Freelancers working at a coworking space in Brooklyn, N.Y. (Unsplash/ Shridhar Gupta)
May 15 will be the 130th anniversary of Leo XIII’s landmark encyclical on human labor, “Rerum Novarum.” Looking at the situation of many workers in the emerging industrial order of the late 19th century, the pope went so far as to claim that, “At this moment the condition of the working population is the question of the hour.” Of course, that was 1891. Some might say that Leo’s reflections, however helpful they may have been, are not all that relevant today. Commemorating Leo’s letter may have some purpose for those interested in the history of Catholic social teaching, but can it still teach us anything?
Remembering Rock Hill College: When Ellicott City was a college town baltimoresun.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from baltimoresun.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Msgr. John Tracy Ellis, 1905-1992, was a professor of church history and theology who taught at the Catholic University of America from 1938 to 1964 and from 1977 to 1989. From 1964 to 1977 he taught at the University of San Francisco. Earlier he was at St. Viatour College in Bourbonnais, Illinois, and the College of St. Teresa in Winona, Minnesota. (Courtesy of Catholic University of America, University Libraries, Special Collections)
Few things are as satisfying in the life of a Catholic journalist as to be on the receiving end of the kindness of scholars and clergy who help us in the media get to the bottom of something. There is, if you will, a fraternity of people who work with words the way others work with their hands. This fraternity is especially strong when the people involved are grouped around a shared love of someone or something. On top of all that, it allows me to say, with Blanche DuBois, that I ve always relied on the kindness of strangers!
Catholic Review
Cardinal Gibbons, who died 100 years ago, was committed to Ireland
March 11, 2021 Special to the Catholic Review
Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News
Before his death the week after St. Patrick’s Day in 1921, Cardinal James Gibbons helped send humanitarian aid to war-ravaged Ireland, concluding a lifelong commitment to the country.
Born in Baltimore in 1834, Gibbons’ Irish immigrant parents three years later moved the family back to their native County Mayo. There, in Ballinrobe, the future cardinal lived his teen years during the Great Famine, as one million Irish died of hunger and disease and twice as many emigrated from the island, many to America.
Experts say the second Catholic president is pointing to American tradition and deep personal roots.
Daniel Silliman|
Carolyn Kaster-Pool/Getty Images
Donald Trump once claimed that Joe Biden would “hurt the Bible” if he became president, but the copy of the Scripture that Biden is bringing to the inauguration looks like it might hurt you if you tried to lift it.
The book is more than five inches thick, with a sturdy leather cover, and solid metal clasps holding it closed. When Jill Biden raises the book up for her husband to take his oath of office on Wednesday, she will have to use both hands.