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Current Issue
Welcome to the latest edition of Parable! Click on the image on the left to see the full edition. See the links below to read individual articles.
Find the Heart of Jesus at CMC
Dear Readers,
As you will see, this issue of Parable is dedicated in a very special way to our Catholic Medical Center (CMC), located in the heart of our Diocesan city of Manchester.
It is in Manchester that St. Joseph Church was consecrated as our Cathedral when the Diocese of Manchester was first established in 1884.
Committed to Catholic Care
CMC’s new CEO talks about upgrading facilities, preserving care and prioritizing the hospital’s Catholic identity for years to come
By Rosemary Ford
Two years ago, Catholic Medical Center (CMC) stood at the brink.
In medical terms, it was bleeding out. In this case, it had been bleeding millions of dollars every month for years.
For anyone watching all the independent hospitals across the region collapse and merge, the symptoms were all too obvious — cuts, closures and a general effort to do more with less.
There was no one cause for the hospital’s dire state — blame the economy, the way the American healthcare system is set up, insurance rates, the government’s low reimbursement rates and so many other factors that make it nearly impossible for independent hospitals to survive in the 21st century.
What Role Should the Church Take in Politics?
Dear Father Francis, I’ve noticed that Pope Leo XIV has been speaking openly about various political and social issues in the world today. I was always taught that the Church should not get involved in politics, so I find this confusing. What role is the Church supposed to have in political and social matters, and how should we understand the Pope’s voice in these situations?
A: Dear Friends,
This question is more common than you might think.
Many Catholics have been taught, often with good intentions, that religion and politics should remain separate. We worry that when the Church speaks about public issues, she risks becoming just another voice in a crowded and often divisive arena.
Mary Magdalene Shows Us the Depth of Jesus’ Healing
Have you ever felt so far from your faith that the thought of returning seems overwhelming, even impossible?
Believe it or not, Mary Magdalene, one of Christ’s closest friends, was in a very similar place. Before encountering Jesus, Scripture tells us that Mary of Magdala was possessed by seven demons, living a life of deep physical and spiritual suffering.
Built for Communion
The people who help us become holy
There is a deep human longing to be known and fully loved, particularly through the gift of friendship. I think that desire has been on my heart for decades.
Over the years, I’ve experienced glimpses of it through individual friendship and small pockets of connection. But if I’m honest, I didn’t really encounter my first “kindred spirit” (aside from my sister) until graduate school.
Then I became a mother.
Theo of Golden Looks at the Power of Being Truly Seen
Faces — each one tells a story too complex to understand completely.
Each one has a physical reality made of flesh and bone, but also a symbolic reality that represents an entire person with a unique intellect, spirit and soul.
An insightful artist can capture both of these realities in his or her renderings, just as we can preserve even the smallest facial details in our memories.
Declaration of Independence’s Moral Vision Endures
Thomas Jefferson dubbed John Adams “the Colossus of Independence.” Fellow delegate Richard Stockton of New Jersey believed that Adams was the man “to whom the country is most indebted for the great measure of independency.” Benjamin Franklin would bluntly write that Adams “means well for his Country, is always an honest Man, often a Wise One, but sometimes and in some things, absolutely out of his Senses.”
Check out the Finding Communion podcast where Rosemary Ford, the editor of Parable magazine and Robert Dunn, the director of Public Policy for the Diocese of Manchester discuss politics, the Eucharist and the common good, expanding on themes readers will see in the latest editions of Parable.
Accompanying our Unknown Brother Home
If you had asked me before I was a priest what life in a parish office was like, I would have said it was quiet and every day was pretty much the same.
I would have said with a false surety that Sundays were the really busy day in the parish, and the rest of the week was left to organizing the bulletin, answering the occasional phone call and, of course, preparing the Sunday homily amidst the quiet of it all.
