By itself, suffering is no gateway to greatness. Yet it’s hard to find titans of history who didn’t know great sorrow.

Recognizing the ritual nature of scientific inquiry will allow universities to undertake that inquiry in a manner that better serves its mission.

The Catholic church would benefit if bishops felt more like local leaders and less like regional managers in a Rome-based nonprofit. One way to move in that direction would be to have the clergy elect their bishops.

There is no question that the process for the appointment of bishops should be updated. But the election of bishops with procedures similar to democratic elections would only exacerbate all kinds of rifts in the Catholic Church today.

The messages of “Mary” that can be applied to our own age are received early, and often.

Is it conceit or coincidence that a saint who was conceived without sin is the patron of a country that believes the same about itself?