Religion
Reflections on faith, doctrine, and culture.
The New Pope’s True Colors
Having beaten the odds to be selected as the first Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church from the United States, the low-key, little-known Bob Prevost is now an object of the world’s attention, as we all wonder what he will do next as Pope Leo XIV.
The Coming Trumpian Pope
As 133 Cardinals from around the world gather in Rome this week for a sequestered conclave to select the new Pope, some American Catholics are hoping the next guy will be an arch-conservative disrupter in the mold of our current President.
Is the Pope Catholic?
Asking whether the Pope is Catholic used to be one of those funny rhetorical question that do not require an answer. Like asking does a bird fly, or if a bear defecates in the forest. But these days that first question is not so funny to some people, and not so rhetorical.
Ridiculing Catholicism
Ridiculing Catholicism for being out-of-touch with the modern world is super easy, and it’s so much fun! Okay, yes, that sentence is gratuitous, and designed to get your attention.
Mt. Sinai and the Second Amendment
Yesterday the latest in a seemingly endless series of mass shootings occurred in a small Texas town, when 18-year-old Salvador Ramos walked into an elementary school with an AR-15 style rifle. He killed nineteen children and two teachers, and wounded seventeen others.
Catholics and Collective Bargaining
It always fascinates me when successful, fiscally conservative Catholics express an unbridled distain for organized labor on ideological grounds. To hear them tell it, unions are nothing but an affront to individual liberty and self-determination, two hallmarks of the American lexicon.
One Weird Catholic
Since returning to the fold almost thirty years ago, identifying as “Catholic” has come naturally to me. Though I can’t say there are many practicing Catholics who share my perspective on the state of the world, let alone the state of the Catholic Church.
An Easter Suggestion
No matter how old we grow or how feeble we become, let us remember the excitement of this morning’s embrace. That way, should we ever wish to conjure the sense of healing love that so easily envelopes us today, all we need do is gaze into each other’s eyes.
Women in the Church
December 8, 2021 (401 words)
Concern over finding oneself on the wrong side of history forces intelligent, well-intentioned people to abandon the formal practice of religion, while still thinking of themselves as being “spiritual” at…
Original Sin
December 1, 2021 (593 words)
How can an innocent newborn come into this world burdened with what religious zealots refer to as “the stain of Original Sin”? This is just the sort of mean-spirited clap-trap that…
Catholic Social Teaching to the Rescue
March 12, 2021 (1,734 words)
A recent feature story in a mainstream publication shouts the following question from its title block: “Can Catholic Social Teaching Unite a Divided America?” What a completely unexpected…
Answered Prayers
October 3, 2020 (414 words)
What was your immediate reaction when you first heard President Trump tested positive for COVID-19 the other day? Not many of us want to go on…
Bringing Back Mass
July 1, 2020 (693 words)
Now that early attempts to “re-open” the original shutdown States have been met with a rise in COVID-19 infections, we are confronted with the fact that face masks may be part of our outdoor attire…
The Missing Link
June 1, 2020 (371 words)
My slow-but-steady march through Rich People Things: Real Life Secrets of the Predator Class, a book of social criticism originally published by Chris Lehmann in 2010, and followed the next year with an…
Holy Week in the Pandemic
April 12, 2020 (3,979 words)
Well, this has certainly been a Holy Week like no other. As a kid the Easter Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil was not something our family participated in. Despite my attending…
Chasing Our Tail
February 1, 2020 (600 words)
At last month’s Golden Globe Awards (January 6) the actress Michelle Williams won a prize and caused a stir with her acceptance speech. By way of full…
American Catholicism, American Power
February 9, 2019 (1,367 words)
Arthur Brooks and Andrew Cuomo are the same type of Catholics. This may come as a surprise to most readers, since each man operates from opposite ends of the political spectrum. But then…
Singing to No One
January 26, 2019 (499 words)
I happen to be a big fan of any sort of live music. It can be a jazz trio, a symphony orchestra, or a high school marching band. There is something about people making beautiful…
Unconfessed Sins
January 6, 2019 (640 words)
(The following is reprinted from the Letters section of the December 2018 issue of Culture Wars magazine, as contributed by Lise Anglin of Toronto, Ontario.)…
Doctors of the Church
January 1, 2019 (343 words)
The term “Church Fathers,” or “Early Church Fathers,” or “Fathers of the Church,” describes those men of the first two generations after the Apostles of Christ, and for that reason are often referred to as…
Traversing Mexico
October 29, 2018 (92 words)
The caravan of men, women, and children currently walking from Guatemala to Texas hoping to find a better life at the end of their long march, prompts the following…
The Heart of the Christian Message
April 14, 2018 (1,300 words)
Yesterday New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat gave an interview on National Public Radio (NPR) in support of his new book, To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism. This is an…
Bells and Smells
April 1, 2018 | (141 words)
Provided one is able to muster the necessary stamina, there is nothing like a long, thorough Holy Saturday service at an observant Catholic parish to remind one of the benefits of communal…
False Gods
March 31, 2018 | (816 words)
Yesterday was both Good Friday and the first night of Passover. Late last night, as I was drifting off to sleep, a gentleman on a National Public Radio broadcast explained…
Pope Francis in Context: An American Responds
October 3, 2017 | (15,215 words)
Well, the long wait is finally over. With “Bergoglio in Context: Have the End Times come to Buenos Aires,” appearing in the June 2017 issue of Culture Wars magazine, readers now know where their fear…
Life in the Universal Church
September 12, 2017 | (295 words)
Some Catholics find themselves drawn to a charismatic expression of their faith, while others are more naturally given to a quiet, contemplative pose. Some are what might be described as being of the…
A New Pope Registers an Old Complaint
April 3, 2017 | (8,395 words)
The March 2003 invasion of Iraq was a polarizing event for American Catholics. If you recall, we were given a choice between supporting the American gospel of “spread democracy,” and adhering to the…