LYNDALL BERGER, at sixteen, wrote to her parents for permission to be confirmed. “Are you mad?” Sidney’s gaze was a pair of outspread arms, stopping his wife short whichever way she might turn. “Well, ...

I gaze upon the crucifix at Holy Mass, contemplating the image of Christ’s broken body, poured out for the Church, as he is truly present — his body, blood, soul and divinity — on the altar. A sense ...