The extent to which I do not want housing for the poor in my own neighborhood is the extent to which I am failing to be a Christian.
Patrick Gilger, S.J.
Patrick Gilger, S.J., is pursuing a Ph.D. in sociology at the New School for Social Research. He is America’s contributing editor for culture.
Posted inBooks, Faith
Seeking the Spirit in a secular age
From the open arms of “Who am I to judge?” to the strict boundaries of the Benedict Option, the question of how to be a church community is a prominent one for Christians in our secular age. The knot caused by the two kinds of answers commonly given to this question lies at the heart […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
What Rod Dreher gets right in “The Benedict Option” is just as important as what he gets wrong.
Patrick Gilger, S.J., reviews “The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation” by Rod Dreher.
Posted inIn All Things, Politics & Society
So what’s the Benedict Option really about, retreat or re-engagement?
If we think the Benedict Option is going to be easier than the messy reality of modern parish life, we have not yet seen it clearly.
Posted inFrom Our Archives
How protest tries to put the world back together—and why it matters for Catholics.
The re-enchantment of the world may never be global, but perhaps it can be Catholic.
Posted inIn All Things, Politics & Society
In the face of violence, why do we write? What can words do?
We write so that our silence does not become the privilege of ignoring suffering; we write to cling to the hope that another world is possible.
Posted inFrom Our Archives
What Martyrdom Means: On the death of a brother Jesuit
Frans van der Lugt, S.J.—who on April 7 was shot in the head, twice, in front of his home in the city of Homs, Syria—had been living under siege for 20 months when, in January, he recorded a video message challenging the outside world to help. He ends this video, one that made him f
Posted inBooks
Scabs and Secrets
Duro Kolak, the narrator and fulcrum of Aminatta Forna’s excellent fourth book The Hired Man, is a patient man, loyal and solitary.
Posted inFaith
Francis in ‘America’: A historic papal interview draws world-wide reaction
Editor’s note: The historic interview with Pope Francis (Am. 9/30) has generated a great deal of dialogue in the church and in society at large. We asked several writers to offer their reactions to the pope’s words. Selections from these responses are printed below. The full versions of
Posted inBooks
Lost and Found
The Variations attempts make inroads “on the vast terrain of what cannot be said.”