The Weekly Dispatch
Report: How Jesuit Refugee Service is responding to the Trump foreign aid freeze
Halting the work of U.S.A.I.D. “will kill millions of people and condemn hundreds of millions more to lives of dehumanizing poverty.”
Of Many Things
Trump the bully: Is this what the United States aspires to be?
At its best, the United States defines itself not primarily by its borders, but by its values and principles.
Your Take
Our readers on the greatness of Catholic kitsch
Our readers offer their appreciation for Kerry Weber’s defense of Catholic kitsch.
Editorials
The Council of Nicaea, Christian unity and a common date for Easter
The common date of Easter 2025 between East and West can prompt Christians to reflect on what we all share.
Dispatches
Ignatian Solidarity Network sources college gear that is ethically ready to wear
Can you actually achieve a triple bottom line—people, planet and profit—in clothing manufacture? CEPA shows the way.
What does the future hold for Christians in Syria after Assad?
The rapid victory of the Sunni opposition fighters over regular army units loyal to Mr. al-Assad has left many wondering how Syria’s minority faith groups—Alawites, Christians, Shiites and others—will fare as H.T.S. consolidates its control.
Features
Where is God in the liturgy? A way forward for reform and renewal
How do Catholics in the United States understand the liturgy today? Five different approaches are prominent, but some share more with Pope Francis’ synodal and liturgical vision.
‘The Chosen’ is wildly popular. Should Catholics watch it?
A Jesuit considers the series that has become an international phenomenon.
Faith and Reason
The four signs of a truly synodal church
Reflecting on the final document of the synod, Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon proposes four marks of a synodal church: relating, listening, discerning and self-emptying.
Data and discernment: How the church can make better use of empirical evidence
How and why should the church use empirical evidence for ministry and discernment? Empirical data and engagement with the broader context of Catholicism can help us to better understand the life of the church.
Trump, Musk and Vance target the most vulnerable and attack Catholic ministries—and it’s working
The Trump administration’s recent attacks on the resources and structures that serve the poor and on the religious institutions that serve the most vulnerable are unprecedented in their scale, pace and human impact.
Faith in Focus
Seeing what is holy in every religious tradition: Lessons from 100 retreats at a Camaldolese monastery
I know of nowhere saner or more steadying, especially in a world of acceleration and contention.
A prayer for Pope Francis during his grave illness
Loving God: As Francis, our beloved pope, suffers from grave illnesses, we come before you in prayer.
The heart of a Jesuit martyr
The heart of St. Roque lay in the display case in front of me. It still held the power of life and evangelization, announcing its presence at the very moment when I most needed faith and consolation.
Books
Review: Percival Everett revisits Huck Finn
In his 2024 National Book Award-winning novel, ‘James,’ Percival Everett grapples with philosophical and metaphysical questions as well as racial issues, while enveloping all in sarcasm and irony.
Masked man: Al Jolson and the politics of performance
Richard Bernstein tackles difficult topics in his short study of an extraordinary entertainer, Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson in Lithuania in 1886), and a profoundly important movie—and not just because “The Jazz Singer” is recognized as the “first talkie.”
Review: A novel about aging, ailing and the inevitability of death
With ‘Featherless,’ her new novel about aging, ailing and the inevitability of death. A. G. Mojtabai joins so many other prominent contemporary fiction writers (Toni Morrison, Phillip Roth, Marilynne Robinson and Margaret Atwood, to name a few) who have explored aging late in their careers.
Review: The future of Catholic theology departments in colleges and universities
Massimo Faggioli’s new book asks the question: “What is [theology’s] intrinsic value if it is not rooted somehow to the ongoing development of the life of the church as a community of disciples attempting to live Jesus-like lives?”
Why Catholic literary circles should remember the writings of William Barrett
William Barrett is hardly remembered in Catholic academic or literary circles, though his Catholic novels offer richly textured stories that avoid the sensational and sentimental.
An atheist walks into a Catholic convent: Charlotte Wood on her novel ‘Stone Yard Devotional’
Wood’s earlier novels contain explicit social critiques, but ‘Stone Yard Devotional’ does its intellectual heavy lifting at an arm’s-length distance. “I wanted to write a book that doesn’t teach or explain or condescend,” she told America in an interview over Zoom in February.
Poetry
The Organist
I found I was playing the whole house,
Pomegranate
And suddenly, without warning this long year of suffering comes back in fragments,
Last Take
How to engage the Latino young adults who are disaffiliating from the Catholic Church
We are called to meet Latino young adults where they are. Our dioceses and parishes need to make a more concerted effort for Latinos with strong catechesis and youth ministry programs.
Faith
The Council of Nicaea, Christian unity and a common date for Easter
The common date of Easter 2025 between East and West can prompt Christians to reflect on what we all share.
Seeing what is holy in every religious tradition: Lessons from 100 retreats at a Camaldolese monastery
I know of nowhere saner or more steadying, especially in a world of acceleration and contention.
The four signs of a truly synodal church
Reflecting on the final document of the synod, Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon proposes four marks of a synodal church: relating, listening, discerning and self-emptying.
Data and discernment: How the church can make better use of empirical evidence
How and why should the church use empirical evidence for ministry and discernment? Empirical data and engagement with the broader context of Catholicism can help us to better understand the life of the church.
Where is God in the liturgy? A way forward for reform and renewal
How do Catholics in the United States understand the liturgy today? Five different approaches are prominent, but some share more with Pope Francis’ synodal and liturgical vision.
Our readers on the greatness of Catholic kitsch
Our readers offer their appreciation for Kerry Weber’s defense of Catholic kitsch.
How to engage the Latino young adults who are disaffiliating from the Catholic Church
We are called to meet Latino young adults where they are. Our dioceses and parishes need to make a more concerted effort for Latinos with strong catechesis and youth ministry programs.
‘The Chosen’ is wildly popular. Should Catholics watch it?
A Jesuit considers the series that has become an international phenomenon.
A prayer for Pope Francis during his grave illness
Loving God: As Francis, our beloved pope, suffers from grave illnesses, we come before you in prayer.
Trump, Musk and Vance target the most vulnerable and attack Catholic ministries—and it’s working
The Trump administration’s recent attacks on the resources and structures that serve the poor and on the religious institutions that serve the most vulnerable are unprecedented in their scale, pace and human impact.
The heart of a Jesuit martyr
The heart of St. Roque lay in the display case in front of me. It still held the power of life and evangelization, announcing its presence at the very moment when I most needed faith and consolation.
Vatican Dispatch
New Vatican document on A.I. warns against ‘creating a substitute for God’
As the United States and China vie for primacy in the field of artificial intelligence, the Vatican today issued a wide-ranging reflection on “the relationship between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence.”
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts