The characters of Kirstin Valdez Quade's stories often find grace to be just out of reach—but they still pursue it.

The Rev. Thomas J. Shelley, who died on Monday, taught generations of priests, men and women religious and lay scholars the ins and outs of Catholic history.

A Reflection for the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, by James T. Keane

Christopher Lasch's writings are cited by everyone from the most fervent cultural conservatives to dyed-in-the-wool Marxists—and he had much to say about modern American culture.

All Saints Day is a day to venerate holy men and women—and also to recognize the saints in our midst, complicated though they might be.

From Edgar Allan Poe to Dean Koontz to Flannery O'Connor, America's editors and contributors are not (always) afraid of some horror.

Toni Morrison's fiction conveyed much of the pain, sacrifice and trauma that exemplifies so much of the African-American experience—which is why it makes some white readers uncomfortable.

A Reflection for Thursday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time, by James T. Keane

Sinéad O’Connor's provocative appearance on 'Saturday Night Live' 30 years ago drew cries of outrage. But was some of her anger justified?

Powers’s chosen subjects—in cassocks or nay—are inevitably All-American, and his stories are careful studies of American mid-century life and ambition.