In January 2013, I wrote a blogabout Sister Helena Burns titled “A Tweeting, Facebooking Nun Shares Her Media Mission” because she was making quite a splash in Catholic circles. Today, Sister Helena has expanded way beyond the Catholic media world by being featured in The Atlantic in a piece called “The Nun Who Got Addicted to Twitter.” As evidenced by her Twitter profile picture, she doesn’t take herself too seriously. And her observations about how people of faith use social... Read more
No praying out loud, no Mass, no rosaries, no group prayers. Those were the Polish Army’s rules under the communist regime in the 1970s when a young Catholic seminarian named Jerzy Popieluszko was forced to complete his military service. Though the government tried to break the spirits of these future priests so they would give up their vocations and even their faith, the atheist indoctrination didn’t work on Father Jerzy. When his sergeant ordered him to stop praying the rosary... Read more
Though I can’t remember every detail, it’s safe to say that I learned to read at least in part through Archie comics. Stories about the Riverdale gang of Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, Reggie, Moose, Dilton and others became like comfort food to my young mind. I devoured the digests of collected stories and laughed at Archie’s exploits, like getting a license plate that said “Superdude” only to discover that license plates can only hold eight letters so it actually read... Read more
What kind of prayer life do you have? Does it consist primarily of asking God for help when you need something or are going through struggles? Father Jonathan Morris reveals that many people come to him because that’s their approach. They tell him they don’t know how to pray or develop an active prayer life, but want to learn. One recommendation he makes is to practice meditation, which begins by finding a quiet place, putting yourself in the presence of... Read more
Would you willingly give up your freedom and privacy if it meant bringing order to a chaotic world? That’s one question at the heart of the entertaining thrill ride “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” which finds our hero in quite a different environment than the simple good vs. evil World War Two setting of the first film in the series. At the start of the story, the “defrosted” Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) has found a career as a S.H.I.E.L.D.... Read more
New York Met second baseman Daniel Murphy has found himself in the middle of an unexpected controversy because he took a few days off at the start of the season to be with his wife when she gave birth to their first child. When I first heard the news, I didn’t think anything of it because it seems natural for a man who loves his family to want to be with them for such a momentous event. On top of... Read more
Today, Father Jonathan Morris concludes his four-part series on the cardinal virtues by focusing on courage. Courage, in this context, isn’t just reflected in people who are physically strong or who have the kind of temperament that gets things done. Instead, as Father Jonathan explains, “it’s trusting that God will be faithful to His promises. Therefore, I am not going to give in to fear or intimidation. So a courageous person could be the smallest and weakest in the parish... Read more
NEW YORK, April 2, 2014 — A Catholic chaplain and Korean war hero who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his devotion to soldiers of all faiths. A Jewish boy who survived the Holocaust due to Oskar Schindler’s infamous list. A Pakistani Muslim girl who advocates for women’s education despite an attempt on her life. These stories and more are told in the 19 feature films, TV/Cable programs, and books for adults and young people being honored with Christopher... Read more
Though Christina Beahan grew up in a big Polish/Dutch family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the road that got her there was not a straight one. Christina was born Maria Clara Mora in Medellin, Colombia, to a poor maid who was unable to care for her. As a result, her birth mother brought her to an orphanage run by nuns who cared for her for 14 months, until the Beahan family arranged to adopt her in 1983. During an interview on... Read more
When people hear the word “temperance,” they might think back to the time of prohibition in the United States when it represented a banning of all alcohol. But as Father Jonathan Morris explains in part three of his video series on the cardinal virtues, the word actually refers to self-control and moderation. Specifically, practicing temperance reminds us that we can be so focused on “getting” that we lose the ability to appreciate what we have – and we neglect the... Read more
Christopher Closeup
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