The turning point was not being able to find a pew without a direct view of the dead saint's remains in that crystal coffin under the altar. The experience was so bad that I walked ...

Many marathoners experience moments of grace on the run, but not all of their spiritual sensations are ...

Election year 2004 is upon us. As the news media starts to drop other stories and the frenzy begins, the idea of what important news we may miss due to this political preoccupation gives me ...

A friend of mine who teaches ethics and spirituality to MBA and law students often engages his students in this exercise. List the names of people you really admire. Next, list the names of people ...

The Vatican is the smallest country in the world. Until recently, I always thought of that fact as a neat bit of trivia and nothing more—kind of a, ...

I remember building a snowman in my backyard with my older sister when I was about 5 years old. It was there that snow became the great equalizer. While she piled ...

Countless rejection letters... I started losing hope, and gaining weight. For several years I had worked as a campus minister at the University of Oregon in Eugene. The college town was the right size and ...

When he was eight, his mother had to go back to work to support her children when an Anglican relative withheld financial support because of her conversion to Catholicism. ...

I have learned the six magic words that will wake up any high school religion class: "Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute." Every year I get the same strong reaction ...

I am standing at my kitchen sink, gazing out the window as the afternoon sun dissolves into the sky. I am supposed to be peeling potatoes for supper ...

Separating life from art can be impossible in some cases; Angels in America is the most painful instance I know. Now that the award-winning Broadway play has ...

My computer died, taking my last article—a tirade on the prevalence of thongs and stilettos in everyday women's wear—with it. The PC that came to dinnerIt's a good thing I've ...

During September and October of 2003 three different NYU students committed suicide, all by jumping from upper floors. Here in Bangalore in November, a fifteen year-old girl killed herself. Most of us probably know someone who's ...

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 ...

"Build my children a house"February 2, 1989. Her skin was tanned and wrinkled. Her hands were large and rough. Despite her short stature, Mother Teresa managed to hush an arena of 15,000 by simply standing ...

I've never tried it, but I don't think I can pray at a rock concert or in a crowded bar. Maybe it's possible if you have good powers of ...

Sitting prominently on a shelf in my office is a picture of myself and John Paul II. Its proof of the day I met someone who has given his ...

Catholics believe in the "real presence of Christ" in the Eucharist, but as a concept I think it's short-sighted at times. Not to knock the Eucharist as something ...

At a Catholic high school for girls in New York City, I have the amazing and demanding task of teaching 16 year old girls—who believe that they are ...

Entire wars have been fought over it, British lords beheaded, Spanish mystics incarcerated, principalities set on fire, and now it travels the internet in search of friendships to destroy. It is religion. And ...