In this Sunday's reading from the Acts of Apostles, Saint Peter tells his audience they still have a chance to have faith in Jesus even though they had rejected him during his earthly life. A recent Gallup Poll measured the faith of Americans in a state-by-state survey, finding that many of the "most religious" states are in the so-called "Bible Belt" . . .

“Why are you troubled?” Jesus asks his disciples when he presents himself to them after his Resurrection. The recently troubled relationship between Ireland and the Catholic Church has entered a new chapter, with the Irish government's plans to end the Catholic Church’s monopoly on the nation’s primary school system . . .

Speaking to the disciples, Jesus "opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” But for many people today, believes David Capes, professor of New Testament at Houston Baptist University, the Scriptures are "probably the most-owned and least-read book out there." Capes was part of a team that compiled The Voice . . .

"Everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled," Jesus tells his disciples in the gospel, while the writer of the First Letter of John says “the love of God is truly perfected” in Jesus. The attitudes toward Judaism of non-Jews can be an explosive issue, as can be seen in the recent controversy over the publication of a poem by German author Günter Grass . . .

“If you love your neighbor and are compassionate, are you automatically a Christian? Practicing present-moment awareness does not entail joining any religion or accepting any belief system. As a Catholic, I find mindfulness helps me participate in my religion more wholeheartedly.”

In 2011 family health-insurance premiums rose an average of 9 percent to $15,073—double the cost of health-care coverage in 2001. Since 1950 the average percent of income U.S. households have spent on health care has risen from 3 to 16 percent.