The most startling fact about Edwin O'Connor's life was its brevity The acclaimed author of such mid-century Irish and Catholic classics as 'The Last Hurrah' and 'The Edge of Sadness' seemed a fit and healthy man. Yet he died when he was just 49 in 1968.

By now it is clear to anyone interested in the Catholic Church that there are no longer enough priests to celebrate Mass in many parishes.

Child sexual abuse, in the priesthood and in society at large, is a complex issue that does not admit of simple understandings or simple solutions.

Maybe the devil made me do it, but after reading Bishop (now Cardinal) Walter Kasper's essay "On the Church" (reprinted in America, 4/23) for the second or third time, I went back through the text and conducted a little test.

A generation has elapsed since the close of the Second Vatican Council, and the church has underscored the council’s extraordinary ecclesial and historical significance by beatifying, this Sept. 3, Pope John XXIII. At the same time, however, the beatification of Pope Pius IX highlighted the ti

Facing the challenges and accepting the gifts offered by homosexual priests in the Catholic Church