National Catholic Reporter • 15th May 2023

What a groundbreaking doctor learned at the feet of his homeless patients

I was drawn to Tracy Kidder's latest book, an investigation of homelessness, with three questions in mind: • What's it like to be homeless? • What can those of us with homes do to help? • What can we learn from Dr. Jim O'Connell, the Boston physician who has devoted his life to caring for people on the streets?

National Catholic Reporter • 18th November 2022

Enlarge the tent: A mandate for NCR as well as the church

Two time periods, each filled with energy and challenge, stand out for me over the course of NCR's 58-year history. The first was immediately following the Second Vatican Council, an era recalled by founding editor Bob Hoyt as ideal for the launch of the nation's first independent source of news about the Catholic church... The second period of NCR history that I want to spotlight is right now...

National Catholic Reporter • 26th August 2022

A note from the publisher

When I wrote my first story for the National Catholic Reporter as a college freshman in 1967, I certainly had no idea I'd end up as its publisher and CEO a half century later. When I accepted the position two years ago, I told the board I would serve until my 75th birthday, with the goal of helping the board identify a longer-term publisher to lead NCR into the second half of its first century. Although my 75th birthday is a year off, NCR is on a positive trajectory and now is the time to begin...

National Catholic Reporter • 10th June 2022

Not letting go: Sticking with the stories that matter

Survivors of clergy sexual abuse gathered with supporters June 4 to mark an important anniversary and, even more importantly, to reenergize their solidarity.

National Catholic Reporter • 19th May 2022

Catholic News Service shutdown is about more than just the news

In announcing the elimination of the domestic operations of Catholic News Service May 4, the American bishops delivered a brutally blunt message: The work of these lay journalists, at least in the view of the bishops, is expendable. James Rogers, the bishops' chief communications officer, delivered the news to CNS staff without any prior consultation or discussion with them. So much for synodal listening.

National Catholic Reporter • 20th December 2021

Listening, investigating, reporting: A message from Francis and an invitation to readers

In the summer of 1964, when NCR co-founder Robert Hoyt was making the case for a Catholic newspaper independent of church control, he distributed a flyer re-printing a treatise on freedom of the Catholic press by theologian and Jesuit Fr. John Courtney Murray. Murray argued that any "well-ordered society" — secular or religious — requires unfettered access to what's really going on. And that, of course, requires freedom for journalists to dig up the truth and share it with readers without fear o

National Catholic Reporter • 10th December 2021

3 lessons from a battery-powered holiday road trip

The GPS predicted we'd cover the 374 miles between Boston and Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, in six hours. It took us 10. Those four extra hours — plus another four on the return trip — tell a couple of stories. One recounts the stops and starts of long day trips without a drop of gas in the tank. The other, more of a surprise, shines a light on the bigger picture of the...

National Catholic Reporter • 10th July 2021

James Carroll's book outlines struggling relationship with Catholic Church

Catholics of a certain age and outlook, like many of NCR's readers, will find in James Carroll's latest book, The Truth at the Heart of the Lie: How the Catholic Church Lost Its Soul — A Memoir of Faith, a useful framing of our relationship with the church. I'm thinking, especially, of Catholics encouraged by the inclusiveness and compassion exhibited by Pope Francis but confounded by a church that remains bogged down by clericalism and resistant to reforms already too long delayed.

National Catholic Reporter • 26th December 2020

The making of a novel: Trump, Francis and a church re-imagined

Former Democratic Whip David Bonior has done a lot of interesting stuff since leaving Congress. Check out his new novel.

National Catholic Reporter • 23rd December 2020

Jesuit Fr. Bill Barry and a friendship like no other

The hallmark of Bill Barry's scholarship and spirituality was the idea that God seeks out friendship with each of us. This is a brief story about one of the most remarkable friendships that Barry found along the way.

National Catholic Reporter • 22nd October 2020

Asking for a friend: Can a Catholic vote for Biden?

It comes up in phone calls and email exchanges: "Given his support for legal abortion, can a faithful Catholic vote for Joe Biden?" Both of us have fielded questions like that in recent weeks. Maybe you have, too. The short answer is "Yes." The longer answer relies on a combination of church teaching and the conscience of individual Catholics. But you might not know that to hear from some priests, politicians and prelates, not to mention other Catholic media and an occasional former college football coach.

National Catholic Reporter • 21st August 2020

A fix for your late NCR -- and a welcome to a new staffer

In my first few weeks as NCR publisher, I've experienced a frustration I bet many of our print subscribers have also encountered: wondering just when the paper is going to show up. People say It's always good for company bosses to experience discomfort felt by its customers, but I'd also like to share with you a partial solution to the current delivery problem.

National Catholic Reporter • 19th August 2020

A book review: What happens when you live life 'horizontally, not vertically'

Our two years living at Beacon Hill Friends House provided us with a taste of living simply, but visiting the Agape Community and reading the book by its founders raises that game to a whole other level. Here's my review of the not-exactly-a-memoir by Suzanne and Brayton Shanley.

National Catholic Reporter • 31st July 2020

EarthBeat Weekly: A big boost in funding and a new editor

It's been a big news week for EarthBeat, with major boosts to both our financial and human resources. As you can read in our lead story on the EarthBeat homepage today, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA) have given NCR $1.5 million to help endow our environmental coverage. We also have a new editor!

National Catholic Reporter • 24th July 2020

EarthBeat Weekly: Re-imagining how we get where we're going

It turns out that how we get there matters. A lot. With transportation responsible for 28 percent of the greenhouse gases threatening the planet, the choices we make in this area -- as individuals as well as governments -- have huge consequences.

National Catholic Reporter • 17th July 2020

EarthBeat Weekly: Revisiting integral ecology amid the heat wave and surging coronavirus

Before we were imagining months in lockdown, some experts predicted that summertime heat and humidity would ease the pandemic. Instead, rising temperatures have intensified the crisis.

National Catholic Reporter • 10th July 2020

EarthBeat Weekly: Where 100 or more of us are gathered…

My favorite mini guide to journalism comes from Dan Gillmor, a reporter I worked with years ago at the Detroit Free Press: "My readers know more than I do."

National Catholic Reporter • 3rd July 2020

EarthBeat Weekly: Closing the gap between public opinion and public policy on climate

As the country deals with the crises of pandemic, police brutality and racism, the ongoing climate crisis continues to loom directly overhead. Despite the temporary easing of pollution in many parts of the world as a result of the lockdown, the long-term outlook will remain grim unless and until public policy catches up with public opinion.

National Catholic Reporter • 26th June 2020

EarthBeat Weekly: Need an encouraging boost? Check out our Interfaith Climate Tracker

One of my favorite paths to an encouraging word begins with a scroll down the EarthBeat homepage to our Interfaith Climate Tracker. The Tracker updates 24 hours a day with the latest news from 45 groups around the world that are working on climate issues from the perspective of faith. Many faiths, in fact. It's not that these groups are drawing a happy face on the sobering prospects for the planet.

National Catholic Reporter • 19th June 2020

EarthBeat Weekly: Discerning what the Vatican really means when it comes to divestment

News organizations wrote quite different stories Thursday about the 226-page report issued by the Vatican five years after the release of Laudato Si'. Whatever the particular significance of the Vatican's wording on Thursday, one thing is clear: Divestment is coming up more and more frequently in the strategies the Vatican is recommending for addressing the climate crisis.