The reading from the Book of Proverbs extols the virtues of the woman who “reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy.” Charities are established with similar goals, but the rating agency CharityWatch says not all deliver as promised. Many popular charities that purport ...

We are warned in this Sunday’s second reading to be ever vigilant in faith, as even when we think we are most secure, sudden disaster can come upon us. This was the case for a South Korean ferry that sank in April, killing more than 300 people who had been falsely assured ...

This Sunday’s psalm extols the blessings that may come to a couple with a close relationship with the Lord, such as children gathered “like olive plants around your table.” Those worried about climate change, who have for a generation urged industrial nations to think of the environmental damage we are leaving to our children, ...

The gospel parable about the talents concerns a man who goes on a long journey. Few journeys match that of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft, which journeyed for 10 years and hundreds of millions of miles before this week’s rendezvous with a comet ...

“We are not guided by the latest headlines but by the human tragedies that we see every day in our parishes and programs, where families are torn apart by enforcement actions especially.”

A study of religious discrimination around the world from 2006 to 2010 found Christians were the most-discriminated against group, experiencing harassment by government or society in 168 countries.