The ‘Manosphere’ and a church against extremes
The church must stop allowing itself to be used as a tool in the Christian nationalist extremist resurgence in the United States today.
Fear, faith and fishing: Confessions of a Jesuit angler
Fishing teaches us that we are not in control.
The Catholic Church and the 13 colonies in 1776
The Catholic Church in the United States in 1776 was so tiny that it didn’t play a major role in the American Revolution—but the war affected the local church in important and lasting ways.
Review: A counternarrative to American religious history
Matthew Sutton’s ‘Chosen Land’ addresses American religious history as one of a luxurious pluralism—but he often crosses the line into a perhaps-overdone editorial voice that grates on the reader.
The Novena That Carried Me
A child in silk, crown too large for his small head
Review: The Big Apple in the 1980s
The New York that Jonathan Mahler describes in ‘The Gods of New York’ is unstable, vulgar and dangerous. But there is much more to the story of the city in the late 1980s.
Review: Going nuclear—or not
Two new books—’Return to Fukushima’ and ‘Nuclear Is Not The Solution’—lay out the perils and ugly history of nuclear power.
Faith, morality and the manosphere: A forum on male grievance and belonging
If Christian language, identity and even nationalism are being reshaped in a largely unmoored digital marketplace that blends masculinity, grievance and politics, how should the Catholic Church respond? Four scholars—Patrick Gilger, S.J., Margaret Felice, Susan Bigelow Reynolds and Peter Nguyen, S.J.—offer their reflections.
At the end of my suffering there was a door
Outside, a snow lay over the lake like ash
The editors: The unfinished work that remains for the United States of America
Americans should reject the false choice between an uncritical celebration and a despair that is blind to the country’s virtues.
Review: Maritain’s artful scholasticism
Jacques Maritain’s thought can be intimidating to anyone without a strong background in theology or philosophy. But ‘The Christian Philosophy of Jacques Maritain’ can be a helpful introduction.
Major-League Mass: When chaplains, players and staff gather for prayer, ballparks become cathedrals.
Masses and other religious services are not what one might expect to find in a baseball stadium—but for many MLB players, they are a Sunday pregame staple.
The ‘Manosphere’ and the formation of moral conscience
The Christian tradition has always affirmed asceticism, discipline and sacrifice. In the secular manosphere, however, these goods are severed from humility or empathy, as well as any sense of communion.
Our readers on ‘performative piety’: Why liturgy is not a space for self-expression
”I will try and remember this essay and focus on a great gift I am about to receive rather than what other people are doing.”
Adding a new script to the bro-sphere
How might the church respond to the situation in which we find ourselves? We ought first to see the manosphere for what it is: a group of people who share not an answer but a question. Second, we ought to be in the business of helping to write new social scripts—scripts that make an inclusive…
How the Catholic Church can address young men’s grievances
Our tradition tells us what God wants for us: a world of relationships and love where we do our best to cooperate with God’s grace as it helps us grow in virtue and holiness. The sugar high of online hate does not hold up against the deep nourishment of love, and it is our job…
Linwood’s Last Hurrah: A beloved retreat house closes its doors
For a place known for its peace and quiet, Linwood was busy with plenty of conversation and action.
Laboring for Beauty: The Tradition of Catholic Worker Art
Since the first Catholic Worker artists filled the pages of its newspaper with woodblock prints, art has been an important dimension of the organization’s vision of the reconstruction of the social order.
Migrant farmworkers are lonely and scared. This Jesuit leads a ministry to serve them.
Tom Florek, S.J., is the executive director of the Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network, a national nonprofit made up of 40 dioceses that minister to the thousands of people.
Review: The joy of fandom
There are any number of excellent books about sports that shine a spotlight on particular teams or seasons or even players, but Michael Schur and Joe Posnanski’s “Big Fan: Two Friends, 82,490 Miles, and the Wild, Wonderful Sports We Love” is the new standard for celebrating the multifaceted nature of fandom itself.
The Constitution has passed its sell-by date
The debate over the Voting Rights Act shows how the Constitution, famously difficult to amend, has been interpreted to suit those currently in power.
Jesuits to Congress: Look to Pope Leo for A.I. policy ideas
On June 2, the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States addressed a letter to congressional leaders on the implications of Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” for A.I. policy.
Did humanitarian aid cuts contribute to Africa’s Ebola outbreak?
The escalating outbreak threatens to become the deadliest Ebola crisis on record if the international community does not quickly step up its humanitarian and medical response.
A.I. and the human person: A theologian on ‘Magnifica Humanitas’
In “Magnifica Humanitas,” Pope Leo draws measured judgments about the features, promises and risks associated with the advanced technology revolution that is rapidly reshaping the ways we communicate, work and govern.
Spanish bishops denounce emotional manipulation in evangelization
The bishops‘ note warns that an “emotional bombardment” employed as part of some methods of evangelization can become a form of spiritual abuse or promote an “emotional reductionist” form of Catholic spirituality.
A.I. is the headline for ‘Magnifica Humanitas,’ but Catholic social teaching is its spine
The first two chapters of ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ are a masterclass in how the church understands and develops its social teaching.
Catholic ministry and AI: the risks, limits and opportunities
For many involved in ministry every day, the question of whether to engage with A.I. has already passed. The question that remains is how.
The Madonna and Child who captured the world’s attention on Pope Leo’s Africa trip
Pope Leo’s visit this year to Africa made the news for many reasons, but my social media blossomed with one image from his trip: the unfamiliar (to me) but magnetic image of Our Lady of Bisila, Mother and Patroness of Equatorial Guinea.
In ‘Raphael: Sublime Poetry,’ art points to a deeper reality
A blockbuster exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York offers a spiritual way of seeing.
Taiwan’s tiny Catholic Church faces youth exodus as big powers decide the island’s fate
While the world knows about the crisis between mainland China and its “breakaway province” of Taiwan, within Taiwan itself a small Catholic community is struggling with its own challenges.
In secularizing Ireland, most parents still support their local Catholic schools
Why might a society that has so consistently sought to distance itself from Catholic influence at the polling booth remain hesitant about abandoning ecclesial patronage over the classroom?
Cardinal Cupich: What the Gospel demands in times of war
What does it mean, concretely, to be peacemakers?
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