The Letter of James this Sunday argues that we need to demonstrate our faith. Pope Francis wants a church that demonstrates faith coupled with mercy so that more Catholics feel welcome and at home. The pontiff on Tuesday announced sweeping revisions to the church’s marriage annulment process, designed to speed up and simplify the often lengthy procedure. . . .

Questions of Jesus’ identity are front and center in this Sunday’s gospel. The identity of Tibet has been in dispute since China invaded the once autonomous spiritual kingdom of Tibet in the 1950s and forced its leader, the Dalai Lama, to flee. This week China celebrated the 50th anniversary of its renaming of the region as the “Tibet Autonomous Region” with a rallying cry . . .

The psalmist cries out to God this Sunday, “O Lord, save my life!” Europe has been flooded with refugees desperately making the same plea. The European Commission is scrambling to come up with a plan to accommodate the 120,000 refugees currently arriving from the Middle East and Africa. Germany, which expects . . .

“The righteous servant suffers but does not waver in trusting God,” says the reading from the Book of Isaiah this Sunday. A U.S. pastor apparently could not trust that he would be forgiven for wavering from righteousness. John Gibson committed suicide six days after his name was exposed by hackers of the Ashley Madison adultery website. . . .

“If the pope continues to talk as he does, sooner or later I will start praying again and return to the Catholic Church, and I am not kidding,”

U.S. dioceses are struggling to absorb the estimated $3 billion cost of the clergy sex abuse scandal, plus another $2 billion and rising in pension shortfalls, coupled with falling donations