Back to Leisure

As the dog days of summer give way to the academic year for many Americans, it’s important to remember the meaning of school and education. The Greek word “skole” meant leisure, in the sense of not having to do manual labor and the ability to enter into the most rewarding aspects of life, especially that of contemplation of truth. While we say horrible phrases like the “education industry” and “academic work,” it’s always important to remember that education and study are gifts from God to pursue him and his creation in a formal way. The Latin root of education (e-ducare) means “to lead out,” or to be liberated from error and wrong ways of thinking into freedom and truth. Let us all be freed from mundane anxiety and enter into the leisurely contemplation of all that is true, good, and beautiful.

A Polish Catholic Olympian donates her Olympic silver medal at an auction to help a sick child.

An Ohio meteorologist enters seminary.

The Holy Father admonishes the faithful not to “water down the truth of the Eucharist.”

For tradition, unity, identity, and the environment: a contemporary call to return to Friday abstinence from meat.

An American Catholic is leading efforts to evacuate Afghan refugees.

A Super Bowl champion Catholic coach contemplates the permanence of marriage in good times and bad, taking care of his wife in her struggle with severe memory loss.

Baseball’s historical origin is more interesting than its myth.

Harvard's new head chaplain is a professed atheist.