Chapter 2 of Pope Francis' third apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exultate, tackles two central challenges to holiness: contemporary gnosticism and contemporary pelagianism. Before addressing them and their intersection with Salesian spirituality, a brief comment on this second section.....… 

On Monday Pope Francis released his third apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate, a teaching for all People of God to aid us in our path to holiness, which he defines—from the writings of Pope Benedict XVI—as “nothing other than charity lived to the full.”.....…   

National Book Award winner Alice McDermott once admitted that she does not write about Catholics and Catholicism just because it’s her own religion. “I have used Catholicism simply to give my characters a vocabulary that they might not otherwise have,”.....…  

Scripture scholars have not weighed in on whether a first century Palestinian equivalent of a “mani-pedi” was customary in Jesus’ time, but chances are that Peter, a fisherman, would have opted out, even if it were. Undoubtedly, Peter’s feet were nasty....…   

A person inclined to a disengaged and pessimistic outlook on the world would perhaps have some justification for such a perspective given our nation’s social and political climate. Important policy issues seem to be sitting endlessly at the traffic light, and dialogue between groups....…  

This past Sunday, the nation’s newspaper of record, The New York Times, issued an apology without expressing sorrow. With explicit humility, the apology was implicit in the 16-page special section dedicated to women who made great contributions to culture, society, or history....…   

When Allison Janney strode the steps of the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday to accept her first Oscar, her first words were characteristically irreverent. After the statuesque actor claimed her statue, she wryly said, "I did it all by myself."...…   

When 20 six- and seven-year-old students, along with six of their teachers and staff, were executed in Newtown, CT in 2012, the national disease of gun violence became a malignant cancer. Our illness has intensified in the six years that have passed. Yet...…

It has now been a week since Philadelphia's emotive celebration of Super Bowl parade. Broad Street, then lined with revelers clad in jerseys and ringing with shouts of “E-A-G-L-E-S!” from the rooftops...............…