At this time of year, school gyms, concert halls, and ballrooms across the country are abuzz with festivities leading up to a momentous event in many young lives: high school graduation. While attempting to keep pen on paper in the final few days of exams, adolescent minds are undoubtedly drifting away from… 

In his new book, The Francis Factor and the People of God, Marist priest Fr. Gerald Arbuckle advances an evocative theme: Communities and cultures experience wholesale trauma that goes unhealed. Events like September 11, the assassination of President Kennedy, the clergy sexual abuse crisis, and… 

With all the hype over President Trump’s first 100 days that fell within this Easter season, perhaps a reflection on the first 100 years of the church is in order. The experience of the early church is important for us, for it provides a norm for how we are to live and grow both as disciples and a church…  

Tonight at a banquet hall near center city Philadelphia, Father Judge High School will induct the newest members into its Hall of Fame. Many schools have such ceremonies to honor famous and successful alumni for their contributions to their profession, the church, society, or the school itself. When Bro. Jim…  

In their book Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Learn from America’s Largest Churches, authors Scott Thumma and Dave Travis discuss the phenomena of Protestant churches whose congregations number more than 2,000 people who attend weekly. Some host more than 5,000 weekly. These communities are…  

Spring is known as the season of the emergence of new life from the dreariness of winter. New shoots bravely rise above the soil to face the sky above. Young birds courageously crack open their shells, crying out to their mother for the first time. Very often, this breaking forth of vitality happens invisibly; one needs to…   

Today, we begin the Holy Triduum, the high holy days of the Christian tradition. The movement from betrayal, fear, and anxiety to suffering, humiliation, and death, to ultimately joy, hope, and new life is marked on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter. Intense experiences to consider during an essentially long weekend. Or, perhaps these are the deep moments of… 

A long time ago athletes would congratulate each other with a handshake. Later, high fives became the norm; both hands if there were cause for real celebration. Now, it is common to fistbump, where two people touch the fingers’ long side of each other’s clenched fist. As the prophet Isaiah exhorted violent weapons of swords to be turned into plowshares and the…  

John Gottman knows what makes a marriage succeed. He can even predict which young marriages will last with 91 percent accuracy. He has studied marriage and the challenging and delightful dynamics between spouses for years. In The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, he discusses a host of behaviors that fortify or threaten this all-important relationship. …  

Bruce Springsteen’s praise of Chuck Berry, who died on Friday, as “rock’s greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock 'n' roll writer who ever lived” prompts pause for members of several generations. Other iconic musicians have called Berry the founder of the genre. An earliest memory…