Many topics of great import were discussed at the meeting of the U.S. bishops. But they missed the mark on bingo, confession and whether cats possess prevenient grace.
Joe Hoover, S.J.
Joe Hoover, S.J., is America’s poetry editor and producer of a new film, “The Allegory.”
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
The year the Twin Towers fell, the Yankees lost the World Series—and God could do nothing about it.
That heartbreaking baseball defeat seeming to distill and crystallize all of it; pointing to something so bleak, sad and hopeless tucked into the fabric of everything.
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
Whatever and ever Amen: Two Gen-X Catholics remember classic retreat songs.
Did the singer-songwriter era come about specifically to fill a demand by retreat directors for a poignant soundtrack to accompany the spiritual epiphanies of 16-year-olds?
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
A spiritual diary about getting the ordinary, miraculous Covid-19 vaccine
A tribute to the shot that may be saving the world.
Posted inFaith
One cannonball and 500 years later: How to celebrate the Ignatian Year
In an effort to foster a prayerful community in celebration together, America has compiled a list of events that will be updated as the year goes on.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
When poetry meets spirituality
Eleven different poetry collections reviewed by four America editors offer a sample of the God-haunted and the God-hunted contemporary literary artists who work out their spiritual, intellectual and emotional conundrums through lyrical compositions.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
What the Jesuit John Kavanaugh understood about our consumer society
For Kavanaugh, the only true response to our consumer culture is the life of Christ: inviting, healing, self-sacrificing, loving.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Why Catholics are so obsessed with Jesus’ death and suffering: A meditation
Life is just a very terrible thing at times, and Christ knew it and we know it and the church seems to know it. The church is something that deals, quite unflinchingly, in reality.
Posted inFaith, Music
Millennials Confront True Meaning of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ (A Parable)
Oh the poor starving Africans! the six of us looking at each other like are you kidding me…
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Why does God allow suffering? A meditation
Why is it this way? It is the child’s most basic question, dealing with the most bewildering thing of all.