For many today, John’s fiery call to repentance belongs to the annals of history. Not because Christ has already come and, therefore, there is no need to prepare for his coming as did the contemporaries of John. No! But because we think that we no longer need to hear his call. He speaks so clearly about sin and the modern world no longer accepts sin as a reality.

The following article is a practical reflection on the significance of this prayer in light of the challenges we now face as Catholics in the United States.] In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed slaves in the southern states. The northern states had already taken action to abolish slavery fifty-nine years earlier.

The renowned English writer Graham Greene once wrote about the tragic effects of persecution on the Church. He said, “Private houses were searched for religious emblems and prison was the penalty for possessing them. Every priest was hunted down or shot, except one who existed for ten years in the forests and swamps, venturing out only at night…

The balloons are gone. The banners stored away. The acrimonious debates and the daily fare of bitter attacks ended. The 2012 election is behind us. The most expensive election in U.S. history, with spending estimated at $ 5.6 billion, has given another four years to the President.

Deadly Tornados in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Overflowing rivers flooding Ohio. Dust storms in Oklahoma. Earthquakes from Virginia to Maine and in California. Volcanic eruptions in Hawaii and Alaska. Blizzards in the Northeast.

America is different. America stands out from other Western democracies. In our country, religion continues to enter the political debate and shape our country’s politics. Religion is deeply rooted in the soul of America...

Georgie Anne Geyer is an American journalist and columnist. She has interviewed such figures as Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat and Muammar al-Gaddafi. Her columns have been published in over 120 newspapers around the world.

In the 1828 campaign for the presidency, the supporters of Andrew Jackson made scurrilous accusations against President John Quincy Adams. They alleged that he arranged for liaisons while he was an ambassador in Europe. The Adams’ team responded by claiming Jackson was an adulterer.

“Fashion wears out more apparel than the man,” so mused Shakespeare in Much Ado about Nothing, Act III, scene III. But what the bard of Avon said so poetically, the philosopher Heraclitus had said centuries before. Heraclitus (c. 535 –475 B.C.), a contemporary of Pythagoras, Confucius and the Buddha, taught that “no one ever steps in the same river twice.”

On Friday, September 14, Pope Benedict XVI began a three-day trip to Lebanon. As he was arriving in Beirut, in 20 countries all around Lebanon, angry extremists were clenching their fists and shouting anti-American protests. Surging mobs were swarming through city streets across North Africa and the Middle East.

On May 16, 1959, the Saturday Evening Post printed on its front cover a Norman Rockwell illustration entitled “Sunday Morning.” Depicted were a mother and her three children. All were properly dressed and on the way to church.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Bolesheviks in Russia orchestrated several “show trials.” Francis MacCullagh, a correspondent for the New York Herald, was at one such trial. He witnessed the mock proceedings against Archbishop Jan Cieplak, fifteen other priests and one layman.