Of Many Things
The day after Trump’s victory: searching for mercy, justice and God’s providence
This election highlights the deep divisions in American society. But perhaps the strange working of mercy and providence is evident even there, keeping us attentive to the need for conversion and reconciliation.
Your Take
Your Take: the gift of vegetarianism
Our readers weigh in on the value and spiritual benefits of vegetarianism, inspired by the experience of Fr. Francis X. Clooney, S.J.
Editorials
Praying for the patience to listen to each other: The work of the synod continues
Especially in places like the United States, where structures like pastoral councils are already relatively common, it is important to hear the synod’s call to ensure that consultation and dialogue are effective and not merely nominal.
Short Take
Climate change is not only an environmental crisis. It also threatens families and traditional values.
We have recently seen entire communities wiped off the map by wildfires fueled by ever-hotter weather. This has grave implications for tradition, family and other goods that social conservatives value.
Dispatches
Reporting from Hurricane Helene’s ground zero: No ‘safe havens’
Helene’s devastation is offering a hard lesson: No community or U.S. region can consider itself safe from the extreme weather events that global warming is seeding and supercharging.
Features
Pope Francis’ Argentina: Lessons for the global church from the pope’s homeland
A trip to Argentina shows not only Francis’ legacy here, but also the model of ministry that shaped him.
Lay volunteers are often the backbone of Catholic parishes. But they need support, too.
External realities are complicating the traditional structures on which parishes have relied for decades.
Faith and Reason
Heaven and hell in post-Vatican II Catholicism: How to move from fear to love
There is no bigger question for Catholics today than this: Why should anyone become or remain Catholic?
Faith in Focus
What I saw at the border—and why it broke my heart
What I saw at the U.S.-Mexico border reminded me of the solidarity with migrants so often lacking in our country today.
Advice for (and from) millennials for living in the middle of it all
We need to remember that even in the middle of dealing with whatever big thing is happening now: We are alive.
Ideas
Puccini, opera and the arts as a gift from God
Giacomo Puccini, the composer of “La Bohème,” “Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly,” has been called the world’s most popular songwriter, and with good reason.
Books
Review: Poetry of the seeking soul
A tourist who is out of time approaches the end of his or her trip and must return home soon. This is how the Rev. David May describes himself through his poems.
Review: The end of neoliberalism
In ‘Tyranny, Inc.,’ Sohrab Ahmari supplies a framework and examples of what has shaped the desperate plight of a growing number of Americans.
Review: Julia Alvarez riffs on ‘Arabian Nights’
‘The Cemetery of Untold Stories’ reads like a novel made up of all the stories that Julia Alvarez no longer wants to carry in bits and pieces in her head,. And Alvarez knows that we all are—and need to be—story creatures.
Review: Vinson Cunningham’s debut novel takes us deep into presidential politics, divine providence and the NBA
Vinson Cunningham’s constant application of a critical eye in his work for The New Yorker must have helped in composing his first novel, “Great Expectations.”
Review: Garth Greenwell’s mystical novel ‘Small Rain’ teaches the art of living from a hospital bed
Garth Greenwell’s Small Rain is a mystical novel, a story in which illness becomes an occasion for a new attention to one’s life and loves.
Poetry
Behold the Handmaid
if you go to Mass, you hear the near-perfect opening line in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God
Last Take
Opening doors at Advent and all year long: How J.R.S. responds to the plight of refugees
When Pedro Arrupe, S.J., founded Jesuit Refugee Service in 1980, there were approximately 10 million forcibly displaced people in the world. Today, there are 120 million.
Faith
Pope Francis’ Argentina: Lessons for the global church from the pope’s homeland
A trip to Argentina shows not only Francis’ legacy here, but also the model of ministry that shaped him.
Lay volunteers are often the backbone of Catholic parishes. But they need support, too.
External realities are complicating the traditional structures on which parishes have relied for decades.
What I saw at the border—and why it broke my heart
What I saw at the U.S.-Mexico border reminded me of the solidarity with migrants so often lacking in our country today.
Advice for (and from) millennials for living in the middle of it all
We need to remember that even in the middle of dealing with whatever big thing is happening now: We are alive.
Your Take: the gift of vegetarianism
Our readers weigh in on the value and spiritual benefits of vegetarianism, inspired by the experience of Fr. Francis X. Clooney, S.J.
Praying for the patience to listen to each other: The work of the synod continues
Especially in places like the United States, where structures like pastoral councils are already relatively common, it is important to hear the synod’s call to ensure that consultation and dialogue are effective and not merely nominal.
Synodality—and ‘controversial’ issues—are here to stay: Takeaways from the Synod’s final document
Fr. James Martin shares his five insights from the synod’s final document, just approved by Pope Francis and published by the Vatican.
Heaven and hell in post-Vatican II Catholicism: How to move from fear to love
There is no bigger question for Catholics today than this: Why should anyone become or remain Catholic?
Podcasts
Did the magi really exist? Investigating the story behind the Christmas carol
Besides its musical beauty and thrilling sense of wonder, the song ‘We Three Kings’ offers a treasure trove of stories to unwrap.
Vatican Dispatch
Synodality—and ‘controversial’ issues—are here to stay: Takeaways from the Synod’s final document
Fr. James Martin shares his five insights from the synod’s final document, just approved by Pope Francis and published by the Vatican.
Interview: Why Hong Kong’s Jesuit cardinal Stephen Chow has hope for Vatican-China relations
In an exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell, Cardinal Chow discusses the renewal of the Vatican-China deal, signs of growing trust between the two parties and the Communist Party’s push to “sinicize religion.”
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts