GUEST COLUMNIST

Catholic Charities Community Services has always been committed to serving the poor and vulnerable.

I used to think that fasting was worthless. I would find reasons to excuse myself from the obligatory Lenten practice: low blood sugar, anemia, etc.

(CNS) — In late February, the Church pledged to put the victims of abuse first, to listen to them with an open heart, to root out the culture of protecting priests accused of abuse.

When I was in college there was a group of students who didn’t always practice their faith, but when Ash Wednesday rolled around all decided to band together in giving up a few particular sins common among college students.

As the Diocese of Phoenix kicks off this year’s Charity and Development Appeal (CDA), I am once again amazed by our community.

On Feb. 13, Pope Francis approved the canonization of Blessed John Henry Newman, a 19th-century Catholic convert from Anglicanism, whose theological insights on matters such as the development of doctrine and the role of the laity in the Church stand behind many of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.

There is an enduring myth that African-American Catholics were largely absent from the freedom struggles of the 1950s and 1960s, which resulted in the legal demise of Jim Crow segregation.

The arrival of the Magi may be the most famous part of Matthew’s infancy narrative. What are some little-known elements in both scriptural and traditional accounts of the Magi?

No family is perfect. But every family, however weak or broken, has dignity.

The Christmas season is wonderful, but it sometimes induces a measure of guilt.