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I recently received a letter from a young Catholic husband and father in which he observed: “Peers of mine who are converts or reverts have specifically cited teachings like ‘Humanae Vitae,’ ‘Familiaris Consortio,’ and ‘Veritatis Splendor’ as beacons that set the church apart from the world and other faiths.” What he suggests might seem counterintuitive, but it is borne out by experience: The church does not grow by going along with the world, but by confidently proclaiming the truth about the human person revealed by Christ.

Catholic Schools Week provides an annual opportunity to remember and appreciate anew the contribution of Catholic schools in the United States. This remarkable school system stands apart from public and other private school systems, and is a source of great pride for the Church. It is fitting for us to recognize and remember the vision and sacrifice of the countless women and men who helped Catholic schools take root in this country and flourish to this day.

In 2003, the Catholic bishops of the United States and Mexico issued a historic binational pastoral letter on immigration, “Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope.” The title takes its inspiration from St. Paul, who, in the second chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, states: “. . . you are strangers and aliens no longer. No, you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God.”

In a Thanksgiving week filled with public actions, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone wrote an opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle and then joined activists to fill a U.S. immigration courtroom in solidarity with Hugo Mejia, who was seeking bond while fighting a deportation order.

At this significant moment in world history, as we mark the 100th anniversary of the apparitions at Fatima, understandably, much attention has been given to this supernatural phenomenon.

Marin Catholic High School students delivered bottled water, Catholic Charities fed first responders and Marin County parishes organized to provide shelter and spiritual care, as organizations and individuals throughout the Archdiocese of San Francisco responded with aid and comfort to those affected by the devastating Wine Country wildfires.

Catholic, Episcopal, Buddhist, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders in San Francisco led a crowd of about 75 in a street corner prayer service outside the UPS facility in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill district on June 19, six days after three UPS employees were killed in a workplace shooting.

Easter is the high point of the church year, the culmination of the saving mysteries that Jesus has embodied.

In continuing commemoration of St. John Paul II’s establishment in 1982 of World Day of the Sick as well as their own ministry to those not well and their caregivers, the Western Association of the Order of Malta is facilitating a Mass Feb. 11 at 11 a.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco.

In the United States many boys and girls enjoy basketball. No parent is surprised that when a child gets home from school and has done his homework, he wants to go out and shoot baskets in the backyard or the playground with his friend.

PHILADELPHIA – Akyra Murray, who just recently graduated from West Catholic Preparatory High School, was the youngest victim of the Orlando nightclub shooting June 12.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone joined in prayer with the family of 26-year-old Hector Salvador Dec. 9 at 16th and Hoff streets in the Mission District in San Francisco.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone ritually opened the main entrance to St. Mary’s Cathedral as a symbolic Holy Door, and 500 faithful who had gathered in the plaza for the ceremony filed into the church Dec. 13 for an Advent Sunday vespers service to inaugurate the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in the archdiocese.

The recent visit of Pope Francis to our country was a moment of tremendous grace for all of us, and I think we all still feel deep gratitude to our Holy Father for his pastoral outreach to us here in the United States, and especially his understanding of the very many struggles that families are dealing with these days, and the challenges that people of faith face in living a life of wholehearted devotion to Jesus and of integrity with his teachings.

Every year we remember in a special way our Baptismal call to mission as we celebrate World Mission Sunday, this year on October 18.

Hundreds of Bay Area residents protested Planned Parenthood and its sale of aborted baby parts for research, gathering to pray at clinics in Marin, San Mateo and San Francisco as part of a national day of protest Aug. 22 that drew tens of thousands to more than 320 Planned Parenthood locations nationwide.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone linked protection and nurturing of marriage and the family with stewardship of the environment, drawing heavily on the words of Pope Francis and the two previous pontiffs in his keynote address to the California Association of Natural Family Planning.

It is gratifying to us in the City of St. Francis that the opening words of the long-anticipated encyclical of Pope Francis, “Laudato Si’,” are taken from the famous “Canticle of the Creatures” composed by our mutual patronal saint, the Little Poor Man of Assisi, who is such a model for all of us of care for all of God’s creation.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone received an unexpected gift from Philadelphia – a first-class relic of St. John Neumann, bishop of Philadelphia and first American male saint. The archbishop will join Pope Francis and other American bishops in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families in September.

DUBLIN – The head of the Irish bishops’ conference distanced himself from comments made by U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke concerning Irish voters who backed same-sex marriage.