Jesuit School Spotlight
A Jesuit high school pilots a program for students with disabilities
At De Smet, students with disabilities attend four classes with their peers, including physical education/health, theology, art and music.
Of Many Things
Trump’s threat to democracy won’t be stopped by court cases alone
Whatever the court decides, Mr. Trump’s brazen refusal to accept the will of the voters or constitutional limits on presidential power still needs to be confronted and rejected.
Your Take
‘Why stay?’ Readers respond to an essay about keeping faith after scandal
Delaney Coyne shared why she stays in a church plagued by the scandal of sexual abuse, eliciting responses from readers who have grappled with similar questions.
Editorials
The Editors: Vatican document on same-sex blessings does not confuse church teaching—it deepens it
How can the church unite clarity of teaching with pastoral closeness to people in their struggles?
Short Take
Catholic universities need a new kind of affirmative action—for students aligned with their mission
The Supreme Court has limited the consideration of race in admissions, but Catholic schools may still pursue diversity by selecting students likely to advance social justice after they graduate.
Dispatches
Vatican decree on blessing same-sex couples gets mixed responses from bishops in Europe and Africa
Global reaction among bishops to the Vatican’s declaration that priests may now bless same-sex couples appears most divergent in some European and African nations.
This Palestinian bishop is worried Christians will disappear from Gaza
“After this war, I fear there will be no more Christians in Gaza after a continuous presence of more than 18 centuries,” Bishop William Shomali said in an exclusive interview.
Pope Francis couldn’t travel to COP28—but he was still a strong presence there.
“Faith actors at COP28 were there to be the moral voice of the climate talks, reminding negotiators that their words, the texts that they fight about, have real consequences in people’s lives.”
Argentina’s president-elect Milei moderates his anti-pope rhetoric. Will it last?
The Argentine church received a message with the call Pope Francis made to Javier Milei: ”Lay off this guy” and “contribute to social peace.”
Features
Archbishop Ireland’s ambitious plan for Catholic schools failed in his day. Could we resurrect it today?
From a Catholic perspective, it is fair to say that Archbishop John Ireland put Minnesota on the map. But he failed in his most cherished project: a new model for Catholic education.
Bill Russell, K.C. Jones and the Black players who made basketball history at San Francisco’s Jesuit university
Men’s college basketball’s finest squad did not come from one of the N.C.A.A. powerhouses of the past three decades, but from the University of San Francisco, where Bill Russell led the team to consecutive national championships in 1955 and 1956.
Faith and Reason
‘Grace is everywhere’: Reflections on 60 years of priesthood
Looking back on 60 years of priesthood, the author notes the importance of the cross, the Eucharist, faith and grace in giving people meaning, purpose and hope in life.
Faith in Focus
What I say when people ask: How many children do you have?
Answering the question of how many kids feels impossible.
How a New Jersey college educates women religious from around the world
The mission of Assumption College for Sisters states that “through education and community,” the school “forms servant leaders who transform lives.”
Books
Review: A meditation on faith
In his 2008 book, Tomáš Halík calls on the church to provide “dressing stations” for the wounded. Halík’s book is now available for the first time in an English translation by Gerald Turner as ‘Touch the Wounds: On Suffering, Trust, and Transformation.’
Review: The examined life in the eternal city
Like much of Liam Callanan’s fiction, ‘When in Rome’ hints at the action of divine grace in people’s lives and how the protagonists come to understand and appreciate its beneficence.
Review: Jill Lepore’s reasons to panic (or not)
In ‘The Deadline,’ Jill Lepore uses her deep historical knowledge to ground the reader in truthful analysis, synthesizing complex ideas into their most digestible form.
Review: Abdulrazak Gurnah on war, chance encounters and destiny
Abdulrazak Gurnah won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature for ‘Afterlives,’ which was not published in the United States until 2022.
Review: Evaluating our militant empire
In ‘War Made Invisible,’ Norman Solomon examines the variety of ways we are so often uninformed or misinformed by our mass media’s coverage (and non-coverage) of wars and their legacy of destruction.
Review: Walter Brueggemann on what the Bible really says about our political culture
In ‘Ancient Echoes,’ the highly respected Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann provides a provocative set of essays that provides a useful treasury of biblical texts potentially relevant to contemporary political discussion.
Film
Hayao Miyazaki’s films teach an essential lesson: Give the world something beautiful
Hayao Miyazaki’s influence is so massive that it’s hard not to understate it.
Poetry
The Death of Cicero
His servants pulled him through the postern gate To ride in shadows to a waiting ship
Turning Seventy-Five
an instant sharp pain somewhere near the heart and sudden ringing in the ear when no bell tolls
Last Take
Returning to the Source: Enriching Lent by entering into the Gospel
The most difficult task of a Christian involves that of being a living exemplar of the virtues present in Jesus. The Lenten season can be a gift in continuing this process of personal transformation.
Faith
Returning to the Source: Enriching Lent by entering into the Gospel
The most difficult task of a Christian involves that of being a living exemplar of the virtues present in Jesus. The Lenten season can be a gift in continuing this process of personal transformation.
A Jesuit high school pilots a program for students with disabilities
At De Smet, students with disabilities attend four classes with their peers, including physical education/health, theology, art and music.
What I say when people ask: How many children do you have?
Answering the question of how many kids feels impossible.
How a New Jersey college educates women religious from around the world
The mission of Assumption College for Sisters states that “through education and community,” the school “forms servant leaders who transform lives.”
‘Why stay?’ Readers respond to an essay about keeping faith after scandal
Delaney Coyne shared why she stays in a church plagued by the scandal of sexual abuse, eliciting responses from readers who have grappled with similar questions.
Archbishop Ireland’s ambitious plan for Catholic schools failed in his day. Could we resurrect it today?
From a Catholic perspective, it is fair to say that Archbishop John Ireland put Minnesota on the map. But he failed in his most cherished project: a new model for Catholic education.
The Editors: Vatican document on same-sex blessings does not confuse church teaching—it deepens it
How can the church unite clarity of teaching with pastoral closeness to people in their struggles?
Bill Russell, K.C. Jones and the Black players who made basketball history at San Francisco’s Jesuit university
Men’s college basketball’s finest squad did not come from one of the N.C.A.A. powerhouses of the past three decades, but from the University of San Francisco, where Bill Russell led the team to consecutive national championships in 1955 and 1956.
Vatican decree on blessing same-sex couples gets mixed responses from bishops in Europe and Africa
Global reaction among bishops to the Vatican’s declaration that priests may now bless same-sex couples appears most divergent in some European and African nations.
‘Grace is everywhere’: Reflections on 60 years of priesthood
Looking back on 60 years of priesthood, the author notes the importance of the cross, the Eucharist, faith and grace in giving people meaning, purpose and hope in life.
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts