When I was a young seminarian, I spent a summer working at a homeless shelter and soup kitchen run by Catholic Charities in Alexandria, Virginia. One of the regular visitors there was an elderly man, very poor, named Sylvester Triplett, who was in declining health and lived in a small row home near the shelter. I remember he would sit on a chair just outside the shelter and greet everyone who came in. He looked and sounded like Louis Armstrong...

Why do Jews still follow rabbis in their synagogues instead of the Messiah? To get to the bottom of this, I did some research. Here are four objections. The first is from my late Jewish friend Barrie Schwortz, who was the photographer of the Shroud of Turin. He said that the Messiah was supposed to bring things like worldwide peace...

“My body is not my own, but my wife’s.” So John Chrysostom admonishes a husband to tell any woman who would try to seduce him. In an age when many, surely including us, are tempted to see our body as ‘our own,’ this raises an issue of the first importance: what really is mine or not? This surprising question brings us face to face with who we are and the very meaning of life...

The life of faith is the greatest, most exhilarating life in the world. Sometimes. Other times it is the most tedious, thankless life in the world. It’s supposed to be that way. Here are six reasons why: First, a warning: You may not believe anything Jesus has to say, at first. Second: But think again and what Jesus says makes a lot of sense. Take the mustard seed first. Third: As to the treatment of servants, Jesus truly describes our lives again...

What does the Catholic Church believe about Islam and about Muslims? This question flares up periodically on the internet and sometimes in real life. Clearly, Muslims reject Jesus and are not a part of the Church. On the other hand, what (some will ask) about certain statements made in the Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium? There, they read (or are told), Muslims worship the one God with Catholics and are even included in the “plan of salvation.”

Are Catholics guilty of “vain repetition” in prayer? Protestants often make this accusation. They say that repeated standard prayers, rather than spontaneous, improvised prayers, is pointless and even damaging. Typically, this comes up with regard to the holy rosary, but it is often applied more broadly. The claim is that Our Lord specifically condemned repetitive prayer during his earthly ministry, and Catholics are in violation of this prohibition.

That Pope Leo would add Lebanon to his first international trip is a signal of both the country’s importance and crisis situation. Lebanon may not be very important on the world stage. But what gives it weight in the Vatican is that it is indeed a real bastion of Eastern Christianity, especially Catholic Christianity. With a Christian percentage of “only” 37% of the population, it has an influential critical mass of Christians within the population as a whole...

It’s the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary — and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post. You probably know the story of Our Lady of Victory, and the Oct. 7, 1571, Battle of Lepanto. A European armada of warships aimed to defend Venetian outposts on the island of Cyprus. The Ottoman Empire wanted Cyprus, so that it could use the island as a launching point to invade Italy and take the city of Rome...

Earlier this year we released Messages from Our Lady #1, a new comic book series that follows two middle school students, Adele and Francisco, as they struggle to find their place in the world. Included in each issue of this series is a visual illustration of Marian apparitions or remarkable miracles associated with Our Lady. This second issue will include the origin of the Rosary, the Battle of Lepanto and more...

Pope Leo XIV will visit Turkey and Lebanon in the first apostolic journey of his pontificate, to take place from Nov. 27 to Dec. 2, the Vatican announced Tuesday. Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni said the pope accepted the invitations of the “Head of State and Ecclesiastical Authorities” of both countries in an Oct. 7 statement released by the Vatican.