It’s perfect that St. Joseph’s Day comes just seven days before Passion Sunday this year. This Sunday we will hear how Jesus died in obedience to his Father, in heaven. This Monday we learn that it wasn’t just his heavenly Father he was…

Only the Church Believes What the Love Songs Say

This year it will be a quarter of a century since my wife and I brought our first child to Mass for the first time. Every Sunday Mass since, with the exception of a business trip, retreat or getaway here and there, we have knelt, stood, and…

I have a theory: God gave us cats to show us the stupid ways we act toward him, and God gave us dogs to demonstrate how he really wants us to treat him. My whole life long, I have been a cat person. I was heavily influenced by my…

We know how to follow the rules...but also how to skirt them.

by Tom Hoopes Five years after the encyclical Laudato Si’ was promulgated by Pope Francis, it has left its unusual mark. What other encyclical has ever been translated into operatic classical music? Laudato Si’: A Franciscan Magnificat…

by Tom Hoopes  The day I learned the power of the cross, I was unemployed and desperate. More than desperate, I was panicked and near despair. I had been looking for work in Washington, D.C., for weeks, and every promising lead had…

by Tom Hoopes YIN & YANG Their titles and approaches might seem vastly different, but two recent books are actually complementary — a yin and yang of being Catholic in the 21st century. And both books have faithful Catholics buzzing!…

There are two ways to look at what is happening in the United States and across the world with the coronavirus pandemic. You can see it as a massive panic bordering on overreaction as people cut each other off out of fear. Or you can see it…

Holy Week and the Notre Dame Cathedral fire teach the same lesson: Tragedy exists to teach us faith and heroism. It’s right there in Sacred Scripture, in the letter of St. Jude. First, though: A lot of people have shared a lot of lessons…