Of Many Things
At the synod in Rome: Waiting to find out where to go
There is something to learn from the fact that discussion at the synod on the most difficult topics was neither rushed to a conclusion nor closed absolutely.
Your Take
Why are some U.S. bishops struggling to connect with Pope Francis?
Our readers respond to Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell’s interview with Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States since 2016.
Editorials
The Editors: 3 lessons from the synod to help Catholics navigate the 2024 elections
As voters in the United States approach another presidential election, how can this synodal experience inform the ways that U.S. Catholics engage in political conversation?
Short Take
How we write our history shapes how we think about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Some humility about how much we really know can help prevent toxic rhetoric when we talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with family, friends and colleagues of different faiths.
Dispatches
Have yourself a modest little Christmas? The holiday season highlights a wasteful culture.
From unwrapping unwanted presents to burning fossil fuel to power millions of Christmas lights, the commemoration of the humble birth of Jesus comes at a significant expense to the environment.
A new Lilly Endowment grant propels America Media efforts on preaching
Through the Lilly Endowment’s Compelling Preaching Initiative, America Media will continue to “respond to the needs of the church” through effective preaching on multimedia platforms.
Cardinal Cupich on the synod, women deacons, giving bishops job reviews and why ‘LGBTQ’ was left out of the final doc
Exclusive interview: Cardinal Cupich on the end of the first session of the Synod on Synodality.
In Boston, Cardinal O’Malley urges assistance to newly arriving migrants ahead of winter
Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston is urging local Catholics to contribute resources for migrants arriving in Massachusetts, calling the situation a “major humanitarian and societal crisis.”
Is it Ireland’s turn to ward off a toxic populism?
The protest was organized over social media, where it was dubbed “Call to the Dáil,” drawing participants from far-right groups and individuals nurturing a host of grievances and anxieties about contemporary Irish society, from Covid-19 conspiracies to immigration and transgender issues, housing shortages and the economy.
Features
The trouble with ‘gender ideology’
Can we learn to see gender in its real complexity?
How a Catholic ecology center in Wisconsin strives to change the world by changing hearts
The C.E.C. demonstrates a profound, organic Catholicism that places people within “the wholeness of creation” and asks them “to look and feel and touch and know it.”
Faith and Reason
Devotion to Mary can invigorate our love for the Eucharist
What if we brought together two currents: attachment to the Eucharist as liturgical action and devotion with attachment to the Blessed Virgin Mary? The conjunction of these currents can enable them to reinforce each other and can make a significant impact on our spiritual journeys.
The mystery of Thomas Aquinas: Why did he leave his ‘Summa’ unfinished?
Thomas Aquinas’s ‘Summa Theologiae’ is perhaps the most important philosophical/theological work in Christian history. Why didn’t the Angelic Doctor finish it?
Faith in Focus
What our editors learned while reporting on the Synod on Synodality from Rome
Timely Lessons in the Eternal City
How a special novena brought our community closer to Mary
How a special novena brought our community closer to Our Lady.
Books
Review: Peter Brown’s memoir details a life of joyful scholarship
Peter Brown’s ‘Journeys of the Mind’ presents a very attractive picture of one man’s life immersed in the world of books and arguments—one that also seems like a lot of fun.
Review: Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books continue to cast a spell over readers.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s novels ‘Silver Nitrate’ and ‘Mexican Gothic’ feature complicated heroines, compelling plots and supernatural elements solidly grounded in research.
Contemplating eternity: Bishop Gumbleton’s life of witness
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton appears in ‘No Guilty Bystander’ to be an institutional “lifer,” resolved to remain part of a gradually evolving system but reserving the right to dissent when he sees fit.
Review: Alice McDermott belongs among the great Catholic novelists.
The good news for anyone whose literary tastes have been strongly influenced by the Catholic novels of Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, Francois Mauriac, Georges Bernanos and more is this: The new Alice McDermott novel, ‘Absolution,’ has arrived.
Music
This Irish Christmas carol was once nearly forgotten. Now it’s newly famous.
I have learned to take Christmas carols seriously and to anticipate the epiphanies they may bear in my spiritual life.
Poetry
Carol
Throughout the waiting house We’ve strewn our mangers. Maybe This year we’ll find one baby.
Last Take
Saying no to slave labor: Younger consumers are demanding the truth
Education changed peoples’ hearts and minds and led to the abolition of the slave trade in the 18th century. Truth in labeling can help people of faith to oppose slave labor today.
Faith
At the synod in Rome: Waiting to find out where to go
There is something to learn from the fact that discussion at the synod on the most difficult topics was neither rushed to a conclusion nor closed absolutely.
Why are some U.S. bishops struggling to connect with Pope Francis?
Our readers respond to Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell’s interview with Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States since 2016.
Have yourself a modest little Christmas? The holiday season highlights a wasteful culture.
From unwrapping unwanted presents to burning fossil fuel to power millions of Christmas lights, the commemoration of the humble birth of Jesus comes at a significant expense to the environment.
The trouble with ‘gender ideology’
Can we learn to see gender in its real complexity?
How a Catholic ecology center in Wisconsin strives to change the world by changing hearts
The C.E.C. demonstrates a profound, organic Catholicism that places people within “the wholeness of creation” and asks them “to look and feel and touch and know it.”
Devotion to Mary can invigorate our love for the Eucharist
What if we brought together two currents: attachment to the Eucharist as liturgical action and devotion with attachment to the Blessed Virgin Mary? The conjunction of these currents can enable them to reinforce each other and can make a significant impact on our spiritual journeys.
The mystery of Thomas Aquinas: Why did he leave his ‘Summa’ unfinished?
Thomas Aquinas’s ‘Summa Theologiae’ is perhaps the most important philosophical/theological work in Christian history. Why didn’t the Angelic Doctor finish it?
What our editors learned while reporting on the Synod on Synodality from Rome
Timely Lessons in the Eternal City
How a special novena brought our community closer to Mary
How a special novena brought our community closer to Our Lady.
Cardinal Cupich on the synod, women deacons, giving bishops job reviews and why ‘LGBTQ’ was left out of the final doc
Exclusive interview: Cardinal Cupich on the end of the first session of the Synod on Synodality.
Magazine
A new Lilly Endowment grant propels America Media efforts on preaching
Through the Lilly Endowment’s Compelling Preaching Initiative, America Media will continue to “respond to the needs of the church” through effective preaching on multimedia platforms.
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Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts