In 2007, I began working on a project commissioned by the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board in Ontario: to create 10 short vignettes that would highlight how 10 virtues (which they had pre-selected) are being put into action in their school communities.  We called this joint venture The World I Know:  Virtues in Action.  It ...read more

On this day in 1901, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati blessed the city of Turin, Italy with his birth. Born to an upper-class family, he constantly went against the currents of his culture with the conviction of a true Christian. He never became a great intellectual, or a prolific writer, or the founder of a religious ...read more

As Pope Benedict XVI nears the fifth anniversary of election as the Successor of Peter, the Knights of Columbus are inviting the faithful to join in a novena for the Holy Father.  It begins April 11th, this Sunday (Divine Mercy Sunday), and ends April 19th, the anniversary of his election. Please find the novena prayer ...read more

The Shroud of Turin, which goes on public display this spring, is the focus of a permanent exhibit in Rome. Catholic News Service’s John Thavis reports. To download Flash Player please click here ...read more

Every year, Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Via Crucis (the Way of the Cross) from Rome’s Coliseum. Tonight on Perspectives, S+L’s Vatican correspondent Alicia Ambrosio retraces the history of the Stations of the Cross, and how it came to be that the Holy Father would lead this devotion in a former site of Christian persecution. ...read more

Archbishop Anthony Mancini, the Archbishop of Halifax and Apostolic Administrator of Yarmouth, and Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton are among the bishops of Canada who have commented on the abuse scandals.  Like Toronto’s Archbishop Thomas Collins, both mentioned it in their Chrism Mass homilies. The Archbishop of Halifax admitted that the Church is facing her ...read more

As we enter into a particularly focused period of prayer with the beginning of the Easter Triduum today, let us keep our Holy Father’s intentions in our prayers this month. Pope Benedict’s general prayer intention for April is: That every tendency to fundamentalism and extremism may be countered by constant respect, by tolerance and by ...read more

When discussing the Milwaukee abuse case in his letter to the New York Times (published earlier today on the S+L Blog HERE), Cardinal Levada refers to the presiding judge in the canonical trial of Fr. Lawrence Murphy.  The presiding judge at the time was Fr. Thomas Brundage.  Fr. Brundage, who is now serving in the ...read more

The official newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Catholic San Francisco, has published a letter by Cardinal William J. Levada responding to New York Times’ articles on clergy sexual abuse and Pope Benedict XVI.  The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith defends the Holy Father and chastises the paper ...read more

“I am well aware,” Christopher West confessed in his recent interview with S+L, “that those looking for flaws in me will always be able to find them.” The popular Theology of the Body author and speaker offered a forthright response to his critics, who last year sparked a surprising public debate among Catholic academics. Theologian ...read more