmas. Among the most popular back home in ...

Most women raise children. And some don't. Those of us who don't set sail for a different kind of life. Is the journey a chosen one or not? Are you a woman if you don't ...

Like the original Pilgrims who were themselves newcomers to this continent, Thanksgiving is best understood through the eyes of more recent immigrants hundreds of years later. My Cuban dad says he liked the holiday from ...

Most women raise children. And some don't. Those of us who don't set sail for a different kind of life. Is the journey a chosen one or not? Are you a woman if you don't ...

Salma Hayek beautifully portrays the joys and anguish of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo in Frida (Miramax). The film reveals the gutsy-ness, persistence, brilliance, and pain of one of Mexico's most renowned artists. A ...

This autumn one group of Americans has chosen their Halloween costumes and bought candy. Another group is painting skulls and looking through scrapbooks for favorite pictures of dead relatives. All Souls Day ...

In a family room filled with children and toys—dolls, blocks, puzzles and board games—was my brother Manny's big orange plastic Halloween pumpkin. Living in a Midwestern suburb in Illinois, this pumpkin's toy life was predictable and ...

The Cuban exile now living in Canada told the Cubans at the World Youth Day celebrations in Toronto: "If there is any way I can help you at all, please let me know." Ismael Sambra spoke ...