Early Christian monks believed in something they called acedia. More colloquially, they called it the “noonday devil,” a name that essentially describes the concept.

Recently a man came to me, asking for help. He carried some deep wounds, not physical wounds, but emotional wounds to his soul.

Recently, while on the road giving a workshop, I took the opportunity to go the cathedral in that city for a Sunday Eucharist. I was taken aback by the homily.

Whenever we have been at our best, as Christians, we have opened our churches as sanctuaries to the poor and the endangered.

The Gospel stories about the birth of Jesus are not a simple retelling of the events that took place then, at the stable in Bethlehem.

People are forever predicting the end of the world.

A prophet makes a vow of love, not of alienation. Daniel Berrigan wrote those words and they need to be highlighted today when a lot of very sincere, committed, religious people self-define as cultural warriors, as prophets at war with secular culture.

Atheism is a parasite that feeds on bad religion. That’s why, in the end, atheistic critics are our friends. They hold our feet to the fire.

When I was a graduate student in Belgium, I was privileged one day to sit in on a conference given by Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Brussels.

There’s nothing simple about being a human being.