Of Many Things
Matt Malone, S.J., responds to the release of names of accused Jesuits by the Northeast Province
The past few months have not been easy for the editorial team at America. No one here became a Catholic journalist because they wanted to write about ecclesial scandals day after day. That the staff have done so with such devotion and care is a great testament to the depth of their commitment to our…
Letters
The Letters
Responsibility Re “Placement of Jesuits Under Supervision Raises Concerns,” by Michael J. O’Loughlin and Kevin Clarke (1/21): Priests must stop protecting one another. The nation must stop allowing abusive priests to be treated any differently from other abusers. They are breaking the law—not just God’s law but the actual law, and they should be held…
Your Take
What is the greatest challenge facing religious education programs for children?
In response to this question, 54 percent of respondents said a lack of parental involvement poses the greatest challenge to religious education programs for children.
Editorials
It’s time to throw away car ownership as a mark of prosperity
The four-wheeled population is growing faster than the human population in many dense cities with strong economies.
The Editors: Politicians fail the country by applying religious tests
A commitment to religious liberty demands that effort be devoted to resolving, rather than exacerbating, any real or apparent tension between religious obligation and civil duty.
Short Take
Why keeping cellphones out of the classroom is a good spiritual practice
A theology professor decides there is no other option: Cell phones are incompatible with spiritual reflection.
Dispatches
Can high-tech maps help the church and save the planet?
An American entrepreneur is teaching both the Vatican and local parishes about modern cartography—and how it can help responsible management of the church’s vast real estate portfolio.
While U.S. fixates on the border wall, populist world leaders still turn migrants away
The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration reports that for the fifth consecutive year more than 4,500 people are believed to have died or gone missing on migration routes around the world in 2018.
How many members of the new Congress are Catholic?
Catholics make up majorities of congressional delegations from six states—Alaska, Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont—and half of the delegations from Iowa, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
GoodNews
GoodNews: Giving back, not giving up as federal shutdown continues
An epic battle of ill will between House Democrats and the Trump administration extended into late January as the longest partial shutdown of the federal government in history continued.
Features
The era of the parochial school is over. Meet the Catholic educators searching for what’s next.
Today Catholic schools are shifting some of that authority from pastors and principals to other sources.
How a racist fan letter forced me to reckon with our nation’s history of prejudice
Like most public writers, I was used to getting notes that were crude, crazy or even mildly threatening. Normally, I would say a quick prayer for these obviously troubled people and get on with my day. This time it felt different, precisely because the author wasn’t insulting or obviously deranged.
Faith in Focus
Rabbi Skorka: What my friendship with Pope Francis taught me about interfaith dialogue
In preparation for the gathering in Abu Dhabi, I find myself asking why my conversations with the future Pope Francis so powerfully affected both of us.
I was a victim of racism at my Jesuit high school. I know we can do better.
I cannot continue to hide the enduring pain that I feel because of a vile and humiliating incident 30 years ago.
Ideas
Why the writer Richard Rodriguez refuses to be put into a box
Part of Richard Rodriguez’s charm is his refusal to play to people’s expectations of who he should be.
Books
Review: A holy and sinful church
Flanagan invites scandal-plagued Catholics to face the reality of our sin with renewed hope with helpful rules.
Review: Meghan O’Gieblyn on Christian evangelical culture
When the essayist Meghan O’Gieblyn was a student at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, a Friday night out meant sidewalk evangelism. She and her friends would draw the plan of salvation on a portable chalkboard, hand out tracts and invite passersby to get saved. O’Gieblyn got few takers. Eventually, she left the school and…
Review: Oscar Wilde’s quest for identity
His lectures mixed paradox and wit, eccentricity and nonsense while spreading the war cry of beauty amid the agonizing ugliness of 19th-century American dress and décor.
‘Becoming the writer-monk’: Mary Gordon on Thomas Merton
The fascinating premise of Mary Gordon’s lovely little book On Thomas Merton is that, except for his extensive correspondence with Evelyn Waugh and Czeslaw Milosz, Thomas Merton was without literary peers who could perceptively judge, critique and improve his writing.
Art
Andy Warhol’s camouflaged Catholicism
Behind the camouflage of celebrity, who was the real Andy Warhol?
Film
From “Taxi Driver” to “First Reformed,” an interview with Paul Schrader
For years, Paul Schrader refused to write a spiritual film—until “First Reformed.”
Poetry
A Trajectory of Starlings
They blew in fast to the low slung tree hung fat with beachball-orange fruitlets, a bickering gang of starlings– little stars– dining after their own fashion fastidiously, preferring the mash fermenting on the grasses to the firm fruits strung upon the leaf-bare branches. They swilled their modest fill, before flying off on cue, from one…
The Word
The Beatitudes remind us of our own false righteousness
Poverty, hunger, grief and exclusion are not signs of the absence of God’s love.
The unlikely heroes of the Bible
Divine salvation advances because unlikely characters say yes to grace.
Last Take
Former Vatican ambassador: Pope reminds U.S. that greatness comes from looking beyond our borders
In his annual address to diplomats at the Vatican, Pope Francis condemned isolationism and called on nations to act out of “concern for the whole human family and its needs.”
Faith
GoodNews: Giving back, not giving up as federal shutdown continues
An epic battle of ill will between House Democrats and the Trump administration extended into late January as the longest partial shutdown of the federal government in history continued.
The Beatitudes remind us of our own false righteousness
Poverty, hunger, grief and exclusion are not signs of the absence of God’s love.
The unlikely heroes of the Bible
Divine salvation advances because unlikely characters say yes to grace.
The era of the parochial school is over. Meet the Catholic educators searching for what’s next.
Today Catholic schools are shifting some of that authority from pastors and principals to other sources.
What is the greatest challenge facing religious education programs for children?
In response to this question, 54 percent of respondents said a lack of parental involvement poses the greatest challenge to religious education programs for children.
Matt Malone, S.J., responds to the release of names of accused Jesuits by the Northeast Province
The past few months have not been easy for the editorial team at America. No one here became a Catholic journalist because they wanted to write about ecclesial scandals day after day. That the staff have done so with such devotion and care is a great testament to the depth of their commitment to our…
Rabbi Skorka: What my friendship with Pope Francis taught me about interfaith dialogue
In preparation for the gathering in Abu Dhabi, I find myself asking why my conversations with the future Pope Francis so powerfully affected both of us.
Can high-tech maps help the church and save the planet?
An American entrepreneur is teaching both the Vatican and local parishes about modern cartography—and how it can help responsible management of the church’s vast real estate portfolio.
I was a victim of racism at my Jesuit high school. I know we can do better.
I cannot continue to hide the enduring pain that I feel because of a vile and humiliating incident 30 years ago.
Magazine
The Letters
Responsibility Re “Placement of Jesuits Under Supervision Raises Concerns,” by Michael J. O’Loughlin and Kevin Clarke (1/21): Priests must stop protecting one another. The nation must stop allowing abusive priests to be treated any differently from other abusers. They are breaking the law—not just God’s law but the actual law, and they should be held…
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts