Michelle Arnold

4 weeks ago | uscatholic.org | Nathaniel Hunter |Michelle Arnold |Maryanne Hannan

Last year, a friend posted a request asking for suggestions for family movies to watch during the Lenten season, with an overarching theme of the seven deadly sins. They’d already chosen The Treasure of the Sierra Madre for greed. Film critic Abby Olcese’s Films for All Seasons will be a lovely resource for families with similar plans to fit their movie watching to the liturgical year. The book is organized by liturgical seasons, beginning with Advent and ending with All Souls Day.

Oct 7, 2024 | uscatholic.org | Nathaniel Hunter |Michelle Arnold

For our Sounding Board column, U.S. Catholic asks authors to argue one side of a many-sided issue of importance to Catholics around the country. We also invite readers to submit their responses to these opinion essays—whether agreement or disagreement—in the survey that follows. A selection of the survey results appear below, as well as in the October 2024 issue of U.S. Catholic. You can participate in our current survey here.

Oct 4, 2024 | uscatholic.org | Nathaniel Hunter |Michelle Arnold |Maryanne Hannan

The first time I became uncomfortable with pro-life activism was when I discovered the possible origin of the slogan “We are the pro-life generation.” After the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, young African Americans organized for civil rights, declaring themselves the “Emmett Till generation.” White, conservative activists seem to have appropriated their slogan.

Aug 4, 2024 | patheos.com | Michelle Arnold

Call me a crabby, bitter spinster, but a new trend has been popping up over the last few Olympics cycles and I hate it. Just plug “woman gets engaged at the Olympics” into your favorite search engine and a plethora of stories will pop up. Seeing these stories always sets my teeth on edge. At this Summer Games alone, a Chinese badminton player won the gold and then was surprised with a gold ring for her finger.

Jul 17, 2024 | uscatholic.org | Nathaniel Hunter |Michelle Arnold

When I decided to convert to Catholicism in 1995, entering the church was tougher than I imagined. In the fundamentalist Protestant culture in which I’d been raised, new converts would be warmly welcomed, fast-walked through orientation classes and baptism, and assigned a mentor to shepherd them in the new community. Within months, the converts were indistinguishable from the old timers and were put to work mentoring their own flock of lambs.