Certifiably Catholic
Our place in the church isn't determined by politics or policy.

To eternity and beyond
Forget about terrestrial matters for a moment and think outside the blue planet.

Mind the gap
Which path do we choose when the twain of experience and church teaching don’t meet?

Season's Greetings
If we're going to invite disaffected Catholics to come on home, let's also warm up the welcome they're likely to receive.

Use your inside voice
The high pitch of pro-life advocacy could heed some old-fashioned parental guidance.

Marriage of convenience
Catholics should find a way to welcome couples whose paths to the altar don't go straight down the center aisle.

Priests off the pedestal
A holy-card priest is not the best patron to lead 21st-century ministers into the future.

Non-parishable goods
The value of a faith community can't be crunched on a balance sheet.

Watch your steps
Mass could use the hard dose of reality offered by those recovering from addiction.

Above and beyond the call
U.S. women religious deserve better than the nunsense of a Vatican investigation.

Commencement duress
Catholics shouldn't let single-issure politics deprive us of our hard-won place at the heart of America's democracy.

How green is your faith?
We should honor God the Father by caring for our Mother Earth.

Fast break
Lent is a good time to call time-out on our First world feeding frenzy.

Proceed with caution
Now is not the time to rush World War II's pope to a place among the beatified.

Positively pro-life
Catholics must focus on the battle for hearts and minds to be succussful in the effort to end abortion. 

Morality check
The global fight against HIV and AIDS requires all the means at our disposal.

All in favor?
There’s more democracy in the church than you might think.

A more perfect communion
Christians can manage to be the one church of Christ without agreeing on everything.

Bring ‘em on
Catholic institutions should play host to this year’s electoral contests.

Gag order
Pumping up priesthood at the expense of lay ministry is no way to renew the church.

Mea maxima culpa
Among the many victims of the Iraq war have been our own fellow Catholics.

Make it personal
Millions have headed for the exits without getting the best of what we have to offer.

Lab partners
Instead of shooting rhetorical spitballs in the other's general direction, boosters of both science and religion should start sharing a desk.

Start spreading the Good News
The first (and most ignored) rule of preaching the gospel: "Know your audience."

Here comes everybody else
Our color in the Crayola box of "flesh tones" shouldn't determine our place in the church.

Not all roads lead to Rome
The diverse challenges of a struggling world need local solutions from a flexible church.

More than words
Rather than threaten our Christian faith, exploring the language and spiritual practices of other religious traditions may instead make us better Catholics.

...And what we've failed to do
The abuse crisis will never be over without a full confession and a freely given absolution.

Semper ubi sub ubi
If you don't understand that, you're gonna love the new, old Latin Mass.

To read more of Bryan Cones visit his The Examined Life blog only on USCatholic.org.