Super Bowl Sunday is an opportunity like no other to get your message out there. So why doesn’t the Catholic Church ever use it?
Ideas
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
The spirituality of ‘cringe’
Last week, after over 50 years of this experience, I was finally given a word that captures what I feel when I see any of the many Laughing Jesus paintings: Cringe.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Our favorite pop culture stories are sacred to us. Have we lost the ability to critique them?
I wonder at the rage we seem to have at the ready when it comes to our favorite pieces of pop culture.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Wordle is taking over our social media feeds. But it’s more than just a game—it’s a gift.
The New York Times said that “Wordle is a love story.” In a way, isn’t every online bit and bob that we delight in a love story?
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
The ‘Harry Potter’ reunion is just what 2022 needs
To want to magic away Covid-19 is wishful thinking at its very worst. But that impulse is a forgivable offense. And it is exactly why “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts” is what 2022 needs.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
The devotional Catholicism behind Andy Warhol’s postmodern work
A new exhibition reveals a side of Andy Warhol few probably know: his deeply-etched religious faith.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Elmo’s viral fight with a pet rock is the Jan. 6 story we didn’t know we needed
We don’t expect to see a Muppet so completely lose it. But today of all days, Elmo reminds us that it is totally appropriate to call out what is only pretend and say, “No, that’s not right.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Christmas pageants and school plays are back. Thank God.
We are now in the season of schools plays and Christmas concerts. In the past, it’s been something of an endurance test, hasn’t it? But maybe it’s different this year.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
The Catholic Church is slow to change. When it comes to the names of our churches, that’s a good thing.
Staples Center in Los Angeles is now the Crypto.com Center. St. Patrick’s Cathedral will no doubt continue to change in the coming decades, but one thing it will never do is rename itself #JesusWins Cathedral.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
A light show transforms Montreal’s Basilica of Notre-Dame and shows the beauty of Catholicism to a secular audience
Cathedrals and basilicas have become a part of urban culture and are fertile ground for creatively sharing the faith, as seen in Montreal’s Basilica of Notre-Dame.