The United States is suffering from an epidemic of despair. The Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles, one of the earliest descriptions of a Christian community, offers one way to cultivate love.
Short Take
Posted inFaith, Short Take
Pope Francis’ new sex abuse rules are a revolution for the Catholic Church
The painful experience of the U.S. church and the voices of the faithful worldwide have helped bring about a change in attitude and a change in law. There is no turning back now.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
How to get more people to sing at Mass: Stop adding new hymns
A supposed need for variety imposes more and more hymns on congregants, but the cost of novelty can be the full, active participation of those in the pews, writes John Zupez, S.J.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Paul Ryan has been hired to teach at Notre Dame. He should think about studying there instead.
The Rodney Dangerfield film “Back to School” has a lesson for even the most famous individuals: Anyone can benefit from hitting the books.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
Three ways to evaluate Pope Francis’ reform of the Roman Curia
Reforming the Vatican Curia has been a goal since the Second Vatican Council, but so far the changes have failed to improve its efficiency or responsiveness. Pope Francis is trying again.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
The West’s debt to Notre Dame
In the wake of the fire, perhaps today’s “cultured despisers” of religion will come to appreciate how devotion to Notre Dame has been a wellspring of Western civilization as we know it.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
What the sacking of Rome has to teach us about the fire at Notre Dame
The fire at Notre Dame raised questions about God’s protection of sacred sites. But then how could God allow the destruction of Rome just one generation after Christianity became the official religion of the Empire?
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
A message to Pope Francis: Be wary of right-wing populists when you visit Romania
The pope will visit a section of Romania with a large ethnic Hungarian population—and a Marian shrine that has attracted allies of the autocratic, anti-migrant Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
Pope Benedict’s letter on sex abuse is not an attack on Francis (or Vatican II)
The pope and the pope emeritus are not so far apart: Both Benedict and Francis warn against responding to the abuse crisis with a ’self-made’ church that ignores the Gospel.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
A better choice than late-term abortion: perinatal hospice care
For the rare cases in which mothers consider late-term abortions to spare infants from pain, perinatal hospice programs offer a compassionate and life-affirming alternative.