As Catholics, we like anonymity. We like to blend into the crowd. We don’t wear yarmulkes like Orthodox Jews, or plain clothes like the Amish. We can generally go unnoticed. Until Ash Wednesday. With that big, ashen cross on our foreheads, everyone knows who we are. It’s a sign that …

Most of us learned as children that the word “Catholic” means “universal.” We even refer sometimes to the “universal Church” to remind us that we are part of more than just the “local Church,” which is our Archdiocese. The Church is universal because it encompasses the entire earth. Every spot …