"As I see it, this problem is rooted in our society's broader loss of the awareness of God," the archbishop said.

The head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, accepted the resignation of Father Hermann Geissler, a CDF official who is being investigated for apparently soliciting in the confessional, which he denies.

"Are you willing to be an 'influencer' like Mary, who dared to say, 'Let it be done'?" he asked. "Only love makes us more human and fulfilled; everything else is a pleasant but useless placebo."

The simple lessons of Jean Vanier on humility and Christian love always bear repeating.

Notre Dame is proud of its slogan: “God, Country, Notre Dame” (in that order). But the ease with which the punctuation slides into “God Country: Notre Dame” has a lot to do with football.

Being a Christian, a partner in the paschal mystery, means sacrificing, thinking of others, following Jesus—even to laying down one’s life for others.