U.S. Catholic magazine

02/08/2025

As followers of Christ, we are called to risk our comfort and security on behalf of any anyone in our community who is besieged by civil or religious authorities.

Marianne Duddy-Burke reflects on the readings for the eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Marianne Duddy-Burke offers a reflection for the eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 3, year C in the Roman missal.

01/08/2025

This week on Just Politics, hosts Eilis and Colin welcome Laurie Carafone, NETWORK’s new executive director. She comes to the world of Catholic social justice advocacy from Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), where she worked to protect unaccompanied children and advocate for their asylum.

Laurie Carafone shares her journey from advocating for unaccompanied children seeking asylum to leading a Catholic social justice lobby founded by Catholic sisters.

01/08/2025

Today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. He did not start out as a particularly holy person—he wasn't one of those saints who saw visions or performed miracles from the time he was a young child. Instead, St. Ignatius grew up daydreaming about adventure and romance. While he was still a teenager, he became a soldier. He was too busy drinking, brawling, gambling, and flirting to have much time for God.

St. Ignatius had not started out as a particularly holy person. He was too busy brawling and flirting to have much time for God.

30/07/2025

A federal court blocked the law, which would have required clergy to report child abuse when shared in the confessional. But the law's passage in the Senate and its response among Catholics and other faith groups raises pertinent questions about religious liberty, ethics, and human rights.

A federal court blocked the law, which would have required clergy to report child abuse when shared in the confessional.

29/07/2025

The church has long taught that human beings have a right to migrate. But what if those people want to stay? What role should the church play in supporting people who want to remain in their countries of origin?

Read the essay, then share your thoughts in the accompanying survey.

How should the church support people who want to remain in their country of origin?

29/07/2025

Bishops of the Global South have released a joint appeal for climate action and ecological justice. They urge decision makers to fulfill the Paris Agreement on climate change, a legally binding treaty that nations adopted in 2015 and from which the current administration has re-withdrawn the United States.

Bishops of the Global South have released a joint appeal for climate action and ecological justice. Will the church and the world listen?

29/07/2025

28/07/2025

The books U.S. Catholic writers have enjoyed this month—including “If God Were a Great Big Bear,” by Paul Harbridge, and “So Many Stars," by Caro de Robertis.

The books U.S. Catholic writers have enjoyed this month, including “If God Were a Great Big Bear” and “So Many Stars.”

28/07/2025

Struck low by hunger and hardship during the Great Famine of 1847, two million penniless Irish arrived on these shores over the following 10 years, to be met with bigotry and conspiracy theories. All the hateful words soon produced the noxious anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant American Party, best known as the “Know-Nothings"—the OG America-firsters.

“No Irish Need Apply” was no myth—it shows how fierce discrimination shaped America’s immigrant history and still echoes today.

26/07/2025

Whether you are a student with a dream, a teacher seeking wisdom, a parent interceding for a child, or a leader facing difficult decisions—don’t give up. Knock with hope. Ask with faith. Seek with love.

Sister Maria Ukamaka Clare Okeke reflects on the readings for the seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Sister Maria Ukamaka Clare Okeke offers a reflection for the seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 27, year C in the Roman missal.

25/07/2025

Sister Patricia Murphy, who was a courageous advocate for immigrants, has died. As we mourn her passing we also remember and honor her work, which we highlighted in this feature from 2018.

These Sisters of Mercy have spent years fighting for the dignity, rights, and liberation of detained immigrants.