The paramount concern of all prisons is safety. This is understandable, but it still seems unfair when security eclipses the health and well-being of inmates, writes John T. Booth.

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A new memoir by Elaine Pagels plumbs some of the deepest questions about what it means to be human and how ritual and faith can help make sense of the unfathomable.

Many stories of ordinary people responding to suffering in extraordinary fashion have not yet been captured in forms that will last.

The costs of medicine in the United States are addressed in different, though complementary, ways in two new books on broken U.S. health care.

A new book on sea-level rise by Elizabeth Rush is a welcome addition to the small but growing canon on what the changing climate means for U.S. residents.

Should filmmakers make the pain of addiction bearable to watch? In "Beautiful Boy" and "Ben is Back" they try.

the now-maimed but still living parents beg, “Arise, come forth!”

In their written responses, several readers invoked the Hippocratic Oath, from which the phrase “first do no harm” is derived.

A new book offers continuing critical reflection on the ministry of Catholic health care.

Entrants to this year’s contest included poems about human trafficking, the Mueller Report, priestly abuse and screen addiction.

Dental care should be a priority in any plan to reduce inequities and improve the well-being of all citizens.

These traditional, indigenous birth practices should never have been erased in the first place.

We are called to a life of humble service and radical reliance on God but not to perfection, writes Tom Catena.

Income is perhaps the unifying indicator of health care in crisis across all the margins of America—a reliable predictor of poor health outcomes from inadequate treatment for common illnesses—leading to the final measure of all: substantially lower life expectancy.

Onita Estes-Hicks has been Catholic her entire life. But her relationship with her faith was forever changed in 2004.

On the eve of Pope Francis’ visit to Romania, the Greek Catholic bishop of Bucharest, Mihai Fratila, spoke about the changes in his homeland since St. John Paul II’s visit in 1999 and the contemporary difficulties Romanians face.

In the survey conducted online in early May and just published by the British Columbia-based Angus Reid Institute, 78 percent of all Canadians (including non-Catholics) gave the church a poor grade.