In Times That Trouble
The rain’s eluded us for seven years,The sky no longer swells with clouds. The beesRetreated to the north. Mesquite trees droppedNo pods, and lizards left their rocky homes.The mountains, though, stood firm. And so did I.Though wind might pound the dust against the roof,Though Palo Verde limbs might crash through walls,Though riverbeds might buckle, breaching wide,I will not murmur. No, I will hold true.Though searing sun might harden cotton bolls,Though corn silk shrivel and the kernel scorch,Though grapes in clusters parch to stone, and IHear talk of upheaval and war, I willbe still and know that He has set the…
The Highest Boughs
The gleams of rain that pool in withered leaves; The blackened lump of stone amid the ashes.
Review: Memory-keepers, death and grief in ‘Brother Epistles’
We think of letters as a two-way form of communication: They go to and fro in the world, from one writer to the reader, who becomes the writer of the next letter. But sometimes we write letters that are not returned in a traditional way. In Brother Epistles: A Sister’s Memoir, Shanda McManus does just this, constructing a memoir composed of letters to her deceased brother. Brother Epistles by Shanda McManus Split/Lip Press148p $18 These letters serve more for the writer than for the recipient, a young Black man who has passed away when they were written. They are a…
Review: Rebecca Gayle Howell revisits the Book of Genesis
Rebecca Gayle Howell’s project in ‘Erase Gensis’ seems to exist in the tradition of midrash—the shaping of Scripture in light of contemporary concerns and creative interpretation.
Review: Life and taxes in Ray Madoff’s ‘The Second Estate’
How do taxation and democracy rely on and mutually support each other? In her new book ‘The Second Estate,’ Ray D. Madoff tackles this and other thorny questions around taxes and the way we pay them (or don’t).
Sigrid Undset: Scholar, storyteller and future saint
Sigrid Undset’s writings were admired by everyone from Willa Cather to Dorothy Day. Her life is being studied by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Who was this Norwegian teller of truths?
In the footsteps of St. Francis: How my travels through Italy brought me closer to a beloved saint
All of life was a pilgrimage for St. Francis of Assisi. It only made sense, 800 years after his death, that I would go on my own pilgrimage in search of him.
Our readers: What would Fulton Sheen make of modern politics?
“Sheen was a rock star who made being Catholic singular. No one lifted me up as much as Fulton during my teens.”
Enough books to fill the entire world
Can we afford to stop reading when our sacred texts seem at times like the only thing we share?
Why are there so few African American bishops? ‘The short answer is racism’ says Bishop Boxie
Bishop Boxie shared his own experiences of racism, saying rejection and exclusion have “sadly” been part of the Black Catholic experience.
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts