For Jesus, it’s community first, conversion second. Welcome and respect come first.

I have found myself for the first time truly afraid of what it means to ask and to allow my children to be part of the church.

Like the apostles, we have been sent out two by two to proclaim the message of Jesus with our imperfect lives.

Your mom’s gone. That’s what people told me during the last year of my mother’s life when she suffered from dementia.

They stood out because they stood together, employing the wisdom of young parents, in the back of a hotel ballroom packed with 2,800 permanent deacons, their wives and children.

Pope Francis will visit Dublin and Knock Aug. 25-26, mainly for the World Meeting of Families. But he also will meet Irish government leaders and is expected to meet with survivors of abuse.