ArcaMax

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As Border Patrol agents fan out of Charlotte and fear lingers from days of federal immigration enforcement across the region, Bishop Michael Martin is urging Catholics to confront the moment through the lens of faith, not politics.

Half of the diocese’s roughly 565,000 Catholics are Hispanic. Many stayed home from Mass, ...Read more

Like all great holidays Thanksgiving requires two things to be successful: careful preparation and spiritual focus.

The careful preparation is largely accomplished through family dialogue about the menu that usually concludes with virtually the same menu as last year, but careful preparation is still necessary because every ...Read more

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and first lady MK Pritzker met with Pope Leo XIV in Rome on Wednesday, where they discussed the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the two formally invited the pope to visit Chicago, the governor’s office said.

“It was an honor for MK and me to meet with @Pontifex — a son of Illinois — to ...Read more

NEW YORK — After enduring fire, flood, recession, a pandemic and changing times, a Brooklyn church still stands to celebrate its 170th anniversary on Sunday.

Much as visitors to Red Hook experience today, the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s clock tower was among the first sights immigrants spotted arriving in New York Harbor, said ...Read more

White House border adviser Tom Homan lambasted the Catholic Church on Friday over its stance against the Trump administration's mass deportations.

"The Catholic Church is wrong, I'm sorry," Homan told reporters outside the White House. "I'm saying it not only as the border czar, I'm saying it as a Catholic."

Homan described himself as a "...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For the first time in 12 years, U.S. Catholic bishops have issued a unified statement to support the country's immigrants and oppose the Trump administration's "indiscriminate mass deportations of people."

The move marked a voice of support for immigrants — long a vital part of the U.S. Catholic Church — amid a year of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For the first time in 12 years, U.S. Catholic bishops issued a unified statement Wednesday to support the country's immigrants and oppose the Trump administration's "indiscriminate mass deportations of people."

The special statement was issued during the bishops' annual gathering in Baltimore. It was the first time since 2013 ...Read more

Q: I am a Catholic woman who is engaged to be married this summer. My fiancé, who is divorced, does consider himself Catholic but is not practicing and never attends services with me. Several months ago, I approached one of the priests in my parish about our wedding and asked to have our services at a catering hall and to have it performed by a...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Rabbi Ethan Witkovsky and Reverend Adam Hearlson seem like they've been friends forever.

Witkovsky, 41, is the senior rabbi at Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El (TBH-BE), a Conservative movement synagogue in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. Hearlson, 44, is the pastor at Overbrook Presbyterian Church (OPC), in Philadelphia.

Sitting in the ...Read more

Q: I read your column and enjoy and reflect upon your wise words. Could you please define and elaborate upon what the expression "God-fearing" means? My husband and I are Roman Catholics and disagree on its meaning. Please help! – (from J)

A: A wonderful question, dear J. One of the ...Read more

Holidays are not all of the same rank.

Some holidays come to us with outstanding spiritual resumes. There is no question that Easter and Passover and Ramadan arrive in the sacred calendar with the highest religious credentials. They tell the story of our faiths. They are decorated with rituals that both inform and ...Read more

Q: I am the daughter of Holocaust survivors who both recently passed. I was brought up in a very conservative home where we went to synagogue every Saturday. We kept kosher and observed all the holidays. As an adult, I have become much less religious but maintained all of the Jewish traditions with my children. Although I maintain ...Read more

Q: Dear Rabbi Gellman, several weeks ago, you had a column in our Patriot News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Lilith. I accidentally threw out the paper without cutting that article out. Several times I have tried to access it, but I cannot remember the date and also tried to Google your column on Lilith, to no avail. Could you please send ...Read more