Maybe in this time of uncertainty, fear and doubt, it would be worth recruiting some young people like BTS, Greta Thunberg or Malala Yousafzai to officially join the pope in his fight for the future of our planet.
Jim McDermott
Jim McDermott writes about pop culture at jimmcdermott.substack.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Norm Macdonald and John Mulaney show us men can be vulnerable—if we give them the space
Maybe the problem is not that men or “celebrities” don’t know how to be vulnerable or messy but that we don’t like to be reminded that they are. (And we are, too.)
Posted inArts & Culture, Short Take
The Catholic Church needs its own Met Gala
I know what you are thinking—a decadent spectacle of wealth, really, that’s what the church needs right now? But hear me out.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
John Mulaney has fallen off his nice-guy pedestal—and he might have something to teach the Catholic Church.
To have John Mulaney dump his wife, leap into a celebrity romance and become a baby daddy all in a couple months feels like a complete betrayal to many of his fans. Catholics know that feeling well.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
Five Pieces of Pop Culture that Wrestled with 9/11
Many of the stories that came out of 9/11, tales of grief and rage, sin and freedom, seem relevant once again.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
Most prison shows present problems for Catholics. But ‘Time’ defies the stereotypes of the genre.
The show presents a radical, eminently Catholic conviction: that men and women in jail are not “convicts,” but human beings on the same journey of sin, mercy and redemption.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
‘When does it end?’ Parents on the most stressful back-to-school season of the pandemic
Families are trying to be hopeful and trying to keep perspective. But they’re also anxious, frustrated and exhausted.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Catholics deserve better homilies. Here are my top 5 tips for fellow preachers.
Catholics have lots of great advice for their priests. Here, with all the humility you might expect of a Jesuit, is my own list of top five suggestions for Catholic preachers.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Three spiritual exercises for facing a long future with Covid-19
It can be dispiriting, even infuriating, to imagine our future with Covid-19. Spiritual exercises inspired by Ignatius can help us become more aware and move past our anger.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
The church’s abuse crisis taught me not to trust my heroes—so why was I so shocked by Andrew Cuomo?
At some point you begin to wonder whether there is anyone in leadership who we can count on for decency, or whether every single one is just one whistleblower away from being outed as another Cuomo.