Journey from Jerusalem to Antioch through Alexandria, Rome, of course, Constantinople and, finally, to Carthage. ‘Rabbles, Riots and Ruins: Twelve Ancient Cities and How They Were Evangelized’ By Mike Aquilina Ignatius, 2024 206 pages, $17.95 Cities have always been rough places. When too many people are crowded together, there’s no telling what can go wrong: riots, vandalism and even murder. And when people with dearly held diverse views get in each other’s faces, sparks can fly — followed by fire. That’s especially true when those diverse views are religious in nature. Yet ancient cities for all their flaws were the launching pads for Christianity’s miraculous growth. It’s where the fundamentals of the faith were fought over and confirmed as well as the places where the Christians were o...

The subject always deserves consideration, but two recent articles on sex abuse within the Church are worth discussion. The first, published by Crux, declares — sadly, to the surprise of no one — “Abuse crisis in the Catholic Church shows no signs of abating.” The second came via OSV News: Catholics in the Sicilian city of Enna are protesting a diocesan cover-up of abuses against minors, committed by a local priest while he was still a seminarian, between 2009 and 2013. The Italian court found Father Guiseppe Rugolo guilty of “the sexual abuse of two young teenagers … fully aware that he could count on the support of the religious leadership,” adding that Bishop Rosario Gisana of the Diocese of Piazza Armerina was “well aware for many years of the reports made concerning the abuse suffered...

In July, the United States held its first National Eucharistic Congress in 83 years — a monumental moment in the life of the local Church. However, it’s not the only Eucharistic congress that’s happening this year.  From Sept. 8 to Sept. 15, the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress will gather thousands of faithful from corners of the world in Quito, Ecuador, to celebrate the Eucharistic presence of Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament. It marks the first time an Andean country has hosted an international congress and coincides with the 150th anniversary of the consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus made in 1874. The very first international Eucharistic congress was held in France in 1881, and since then, they have occurred every one to five years. The only times that...

Why are some people kind? This question is especially though of course not exclusively pertinent in forming the young. I think we take kindness for granted, forgetting both its central importance and the need to cultivate it, in self and others. “We are for the most part unhappy, because the world is an unkind world.” So wrote Fr. Frederick Faber, a noted author and close collaborator with John Henry Newman. He describes kindness as “the overflowing of self upon others. We put others in the place of self.” He says that kindness is our imitation of Divine Providence. But how is kindness cultivated? It seems that here two things are worthy of note. First, we should consider the unique power of showing kindness to those in whom we would form it. While all virtues are cultivated at least in pa...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The world’s attention on Venezuela has been focused in the last weeks on the fallout from a highly contested presidential election that both the ruling party and its opponents claim to have won, the ensuing persecution of critics and the arrest warrant against the former opposition presidential candidate. But as political tensions escalate, President Nicolás Maduro decided there was a more important matter to discuss: Christmas and the need to kick off the jolly season a tad early this year. In October, to be precise. “It’s September, and it already smells like Christmas,” Maduro said Monday night during his weekly television show. “That’s why this year, as a way of paying tribute to you all, and in gratitude to you all, I’m going to decree an early Christmas for ...