Posted inNews

First suicide memorial by a US archdiocese signals a compassionate shift by the Catholic Church

by Luis Andres Henao - Associated Press October 9, 2026

A sculpture of ascending doves is displayed at a memorial for survivors and lives lost to suicide dedicated by the Archdiocese of Chicago at Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery in Hillside, Ill., on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. Credit: AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

CHICAGO (AP) — The Rev. Charles Rubey recalls the moment when he realized Catholic priests needed to do a better job supporting families of those who died by suicide.

Two women told Rubey they had asked their parish priest to pray for family members who had killed themselves. At that time, the Catholic Church banned funeral rites and burial on consecrated grounds for those who died by suicide. Rubey says the women told him: “the first thing out of the priest’s mouth was: ‘Well, you know, your loved one is in hell.’”

Podcast: 'Catholicism has something vital to learn from other religious traditions,' says Cyprian Consiglio

 

Opinion

Podcast: 'Catholicism has something vital to learn from other religious traditions,' says Cyprian Consiglio

John Dear  NCR

5 ways everyday Americans can revive democratic norms

 

5 ways everyday Americans can revive democratic norms

Robert Christian   NCR

How Pope Leo uses being an American to his advantage

 

How Pope Leo uses being an American to his advantage

News

• NCR

  Michael J. O'Loughlin

THE CRISIS OF VOCATIONS: IS VATICAN II REALLY TO BLAME?

 

THE CRISIS OF VOCATIONS: IS VATICAN II REALLY TO BLAME?

Few topics in the Catholic Church continue to generate as much debate as the legacy of the Second Vatican Council. More than fifty years after its conclusion, Vatican II remains central to discussions about liturgy, Church life, and the decline in priestly and religious vocations. READ MORE...

IS THE HONEYMOON OVER FOR LEO XIV?

 

IS THE HONEYMOON OVER FOR LEO XIV? To ask the question is not to answer it – not quite – but everyone knew the honeymoon wouldn’t last forever, and Leo XIV is facing challenges that test his leadership in three key areas.  READ MORE...

Relating To Our Loved Ones After They Die

 

Relating To Our Loved Ones After They Die In nineteen seventy-nine, Sheldon Vanauken published a book entitled A Severe Mercy; in it he tells the story of the death of his wife, Davey. The book is an account of an extraordinary romance, cut short while still in full bloom by Davey’s premature death. This story has intrigued many people, both because of the extraordinary relationship between Sheldon and Davey before her death and because of the relationship between them after her death. Vanauken describes how after her death he still felt her presence strongly and vividly. She was gone, in that brutal and irrevocable way death takes loved ones away, but he still felt her presence—as real as he had before she died.

Posted inVatican Dispatch

‘Amoris Laetitia’ and its tough questions are here to stay

by Colleen Dulle October 9, 2026

Pope Leo XIV greets visitors and pilgrims from the popemobile while riding around St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before his weekly general audience Oct. 7, 2026. Credit: CNS photo/Vatican Media

If there is one lesson Pope Leo wants the heads of the world’s bishops’ conferences and Eastern rite church leaders whom he has gathered in Rome this week to take home, it is this: “Amoris Laetitia” is here to stay.

Pope Francis’ 2016 document was arguably his most contentious, with its openness to allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion setting off a churning cycle of criticism in some corners of the church that would follow him for the remainder of his papacy. As has previously been described in America, last year’s conclave was seen as a referendum on Francis’ papacy, but some critics of Francis had remained hopeful that a Leo papacy would bring some reversals of Francis’ teachings and reforms. Instead, in almost every case, Leo has doubled down, as he is doing this week.