When my five-year-old daughter came home from school proclaiming excitedly that there is a saint who is still alive, she was indignant when I gently explained that all saints are in heaven. Her face lit up a few days later, however, when I brought home Word on Fire Spark’s Saintly …

By Jonah McKeown CNA Staff, Sep 26, 2023 / 14:50 pm Most people are likely aware — at least vaguely — that J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” was Catholic. Fewer, perhaps, know how seriously he took his faith, in a time and place …

By Buchi Akpati Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 16, 2023 / 15:50 pm Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, this week argued that events such as the recently concluded World Youth Day are not only relevant to the Catholic Church but also essential to counteract what he said has been the practice …

Every human and community experiences social maladies. American culture has long displayed symptoms of these pathologies—and American Christianity along with it. From susceptibility to conspiracy theories, vulgar aesthetic taste, avarice, smugness, partisanship, indifference to human suffering: Christians often showed themselves as spiritually unprepared as everyone else. Our imaginations need rescue, …

When I homeschooled my children, I came across proposals for curricula that indicated boys could pursue ideas (abstract thinking, maybe STEM and carpentry), while girls should only be trained up for domestic roles (the domestic arts and devotional religion). I always asked myself: Don’t women have minds too, and shouldn’t …

by Dominick Albano It’s hard to imagine a heartbreak worse than losing a child. When a young Catholic speaker gave a Lenten parish mission, he shared with the audience his dreams for his children. “I pray that they will be happy, healthy and, most importantly, holy.” After the talk, a …

by Jonah McKeown St. Louis, Mo., Jun 3, 2022 / 17:18 pm Bishop Robert Barron, whom Pope Francis appointed this week to lead the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, said in a Thursday press conference that he will continue to create content for the media apostolate he founded, but that there is …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Jun 2, 2022 / 04:05 am The Vatican announced Thursday that Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Robert Barron to lead the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota. Barron, who runs the popular Catholic media apostolate Word on Fire, has served as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of …

In his 1999 “Letter to Artists,” Pope St. John Paul II invoked a famous line from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, The Idiot, attributed to the protagonist, Prince Myshkin: “Beauty will save the world.” He explained that “beauty is the key to the mystery and call to transcendence. It is an invitation …

Whether we like it or not, media has infused itself into almost every aspect of our lives. We watch local television news and streaming services, listen to the radio as we drive and scroll through social media feeds at our leisure – it is our constant companion. But we can …