First, I fidget. I cross and uncross my legs, fold and unfold my hands, bow and raise my head. I discover muscles I didn’t know I had, muscles that twitch, quiver, itch, and ache. So I waste several ...

Every Sunday before 9:00 A.M., a long line of cars snakes down a tree-lined road north of Baltimore, Md. In the Chapel of a Carmelite Monastery, a diverse congregation gathers for liturgy. Retired ...

Characteristic of our times are the many uses and abuses of the Bible. What is the meaning of a biblical passage and how do we find it? This question divides Christians into a variety of camps, often ...

St. Teresa’s thoughts on encountering and living with God are much shaped by her position as an outsider to the hierarchical world of her day—a woman, and someone from a Jewish background. With rich ...

Long ago, Daniel Berrigan told me a tragic story about being invited to speak to a packed church of cloistered nuns somewhere on the East Coast in 1965. They wanted him to read from his latest book of ...

October marks the end of the Discalced Carmelite Order’s celebration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Teresa of Ávila. St. Teresa is a doctor of the Church and one of history’s greatest ...

Pope Francis has issued a new wide-ranging set of guidelines for how the tens of thousands of Catholic women religious living in contemplative communities around the world should regulate their ...