Commentary

Minnesota has a longstanding policy that certain financial supports are allocated for all K-12 students irrespective of a family’s choice of school, including textbooks, nursing services, transportation and counseling aid. Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC) and an interfaith coalition of nonpublic school stakeholders (Nonpublic Education Partners) advocate to ensure those nonpublic pupil supports are adequately funded and easily accessible.

On May 2, 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its verdict in the case Buck v. Bell. The court ruled in favor of John Hendren Bell, superintendent of the State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble Minded*, upholding a Virginia statute that favored involuntary sterilization of individuals who were deemed mentally unfit. Only one justice dissented. He was Pierce Butler, a Catholic and native of Minnesota.

Heart of the controversy? Prayers for parish peace Commendable faith History reflections

I recently had the good fortune to take a post-Christmas trip to France, a place I’ve long admired for its Catholic culture and intellectual heritage. Although most of my time was spent amidst the museums, gardens and boulevards of Paris, a priority destination for me was the town of Lisieux, where the much-celebrated St. Thérèse had spent most of her childhood, lived as a Carmelite nun before dying in 1897 in her 20s, and is buried today.

Although most Americans today are unaware of it, the United States has a sad and extensive history of forced sterilizations, especially within the past century. In 1907, Indiana legalized forced sterilizations of white men who were “mentally deficient,” diseased, or otherwise disabled. More than 30 other states subsequently followed suit, and the practice quickly expanded to both men and women.

When we hear the word “vocation,” many of us may think about priesthood or consecrated life. And yet, the meaning of vocation is the choice of our employment, especially when our choice requires great dedication, because the work we choose is particularly worthy. When a priest, a religious sister or brother dedicates their lives to the vocation to which they have been called, this is not only their work, it becomes the mission of their lives.

Emily Hannon was surprised by the children’s clothes she saw at big-box stores and popular websites when she became a mom. And not in a good way.