I was pleased on Tuesday morning to see the movie “The Tree of Life” nominated for an Oscar. It was probably one of the most beautiful movies I have ever watched. The beginning of the movie is a citation from the book of Job: “Where were you when I founded the earth…while the morning stars ...read more

Fr. James Phalan, CSC is the director of Family Rosary International, one of the many ministries of the Holy Cross order. His ministry takes him around the world visiting Catholic communities of all shapes, sizes, and demographics. This past week he was in the Philippines and wrote this piece for the Family Rosary blog “World ...read more

Tonight on Perspectives I talk to Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton about two recent trips he made: one to Haiti and one to the Holy Land as president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. ...read more

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity concludes Wednesday on the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle. Tomorrow we get to hear the Pope’s reflections on Christian unity as he presides over Vespers at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. He will be joined by representatives of other ...read more

On a recent episode of Perspectives Weekly, I participated in our year-in-review panel with my colleagues Alicia Ambrosio and Cheridan Eygelaar. One of the trends mentioned was the upturn in seminary enrollment. The news that some seminaries are full contradicts the conventional narrative: that vocations to the priesthood are on the decline and will keep ...read more

Below is Pope Benedict’s official message for this year’s World Day of Communications, which will be celebrated on May 20. The release of this message coincides with the feast day of St. Francis de Sales, who is the patron Saint for journalists and those who work in mass media and communications. This year, the theme ...read more

Over Christmas we were stunned by images of bloody attacks on Christians in Nigeria. This past week more attacks were carried out in the North of Nigeria by a radical Islamist group. However, this time most of the victims were Muslims. Catholic News Service’s Carol Glatz filed this report. ...read more

Without a doubt we have all heard the news concerning Costa Concordia, a cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Giglio, Italy on Jan. 13. At the latest count, 11 people have been confirmed dead and another 21 passengers, including an American Catholic couple en route to Rome, are still missing. Following the ...read more

Today is very exciting day at Salt + Light: the Chinese language edition of Perspectives goes on air for the first time. The five minute show will air throughout the week at the start of the Chinese programming segment for the day. Like its English and French language siblings, the Chinese edition brings viewers stories ...read more

Back in September of 2010 when Pope Benedict XVI made his pastoral visit to England and Scotland to beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman, we introduced you to a unique group of youth Catholics known as “Catholic Voices”. The pope’s visit to Britain provokes not a little controversy, with many Britons insisting their tax dollars should ...read more