Joan Chittister

From Where I Stand: The ninth step of humility has no caveats as in "keep silent unless you're angry at someone" or "unless you can get the microphone and keep it from everyone else."

From Where I Stand: The tradition moves on from generation to generation, flowing here, being pruned there, always adapting to the soil in which it's planted. And so do we as people.

From Where I Stand: No doubt about it: The seventh degree of humility in the Rule of Benedict was meant for us. It's impossible, of course, to lead the world in everything. But tell any lie long enough and people are prone to believe it. And claim it. And assume it. And we do.

From Where I Stand: St. Benedict of Nursia's sixth degree of humility is an antidote to the crush of pressure, to the seedbed of envy, to continuing and underlying dissatisfaction with the self. 

From Where I Stand: With all the lying going on in public and political life, I can't think of any better time to talk about the fifth degree of humility, which shows us that lives forged in secret too often die in the glare of hot lights.

From Where I Stand: There are some things that simply must be borne. There are some mountains in life that must be climbed but can only be climbed one boulder, one level at a time. 

From Where I Stand: Learning to consider the insights and understanding of others is not the end of autonomy. It is the beginning of humility. St. Benedict's third step, obedience, is for human unity and the common good

From Where I Stand: Differences are a big thing. They are the resources that nourish a new future for us all. Which is exactly where Benedict's second principle of life comes in.

From Where I Stand:  By making consciousness of the will of God his first principle of humility, Benedict makes it clear that we don't have to earn God because we already have God.

From Where I Stand: Governments go down. Churches, too, sinning as much as they save, lose their bearings. So how is it that we stand by while our institutions shrivel and our courage shrinks?

From Where I Stand: Every day, we find ourselves in a new political quandary that threatens us, unsettles us, divides us rather than unifies us. And worse, the split emanates from the top down.

From Where I Stand: To address climate change, nothing much can happen to the world around us until something happens within us that is beyond money and power, that seeks global harmony.

From Where I Stand: Amid sex abuse revelations, the cry for reform gets louder by the day. And while some reform of structures is imperative, it's the theology that counts.

Column: Few if any young people will look consciously for role models of decency in political figures, least of all, in a divisive, indecent, demeaning presidency whose insulting language, sexism and racism grind American ideals to dust.

From Where I Stand: The tradition of marching on Washington, D.C., to express political and social opinions is being carried on by our nation's young people, whose demands are for gun control to stop the kind of shootings that killed 17 people Feb. 14 in Parkland, Florida.

Francis at Five Years: Five years ago, we moved from one style of church to another. Gone were the images of finger-waving popes, stories of theological investigations, and the public scoldings and excommunications of people who dared to question the ongoing value of old ways.

From Where I Stand: President Donald Trump's insult of black countries ​touches our integrity as a nation. I believe that if we do not as a people say "Enough!" now, we will regret it for years.

From Where I Stand: The question of the day is a simple but potentially life-changing one: Why would anyone even bother to get attached to a Benedictine monastery?