Lawrence "Larry" Cunningham, a longtime professor of theology at Notre Dame University and a well-known writer on spirituality, sainthood and more, died on Feb. 20, 2025.

Throughout his life, William Stringfellow was the modern incarnation of an Old Testament prophet, calling out lies and hypocrisy and demanding fidelity to the commandments of God.

A century ago, Al Smith was a force in American politics—and the first Catholic to mount a major run at the White House. And if he is to be believed, he didn't know what an encyclical was.

A Reflection for Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, by James T. Keane

One of the nation’s most distinguished sociologists for many years and an expert on the relationship between religion and public life, the Rev. John A. Coleman died on Jan. 17, 2025 in Los Gatos, Calif., at the age of 87.

Octavia Butler, the Black science fiction writer who died in 2006, did not just create imaginary worlds with parallels to ours. Sometimes she created worlds that are eerily a little too much like our own.

It was with heavy hearts that we at ‘America’ learned of the death of Fay Vincent Jr. in Vero Beach, Fla., on Saturday at the age of 86.

Michael Longley, the Irish poet whose long career included more than 40 books, died last week. He was lauded by literary, social and political figures alike for his many contributions to Irish literature and to the cause of social reconciliation.

A Reflection for the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle, by James T. Keane

Josephine Ward was a strong critic of Catholic modernism, and many of her novels featured protagonists struggling to reconcile au courant political and religious ideas with the strictures of the Catholic Church.