I’d like to share with you a column I wrote about our  duty, as Americans and as people of faith, to welcome the stranger:

One of the most vivid memories of my childhood was the arrival of four religious sisters — nuns — from Ireland, who were coming to my hometown of Ballwin, Missouri to begin teaching in the brand-new grammar school of Holy Infant parish.

I was only 7 years old, but I will never forget the extraordinary lengths our entire community went to in order to make these newcomers, these strangers, these immigrants, feel welcome and at home.

That imperative to…

Today on “Conversation with Cardinal Dolan,” I’m in our nation’s capital with Archbishop José H. Gomez of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, talking about immigration. Thanks for listening!

Podcast: Download (14.2MB)

On “Conversation with Cardinal Dolan,” Father Dave Dwyer and I discuss New York City in February, the consistency of the Catholic perspective, and effects of social media.

Podcast: Download (21.2MB)

I’d like to share with you a column I wrote about recent troubling developments at the state and national levels. Here’s an excerpt:

Recently, over an enjoyable meal, a rabbi friend and I discussed at length a litany of controversial issues, from immigration to the death penalty; from minimum wage to abortion; from prison reform to physician-assisted-suicide. We agreed on some, differed on others. At the end of our pleasant conversation, my colleague teased me, “The trouble with you is that you’re so damn consistent!”

I take that as a compliment! Our belief in the dignity of the…

I’m at the the Telecare studios in the Diocese of Rockville Centre with Monsignor Jim Vlaun for the installation of Bishop John Barres. (more…)

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Let us pray:

We praise you, God and Father of us all, Sovereign of all life, for assembling us to proclaim the dignity of each human person, and the sacredness of human life.

Thank you, heavenly Father, for the gift of a nation where life itself is considered an inalienable right, where the dignity of each human person a self evident truth.

Our prayers are the more fervent as they rise from Christians, Catholics, Orthodox, Jews, Islam, and people of all faiths in this “one nation under God.”

Our supplication is the more hopeful today as we rejoice in the solidarity of hundreds…

Pro-Life Mass  January 26, 2017

National Shrine

“We have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary . . .” consoling words we heard in this evening’s reading from the Bible . . . (more…)

I’d like to share with you a powerful and insightful piece by George Will from the New York Post about a commercial “banned in France in France for its positive depiction of those suffering from Down syndrome.” Here’s an excerpt:

In 2014, in conjunction with World Down Syndrome Day (March 21), the Global Down Syndrome Foundation prepared a two-minute video titled “Dear Future Mom” to assuage the anxieties of pregnant women who have learned that they are carrying a Down syndrome baby.

More than 7 million people have seen the video online in which one such woman says, “I’m scared: what kind of…

Could I share with you a couple of thoughts from my October 30th Homily? Thanks for listening!

Podcast (homilies): Download (16.1MB)

A week or so ago, I watched with shame as an angry mob in southern California surrounded buses filled with frightened, hungry, homeless immigrants, shaking fists, and shouting for them to “get out!”

It was un-American; it was un-biblical; it was inhumane.  It worked, as the scared drivers turned the buses around and sought sanctuary elsewhere.

The incendiary scene reminded me of Nativist mobs in the 1840’s, Know-Nothing gangs in the 1850’s, and KKK  thugs in the 1920’s, who hounded and harassed scared immigrants, Catholics, Jews, and Blacks.

I think of this sad incident today, the feast of New York’s own Kateri Tekakwitha, a native-American (a Mohawk) canonized a…